Pope vs Sean Miller

Aug 23, 2024
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The portal was in infancy, it's nothing like it is now. And I'm not sure you recognize the level of dysfunction Ollie caused with UConn. Hurley talks about it in some interviews. Meanwhile, Calipari left UK in good standing and a recruiting machine. That of course goes away largely with a coach leaving, but I'm sure there was still some perception there.

Hurley also has a much different roster build strategy as he builds a core with HS kids, then supplements with the Portal. No one was flipping a program in a year or two in 2018. Take a look at Ville and Texas this year and how they built their rosters into year 2.
What you have added here changes or proves nothing. I am not making the claim that Pope is destined for huge success based on any of this but you can't reasonably totally rule it out based on the facts presented either. Uk was in such good shape that a Hall of Fame coach got ran out of town? There was literally zero carry over left from whatever was going on here anyway.

Pope largely had to recruit the way he did based on the fact Calipari left him literally zero experience when he came in. You can't tell me if he had focused mostly on HS recruiting (which was pretty much impossible year one given the timeline anyway) and not worried about trying to win for a couple years that would have been fine by you.
 
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sk73

All-Conference
Feb 16, 2013
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Not true and you would have no clue whether it was true or not since you do no research and just spout off whatever fits your agenda. I have gone to great lengths multiple times cataloging the records in the preceding seasons before some of these coaches took over and listing what they had returning.

Pope was hired in mid April and all we had on the roster was Travis Perry so this claim is preposterous. The fantasy that Pope stepped in to a much better situation than the rest of them is simply unfounded.

Not true and you would have no clue whether it was true or not since you do no research and just spout off whatever fits your agenda. I have gone to great lengths multiple times cataloging the records in the preceding seasons before some of these coaches took over and listing what they had returning.

Pope was hired in mid April and all we had on the roster was Travis Perry so this claim is preposterous. The fantasy that Pope stepped in to a much better situation than the rest of them is simply unfounded.

Not true and you would have no clue whether it was true or not since you do no research and just spout off whatever fits your agenda. I have gone to great lengths multiple times cataloging the records in the preceding seasons before some of these coaches took over and listing what they had returning.

Pope was hired in mid April and all we had on the roster was Travis Perry so this claim is preposterous. The fantasy that Pope stepped in to a much better situation than the rest of them is simply unfounded.
Silly man. Pope had a very good transfer team his first year and Travis Perry was member of that team.. You do not think they received money? Last season he had more to spend that any other team. This was reported by many people and wasn't denied by Pope. He is an average at best coach. All of your research into previous coaches took time but it doesn't contain the one big variable. NIL. NIL makes your research worthless. You can't compare coaches and their success in building a team with faulty criteria. Its more fair to compare Pope with other coaches over the few,NIL, years. Say, Nate Oats, Dusty May, Mark Byington, Hurley etc. Pope has the money to spend but not the coaching chops to get the job done. Look to Louisville. Kelsey has built a better product. He started with nothing. He and Pope started at the same time. We will not be a a major threat as a team with Pope as our coach.
 
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Aug 23, 2024
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Silly man. Pope had a very good transfer team his first year and Travis Perry was member of that team.. You do not think they received money? Last season he had more to spend that any other team. This was reported by many people and wasn't denied by Pope. He is an average at best coach. All of your research into previous coaches took time but it doesn't contain the one big variable. NIL. NIL makes your research worthless. You can't compare coaches and their success in building a team with faulty criteria. Its more fair to compare Pope with other coaches over the few,NIL, years. Say, Nate Oats, Dusty May, Mark Byington, Hurley etc. Pope has the money to spend but not the coaching chops to get the job done. Look to Louisville. Kelsey has built a better product. He started with nothing. He and Pope started at the same time. We will not be a a major threat as a team with Pope as our coach.
He had several good transfers who got injured and missed significant time or tried to play at diminished capacity. If not for the injuries that may well have been a Final Four team. Are you actually suggesting Perry was of great benefit to that team? He has also played the two most difficult rated schedules in school history at 14.04 and 12.96. We have had schedules ranked above 10.50 nine times and we have lost at least 10 games every one of those seasons.

The NIL figure was in fact refuted by Pope and we do not have any verifiable figures for other teams either anyway. The suggestion that NIL has made it easier for UK to recruit is absolutely not the established fact you believe it to be.

Kelsey has had better luck with injuries and easier schedules at U6. He has not really shown me that he is a better coach and I'm not convinced that their roster is any better than ours this coming season. He is 1-1 head to head so far and he has a first and second round loss in the NCAA tournament so far. That makes Pope 3-2 at UK in the NCAA tournament vs. 1-2 for Kelsey at U6.
 
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BookofMormon

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Mar 27, 2026
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He had several good transfers who got injured and missed significant time or tried to play at diminished capacity. If not for the injuries that may well have been a Final Four team. Are you actually suggesting Perry was of great benefit to that team? He has also played the two most difficult rated schedules in school history at 14.04 and 12.96. We have had schedules ranked above 10.50 nine times and we have lost at least 10 games every one of those seasons.

The NIL figure was in fact refuted by Pope and we do not have any verifiable figures for other teams either anyway. The suggestion that NIL has made it easier for UK to recruit is absolutely not the established fact you believe it to be.

Kelsey has had better luck with injuries and easier schedules at U6. He has not really shown me that he is a better coach and I'm not convinced that their roster is any better than ours this coming season. He is 1-1 head to head so far and he has a first and second round loss in the NCAA tournament so far. That makes Pope 3-2 at UK in the NCAA tournament vs. 1-2 for Kelsey at U6.
Pat Kelsey shouldn't be the bar. And no, Pope was not getting to a F4 with Perry.
 

CRZ4UK

Heisman
Jun 6, 2008
5,093
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You're essentially saying "It's totally fine for Kentucky, under Pope, to be a 15-25 ranked team pre-season, every year." And to have those expectations going in... You can clearly see the difference between what I said and what you keep saying. Stop saying "We don't know how the season will go." That is completely irrelevant and not at all what my post was about.

I'm specifically saying, Kentucky, under a coach in his 3rd year, should have top 5 EXPECTATIONS going INTO the season, just like Duke does every year.

The head coach of Kentucky should not be going into the season ranked behind 4 or 5 other SEC teams!

The standard has been lowered and will continue to be lowered under Pope, year after year as the apathy takes over. Kentucky basketball is over,
Actually the standard was lowered under Calipari. His last 5 seasons were awful. Just awful. Even more the Standard was lowered by Barnhart who would not accept NIL until we were in last place. Blaming Pope for that is just wrong.