Pope drops Hall

LatoniaCat

Redshirt
Jul 11, 2017
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Thats Good Donald Glover GIF
 

PastorofMuppets82

All-Conference
Mar 4, 2025
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I wouldn’t cut one this early unless I was guaranteed to get one of the other two.
Or the staff didn't like his demands. None of us know if he came and said I want to start at the 3, I want 35 minutes a game, I want at least 15 shots a game, and I want the (random jersey number a player on the team is already wearing). Nobody outside that small circle knows why the staff backed off. But they obviously found something they didn't like. They also see the current roster practice every single day and know better what the team needs than us posting on this board. It could also be that Mitchell and Hall were graded similarly by the staff and Mitchell is cheaper/has less demands/is a better locker room fit/more interested in actually coming here.
 

JPFisher

Heisman
Jul 24, 2013
6,853
13,327
113
Gonna be sorry when he goes to ark, tenn or fla and averages 20 a game and destroys uk when they play
If that's how it pans out, that's how it pans out. I'd rather lose a couple games than a fermented apple (or several) tank the locker room and our season like what happened last year.

Pope isn't Cal, and that's both a blessing and a curse, but one huge difference is that Pope doesn't seem to be able to handle big egos and trouble children like Cal could in the first 2/3 of his stint as coach. Cal could wrangle Cousins. I'd bet the house that Pope couldn't, just like I'd bet he would've gotten overwhelmed by Stokes this season.
 

UKCowboys

All-American
Oct 14, 2019
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Or the staff didn't like his demands. None of us know if he came and said I want to start at the 3, I want 35 minutes a game, I want at least 15 shots a game, and I want the (random jersey number a player on the team is already wearing). Nobody outside that small circle knows why the staff backed off. But they obviously found something they didn't like. They also see the current roster practice every single day and know better what the team needs than us posting on this board. It could also be that Mitchell and Hall were graded similarly by the staff and Mitchell is cheaper/has less demands/is a better locker room fit/more interested in actually coming here.
That's the thing...Pope and the staff have the clearest picture of what they need, what they don't, and whether or not a certain player will fit in with what they have chemistry wise. I have always been a believer that in basketball, you absolutely need talent, but having an entire team bought in is without a doubt the key to hitting team goals
 
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bnewt5

Senior
Feb 17, 2026
534
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I would rather Kohler or Mitchell, glad Hall is out of the picture.
Both are good players, both neither can provide the wing scoring. If Milan doesn't play as advertised or hurt their is no one to take up the slack. Hawthorne is just a skinny freshman and Mcbride is moving up in competition. Guard and wings are always needed
 

bnewt5

Senior
Feb 17, 2026
534
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That's the thing...Pope and the staff have the clearest picture of what they need, what they don't, and whether or not a certain player will fit in with what they have chemistry wise. I have always been a believer that in basketball, you absolutely need talent, but having an entire team bought in is without a doubt the key to hitting team goals
After last years horrible roster construction, not sure this staff knows what is needed and what isn't
 

Son_Of_Saul

Hall of Famer
Dec 7, 2007
45,779
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Injuries fella
So it was just injuries, eh? Nothing to do with misevaluating talent?

If that was the case, why didn't Pope bring back Lowe, Mo D, Garrison, Aberdeen, Jelly, etc.?

You've been trying to cultivate a garden on that excuse for a long time, but it simply doesn't hold up if it was "just" injuries. Pope would have brought a bunch of those guys back if they were actually the right fit from a talent level.

The truth is that it was two-fold. It was injuries and it was a massive misevaluation in talent.
 

UKCowboys

All-American
Oct 14, 2019
4,849
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So it was just injuries, eh? Nothing to do with misevaluating talent?

If that was the case, why didn't Pope bring back Lowe, Mo D, Garrison, Aberdeen, Jelly, etc.?

You've been trying to cultivate a garden on that excuse for a long time, but it simply doesn't hold up if it was "just" injuries. Pope would have brought a bunch of those guys back if they were actually the right fit from a talent level.

The truth is that it was two-fold. It was injuries and it was a massive misevaluation in talent.
Massive lol
 

Im The Village Idiot

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Sep 7, 2025
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That's the thing...Pope and the staff have the clearest picture of what they need, what they don't, and whether or not a certain player will fit in with what they have chemistry wise. I have always been a believer that in basketball, you absolutely need talent, but having an entire team bought in is without a doubt the key to hitting team goals

After last years horrible roster construction, not sure this staff knows what is needed and what isn't

So it was just injuries, eh? Nothing to do with misevaluating talent?

If that was the case, why didn't Pope bring back Lowe, Mo D, Garrison, Aberdeen, Jelly, etc.?

You've been trying to cultivate a garden on that excuse for a long time, but it simply doesn't hold up if it was "just" injuries. Pope would have brought a bunch of those guys back if they were actually the right fit from a talent level.

The truth is that it was two-fold. It was injuries and it was a massive misevaluation in talent.
The problem with debates like this is you get two sides with a point to make and both sides want to claim the unknowables as obvious points for their case. There are truthful elements that both sides operate with: it is both true that catastrophic injuries occurred and it is also true that some players on last year’s roster were not a good fit. It’s therefore possible to simultaneously say that Pope had at least some issues with roster construction while also saying the roster construction issues were exacerbated by injuries.

The biggest problem with the debate? Imagine the injury factor as being measured on a scale from 0-10 in terms of impact on performance. There’s literally no way for anyone to truly know where that scale should accurately be placed. The pro-Pope people will want to say it was all injuries and the scale was closer to a 10 in terms of injury impact on the team’s performance. The anti-Pope people will counter-argue to say the impact was closer to 0, some even saying the team was better due to the injuries.

I’d rather be honest and just say I don’t have a damn clue. That’s why I’m not settled. I do lean more on the side that the injury effect is much higher on the scale. Why? I haven’t seen very many examples of Final Four and national championship teams that have experienced injury levels to quite the degree that last team did. I don’t think the injuries explain why Garrison didn’t improve, why Jasper was virtually unplayable or why Mo Dioubate was such a poor fit.

I do think year three will be the deciding factor for most people to decide how to interpret year two.
 
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