08/24/26 ANONYMOUS POLL: How Confident Are You That Pope Is Going To Crush It

[Im The Village Idiot]

How confident are you that Mark Pope is going to crush it at Kentucky? Your votes are anonymous.

 

[YankeeCpt_rivals378522]

1 thing is for sure.
He has given us something to believe in.

 

[MidseasonTweak]

Pretty certain. On paper it will be hard to muck it up. Keep the goofy sub patterns to a minimum. No need to yank guys too early to preserve energy later. These guys are going to be well-conditioned.

Edit: my post is for this season. I don't have enough film at UK to say for his time going forward.

 

[Bluegrass79]

Its a dice roll

 

[UKBB4Ever]

His teams quit. It’s ova!!

UK basketball cannot begin to heal until Pope is outta here.

 

[theBlues]

I voted pretty certain.

 

[NineIsOnTheWay]

Looks good on paper. I don't trust a Pope team yet. I'm hopeful tho.

 

[UKCowboys]

His teams quit. It’s ova!!

UK basketball cannot begin to heal until Pope is outta here.

Ridiculous

 

[cat tat2]

Pretty certain, time will tell.

 

[RunninRichie]

I'm gonna take a wait and see approach. Year one showed he can be a good offensive coach. But can he coach defense?And whats with his sub patterns? We thought we were loaded last year also. Team looks good on paper, but I need to see games. Thus, I voted playing the middle.

 

[BookofMormon]

Still not sure he has a real plan, or can command a locker room and motivate the way a winner needs. Last year left a lot of question marks on that, even with injuries.

 

[SenseMaker_Cats]

His teams quit. It’s ova!!

UK basketball cannot begin to heal until Pope is outta here.

 

[Ash Williams]

You didn’t define “crush it.”

 

[megablue]

You didn’t define “crush it.”

Good point ... my definition would be to accomplish one of these:
1) Win SEC
2) Win SEC Tourney
3) Final Four

 

[Snarks]

He’s a career 61% win percentage coach. This team will be better than that, but I don’t think he has the coaching ability to make this a final four caliber team.

 

[Im The Village Idiot]

You didn’t define “crush it.”

Exactly. There’s a reason for that haha

 

[Johnnie Africa]

I voted pretty doubtful. The games vs Gonzaga and Vanderbilt last year were two of the worst coached games in Kentucky history imo so it’s hard for me to get past those.

 

[Wunky]

I just need to see it. We saw glimpses in his first season. I truly believe that was a FF team if healthy. They had flaws, but they could absolutely cook anybody on a given night.

I think he learned a lot last year. Mainly the importance of having a creator. He’s got to get out of his own way on the goofy sub patterns and over-reliance on analytics.

I voted pretty doubtful, because I just think Kentucky is a really hard place to be learning on the fly. But I’m like Fox Mulder… I want to believe.

 

[MonsterMash79]

Voted middle myself.. Marks a good guy I’m sure. UK needs an aggressive minded approach kinda coach imo. Kids will walk all over him, if he shows weakness.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

Middle makes the most sense. He rarely has the team ready at tipoff. I hope the giant nil warchest and a more talented roster can overcome that.

 

[Artlaibesghost]

Pope's teams looked unprepared and unmotivated in about half of the starts of games last year. They also went through the same 6 even 9 minute scoring droughts that used to infuriate me during the end of Cals tenure. I watched teams run endless high ball screens and pick and rolls on us and he seemed to make no adjustments to stop it. His first year he made some great coaching moves against Duke and Gonzaga to name a few, but there was little evidence of that last year. He runs inbounds plays, calls timeout to set up plays late, and at least one year out of 2 seemed to have a coherent offense. The jury is still very much out on his coaching.

 

[RunninRichie]

I voted pretty doubtful. The games vs Gonzaga and Vanderbilt last year were two of the worst coached games in Kentucky history imo so it’s hard for me to get past those.

The Michigan state game was awful too. We just watched them play. The Gonzaga game was the worst game i've ever watched.

 

[Dead Cat Bounce]

This off-season had some head-scratching moments, none more so in my opinion that the prolonged recruitment of Stokes. But I have to give Pope a ton of credit for two achievements: he let go of some undercontributing players and, by biding his time and playing the legal gambit, he constructed a roster that, at summer's end, looks very capable. To me, that is evidence of a coach who has a plan, adjusts to adverse or unexpected circumstances, and is not afraid to make tough decisions. It also looks like Pope, Brown, and the coaching staff are developing as talent evaluators and recruiters.

Last season nearly broke my faith in Pope, but I was willing to write it off as failed roster construction. This off-season has restored some of my faith, and I am hopeful as hell. But the proof is in the pudding and the clock is ticking.

 

[The_Answer1313_rivals]

Middle

While I think he's put together a pretty good team...........I simply cannot shake the feeling of the past two years. It wasn't just record wise but the getting down big in a ton of games............too many games where we were simply uncompetitive from the tip. That's alarming to me until I see it change.

You just don't normally see a UK team be uncompetitive as much as we were under Pope.

 

[1BadCat]

I voted middle, but this season should tell the tale.

 

[Im The Village Idiot]

100% Certain: Hall of Fame is a certainty. Hang all the banners
JUNE
KSB - 3.0%
RR - 2.6%

AUGUST
KSB - 1.8%
RR - 0.9%

Strongly Certain: I’m sure Pope is going to crush it. Any doubts are silly
JUNE
KSB - 5.1%
RR - 3.1%

AUGUST
KSB - 5.7%
RR - 0.0%

Pretty Certain: I have doubts but I’m still optimistic he will do it
JUNE
KSB - 23.2%
RR - 18.5%

AUGUST
KSB - 29.4%
RR - 33.3%

Playing the Middle: I go back and forth on him. There are many doubts and many signs of hope.
JUNE
KSB - 36.9%
RR - 22.9%

AUGUST
KSB - 27.8%
RR - 26.1%

Pretty Doubtful: I have more doubts than hopes. He could do it but I doubt it.
JUNE
KSB - 23.2%
RR - 34.4%

AUGUST
KSB - 31.0%
RR - 31.5%

Strongly Doubtful: I’m sure Pope is going to let us down. Having hope is wishful thinking
JUNE
KSB - 8.1%
RR - 15.4%

AUGUST
KSB - 3.0%
RR - 4.5%

100% Doubtful: Fire him now. There are no redeemable qualities. No signs of hope.
JUNE
KSB - 0.5%
RR - 3.1%

AUGUST
KSB - 1.4%
RR - 3.6%


From June to August, Pope’s fan support has increased about 23.3% on Rupp Rafters and about 2.0% on KSBoard. It seems both boards have converged toward a similar distribution of supporters and dissenters during that period.

 

[TheBlueMist]

Crush it as a coach, or crush my Big Blue soul?


Time will tell. I am very cautiously optimistic.

 

[Im The Village Idiot]

Questions for those who want to dig further:

1.) What do you think has caused Pope’s general popularity to rise on both boards?

2.) Why do you think Rupp Rafters had such a stark difference in favorability in June?

3.) Why do you think the net favorability was increased only a small percentage on KSBoard in comparison?

4.) Do you think the migration of more posters from Rupp Rafters to KSBoard plays a factor in the convergence of opinion between both boards?

5.) Why do you think the confidence of those who were 100% certain Pope was a definite HOFer has decreased from June to August?