I didn’t watch a second of the game, haven’t even seen a highlight and for the first time in my life, 58 years. I don’t care. I’m already with pope in year 3 that I was with tubby in year 10 (actually worse as I at least cared then). Reading everyone’s thoughts I’m stating with my 12-15 loss season (at best). Thank God for Uk football!!!
First Takes
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I don’t think he has that skillset against competent defenders. He could have moments against teams like ULR, sure. But that doesn’t exactly move the needle. He’s just not good enough yet. And he’s had over a year to develop.
That dude has some of the most ridiculous takes on this board ,lol.Last years team wouldn’t cook anyone
Mason Williams is our second best player. That's your red flag.
First impression is this is pope’s best team defensively at UK. Lots of deflections, team rebounds and diving for loose balls. All things considered they ought to sell out to that being their identity as a team.
first half offense was really bad. Wilkins might be the biggest brick layer since BJ Boston.
first half offense was really bad. Wilkins might be the biggest brick layer since BJ Boston.
Hey! Show DJ Wagner some respect!
Best player MM #22.
Best improved from last year MM .
Those two are our best to players .
if this teams stays healthy we can probably finish top 4 in SEC, after Florida, TX , and Arkansas.
If either of our MM s gets injured our season is over.
We are too light at center position. not sure what MP was thinking…..
we should have tried harder and smarter to get a dynamic sf or PF that could score of the dribble . We are missing that elite scorer to be NCAA final four team.
is stil early but the team looked out of shape.
Best improved from last year MM .
Those two are our best to players .
if this teams stays healthy we can probably finish top 4 in SEC, after Florida, TX , and Arkansas.
If either of our MM s gets injured our season is over.
We are too light at center position. not sure what MP was thinking…..
we should have tried harder and smarter to get a dynamic sf or PF that could score of the dribble . We are missing that elite scorer to be NCAA final four team.
is stil early but the team looked out of shape.
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Definitely NOT worth $6 million as an isolated player. However, I cannot imagine what this team would look like without him so he is probably worth twice that to UK.
If Pope didn't land him they were going to be in trouble as I think he is the difference between this team making the NCAA tournament and possibly fighting for a NIT/Crown birth.
JB
Think it was Pope’s first win at UK scoring under 70 points. Feel free to take that random factoid however you wish lol
This team's talent level is below acceptable at Ky.This year may be disappointing but I hope we can find out who our best five is.
Looked like dog ****. Not impressed. Thank god for Stein and football.
Rough night, especially for the guards. Finishing will need to improve on drives.
McBride inbounding the ball against obvious pressure and traps showed a low basketball IQ for what the opponent was doing. Catch and shoot on the perimeter seems solid. The ball needs to get in and out of his hands quickly. He is not a take over guy.
For his first game as a Wildcat, Hawthorne looked good. Worked hard on defense and showed flashes on offense. While he is “patient,” he also looked like he has to think sometimes on offense about what he is doing. Over-dribbled in the paint and at other times. I disagree with a take above and think his point forward skills will be a plus if he learns to make quicker decisions. Good looking confident shot for his first game.
MilMom did some stud things last night. I think he was holding back at times so as to not hog the scene too much. He has an elite understanding of what he is doing.
NDaiye was a mix. Seemed to still be figuring out his place on defense. He has some real skills. Settling in will be key.
Wilkins needs to appreciate boundaries for himself. This may have been a great first game film for him. Show him how discipline will get him more, not less. He seemed more focused on defense at the beginning of the game and then in the second half, King(?) was dead set to go at him and took advantage, on both ends.
I thought Mal looked solid.
Frank is a wild man tank. Flying all around kind of recklessly. I think some of his issues were not all of his own doing as some teammates put him in bad spots on defense. Not sure we expect much from him on offense when he spells Mal.
If Williams was a highly regarded recruit, fans would not be panicked by his play. He was steady and seemed confident for a guy many on here repeatedly bashed. If he grows and improves from that first look, he is going to be a solid guard off the bench. He also showed some willingness and ability to pressure the defense and seemed to pick his moments well. Did not seem to press. From a steadiness factor, he was the best guard last night, but that is more a result of Diallo and Wilkins being roller coasters on the floor.
Diallo has not impressed me at pro day or last night. When he had moments, he often did not finish. I am not sure he really was a set-up for others. He seemed uncomfortable to me.
Popes’ positiveness at his presser was unsettling to me. Just not sure what objective he had for this game. Seems he limited things on offense. He now has film. I think he was excited by how that film will teach. Without knowing what he wanted from this first game, he is hard to read. Maybe the negatives reinforce what he has been teaching?
All said, Travis may have a solid team. They missed a lot of shots. Hope that was our doing.
McBride inbounding the ball against obvious pressure and traps showed a low basketball IQ for what the opponent was doing. Catch and shoot on the perimeter seems solid. The ball needs to get in and out of his hands quickly. He is not a take over guy.
For his first game as a Wildcat, Hawthorne looked good. Worked hard on defense and showed flashes on offense. While he is “patient,” he also looked like he has to think sometimes on offense about what he is doing. Over-dribbled in the paint and at other times. I disagree with a take above and think his point forward skills will be a plus if he learns to make quicker decisions. Good looking confident shot for his first game.
MilMom did some stud things last night. I think he was holding back at times so as to not hog the scene too much. He has an elite understanding of what he is doing.
NDaiye was a mix. Seemed to still be figuring out his place on defense. He has some real skills. Settling in will be key.
Wilkins needs to appreciate boundaries for himself. This may have been a great first game film for him. Show him how discipline will get him more, not less. He seemed more focused on defense at the beginning of the game and then in the second half, King(?) was dead set to go at him and took advantage, on both ends.
I thought Mal looked solid.
Frank is a wild man tank. Flying all around kind of recklessly. I think some of his issues were not all of his own doing as some teammates put him in bad spots on defense. Not sure we expect much from him on offense when he spells Mal.
If Williams was a highly regarded recruit, fans would not be panicked by his play. He was steady and seemed confident for a guy many on here repeatedly bashed. If he grows and improves from that first look, he is going to be a solid guard off the bench. He also showed some willingness and ability to pressure the defense and seemed to pick his moments well. Did not seem to press. From a steadiness factor, he was the best guard last night, but that is more a result of Diallo and Wilkins being roller coasters on the floor.
Diallo has not impressed me at pro day or last night. When he had moments, he often did not finish. I am not sure he really was a set-up for others. He seemed uncomfortable to me.
Popes’ positiveness at his presser was unsettling to me. Just not sure what objective he had for this game. Seems he limited things on offense. He now has film. I think he was excited by how that film will teach. Without knowing what he wanted from this first game, he is hard to read. Maybe the negatives reinforce what he has been teaching?
All said, Travis may have a solid team. They missed a lot of shots. Hope that was our doing.
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Excellent points made in a thoughtful way.
I agree with everything you said.
For me, I have more questions than answers.
1) When Williams, Morton and Noah are available, whose minutes do they take ??
2) Do we really want to take 35 threes a game ??
3) Can we handle aggressive on-ball defensive pressure ??
4) With our height, can we stay with quicker teams ??
5) Will Kepnang be healthy all year and can he play without fouling ??
6) Why are Wilkins' threes from so deep on the court ??
7) Will fatigue be a factor for Momcilovic ??
8) Do we have an inside game at all ??
9) Will this team be better than Pope's first 2 teams ??
10) How good are we right now ??
11) How good can we be in March ??
12) Will Williams and Pelphrey make a difference as coaches in developing this team ??
13) What is the strength of this team ??
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I don’t know if this is true, but my buddy told me we went 7 minutes without scoring again. We do that so often under Pope it’s crazy. To do that with our payroll against a Little Rock type opponent is really bad. I knew we had went a long while without scoring when they got it back to like down 11, but that is terrible.
Fair analysis, but I don’t even see S16 type team yet. If he doesn’t get our back court playing to the level they should, it could get ugly.
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I'm hoping a healthy Jerome Morton can provide significant help in the backcourt ...
I thought we looked winded a lot, too.
Giraffes trying to stay with Gazelles on defense will fatigue a team. We may actually be too tall ??
Playing hard defense in first game setting will get you tired. Means they were using effort which is a positive. There was plenty of times last year when defensively OO and Aberdeen just roamed around nonstop.
I agree with you ... I thought the defensive effort and focus was definitely a positive, no question. I really liked it !! However, given our extreme length and what I saw as fatigue, I thought we stood around (rested) on offense ... settling for threes too quickly.
BUT ... it was only a first game, exhibition at that, so we'll see ... I get you !!
I'm not saying now. I just see it in the way he moves, shoots, and defends. His block at the rim was elite, and typically that's a bucket or and-one against UK's interior.
He's also still very inexperienced and young. Give it 2 years.
Tough seeing highlights and stats for BYU's backcourt and not wondering "what if" that was UK's .... Wright and Chandler will be a top 5 backcourt.
Wright was never coming. Offensively that backcourt is really good but defensively bad. Also Chandler being your second best player can’t be a good thing. Does pope get the credit for developing him also? Chandler isn’t worth what byu supposedly paid either.
We have quality bigs. Guard play not so much, at least from the starters. Pope will need to quickly develop the bench guards, the starters weren't it last night. It can be done, there is time and talent on the bench. Even Pitino had to tweak that '96 team early in the season regarding guard play to find out which players actually made things work best for the team.
If you don’t see talent in the starting guards you didn’t watch. They get in the paint whenever they want. Alex shot will fall. Not worried about him.
I was at the game. They can get in the paint, but then weak and tentative after that in getting to the basket and finishing. That reflects coach's personality, imo.
Let’s hope, the sad thing is we all know he’s not the level guard we need to be really good though. We need him for depth. I think Williams is our best guard so far. He is going to be really solid. I believe Wilkins can be the type guard we need, but he has to play within the offense and not jack shots as soon as he crosses half court all game.I'm hoping a healthy Jerome Morton can provide significant help in the backcourt ...
Our better guard play came off the bench in the 2nd half. At least in terms of potential.
Chandler was a bigger loss than some think. Two years in our system. Good complementary player who could shoot. He’s athletic and played his role. I wish we would have gotten Wright as well.
We only have one bench guard. Who are you referring to as talent on the bench?
Agreed. Although consider the size and explosiveness of the guy on offense too. My take on him is he should’ve gone somewhere he could play and excel/be a main piece. In this era, I’ll never quite understand a redshirt or a project. Go where you can play. Ball out or just be good. One of the big programs will scoop you up. Watching him play against ULR last night made me think that’s about the appropriate level for his game currently. That’s not a bad thing, either. Hes certainly got some things you can’t teach. He’s got promise, but certainly isn’t ready to contribute on a contender currently.
One thing I think everyone noticed is that our backup guard (ie. Williams) looked better than both of our starting guards. That’s an odd dynamic that stirred up plenty of controversy with a few of Cal’s teams.
There’s a reason Pope was all in on Rob Wright. Problem is he whiffed and had to run out and get Zoom. Diallo isn’t the lead guard we need here, but Pope was in a bind and had to overpay for him.
I appreciate most of the First Take comments and enjoyed some more than others.
My First Take has nothing to do about the game but instead trying to wrap my mind around the pre season SEC rank of #7. I know how meaningless preseason rankings are but stunned about how far we have fallen.
This new era in collegiate sports has left me in the dust and clinging to the memories of yesteryear glory. UK was always challenged for the conference top spot but even in down years, everyone knew the conference championship was inevitably through Lexington.
Hate long posts, so I’m stopping now…just miss my Cats.
My First Take has nothing to do about the game but instead trying to wrap my mind around the pre season SEC rank of #7. I know how meaningless preseason rankings are but stunned about how far we have fallen.
This new era in collegiate sports has left me in the dust and clinging to the memories of yesteryear glory. UK was always challenged for the conference top spot but even in down years, everyone knew the conference championship was inevitably through Lexington.
Hate long posts, so I’m stopping now…just miss my Cats.
I saw nothing last night that excited me except Milo's rather restrained first game here. He could have easily gone for 25 if he had been more aggressive
Moreno IS bigger and stronger and rebounded well but still shows little indication he has developed much of an offensiveve game.
Williams has an SEC body, reminds me a little of the younger version of Thiero.
Guard play is spotty right now. If it doesn't improve we go nowhere.
I didn't see an real 2nd option beyond Milo, at least last night. It was an exhibition with sloppy play and some nerves early.
Given we had 5 guys on the floor that have never played together and all but one on the Rupp floor for first time the result shouldn't be that surprising.
We will improve but honestly I just don't see but one guy that would start on Florida, Bama or Arky right now, much less the Dukes or Uconns of the world. Right now at least I just don't see enough offensive talent to see us get where we want to be. I hope that changes for Pope and our fans sake but I'm afraid it will not.
Moreno IS bigger and stronger and rebounded well but still shows little indication he has developed much of an offensiveve game.
Williams has an SEC body, reminds me a little of the younger version of Thiero.
Guard play is spotty right now. If it doesn't improve we go nowhere.
I didn't see an real 2nd option beyond Milo, at least last night. It was an exhibition with sloppy play and some nerves early.
Given we had 5 guys on the floor that have never played together and all but one on the Rupp floor for first time the result shouldn't be that surprising.
We will improve but honestly I just don't see but one guy that would start on Florida, Bama or Arky right now, much less the Dukes or Uconns of the world. Right now at least I just don't see enough offensive talent to see us get where we want to be. I hope that changes for Pope and our fans sake but I'm afraid it will not.
didnt even start SGA for the first 10 games.I slightly agree with the full court press, remember the days when we got pushed and our guards would punish teams by blowing by them and we had numbers?-those were fun times. Now we get the slight blow by, with a pull back so they can set the D real good for us.
It is 2026, full court press should be PUNISHED. There is a reason no one runs it anymore.
That’s false. Zoom was the first call he made upon portal opening. Zoom is a taller rob wright essentially. Rob plays zero defense but shoots it a little better.
He wanted to be paid a lot and have a bigger role. He got the money and now is in same role at byu. Spot up shooter. He wanted to leave
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