Something worth noting about Pope's first year: Amari Williams

[KYAnywhereEverywhere]

Pope owes a huge debt of gratitude to Amari Williams. I think we underappreciated just how uniquely talented Amari was. Amari was the key in making the offense look special. He was effectively a point center that a lot of teams just didn't have an answer for. He was able to confuse defenses. He acted as a second distributor. He was able to take over ball handling duties when we were limited on guard play due to injuries. Without Amari, Pope's first year wouldn't have been as successful. Pope may not even be here for a third year if not for Amari.

Speaking of that first year, Butler, Oweh, Brea, and Williams were all kind of uniquely special for what they brought to that team to make them so fluid and effective on offense.

 

[Catastic5]

The “positives” of the first season (because there were a lot of negatives as well) are starting to look like a bit of a fluke. I guess we’ll see if we play better in future games; but I’m seeing a whole lot of the same problems from that exhibition that we had last year. Namely the scoring droughts is worrying me.

 

[gbl97]

Amari was a good passer, but he was giving Isaiah Jackson on offense around the rim.

 

[ScWildcat3]

Pope owes a huge debt of gratitude to Amari Williams. I think we underappreciated just how uniquely talented Amari was. Amari was the key in making the offense look special. He was effectively a point center that a lot of teams just didn't have an answer for. He was able to confuse defenses. He acted as a second distributor. He was able to take over ball handling duties when we were limited on guard play due to injuries. Without Amari, Pope's first year wouldn't have been as successful. Pope may not even be here for a third year if not for Amari.

Speaking of that first year, Butler, Oweh, Brea, and Williams were all kind of uniquely special for what they brought to that team to make them so fluid and effective on offense.

So pope should get zero credit for identifying him and recruiting him for his offense? Also developing him into a NBA player.

 

[KYAnywhereEverywhere]

Amari was a good passer, but he was giving Isaiah Jackson on offense around the rim.

Low post anchoring wasn't his value though. His value was as a ball handler and distributer, doing it with a body type and from a position where it's normally not done, causing defenses havock and making that offense look smooth. He was an oddity that other teams wouldn't see at any other point in the season.

 

[jeffky]

Pope owes a huge debt of gratitude to Amari Williams. I think we underappreciated just how uniquely talented Amari was. Amari was the key in making the offense look special. He was effectively a point center that a lot of teams just didn't have an answer for. He was able to confuse defenses. He acted as a second distributor. He was able to take over ball handling duties when we were limited on guard play due to injuries. Without Amari, Pope's first year wouldn't have been as successful. Pope may not even be here for a third year if not for Amari.

Speaking of that first year, Butler, Oweh, Brea, and Williams were all kind of uniquely special for what they brought to that team to make them so fluid and effective on offense.

Basketball after that HUGE GIGANTIC WIN IN NORMAN LAST NIGHT BOWL ELIGIBLE AFTER 7 GAMES # 1 IN THE SEC AND YOU BRING UP AMARI WILLIAMS AND POPE "COME ON MAN GET WITH IT" STAY FOCUS

 

[KYAnywhereEverywhere]

So pope should get zero credit for identifying him and recruiting him for his offense? Also developing him into a NBA player.

I didn't say that. However, Pope was very fortunate to find a unicorn player with his skill set and was able to use him in the best possible way.

 

[Ash Williams]

So pope should get zero credit for identifying him and recruiting him for his offense? Also developing him into a NBA player.

Man give it a rest. Even your straw men have chapped asses.

 

[UKCowboys]

Pope owes a huge debt of gratitude to Amari Williams. I think we underappreciated just how uniquely talented Amari was. Amari was the key in making the offense look special. He was effectively a point center that a lot of teams just didn't have an answer for. He was able to confuse defenses. He acted as a second distributor. He was able to take over ball handling duties when we were limited on guard play due to injuries. Without Amari, Pope's first year wouldn't have been as successful. Pope may not even be here for a third year if not for Amari.

Speaking of that first year, Butler, Oweh, Brea, and Williams were all kind of uniquely special for what they brought to that team to make them so fluid and effective on offense.

Or....Pope deserves credit for recruiting Amari. You can't have it both ways. If you bash him for not getting certain players you can't say he got lucky bringing someone in.

 

[UKCowboys]

So pope should get zero credit for identifying him and recruiting him for his offense? Also developing him into a NBA player.

If it were even semi fair I could take it. Its make it up as you go for many who hate Pope

 

[Smeegs]

So pope should get zero credit for identifying him and recruiting him for his offense? Also developing him into a NBA player.

Seems like in every thread you post in I see you trying to pick some inane nitpicky little fight with someone. The OP wasn’t trying to criticize Pope, he was just praising Amari. But you still try to spin a positive post into a negative one.

You come across like someone who must be a bitter person in real life.

 

[Ash Williams]

Seems like in every thread you post in I see you trying to pick some inane nitpicky little fight with someone. The OP wasn’t trying to criticize Pope, he was just praising Amari. But you still try to spin a positive post into a negative one.

You come across like someone who must be a bitter person in real life.

He's a member of kyjeff's little Pope taliband.

 

[ScWildcat3]

Seems like in every thread you post in I see you trying to pick some inane nitpicky little fight with someone. The OP wasn’t trying to criticize Pope, he was just praising Amari. But you still try to spin a positive post into a negative one.

You come across like someone who must be a bitter person in real life.

The OP was literally saying pope should be happy that Amari basically saved him. Said if not for Amari pope wouldn’t be here a 3rd year. So zero credit to pope for finding and recruiting Amari. Also helping make Amari a NBA type player. I can’t help it you jump in and can’t comprehend.

 

[KYAnywhereEverywhere]

The OP was literally saying pope should be happy that Amari basically saved him. Said if not for Amari pope wouldn’t be here a 3rd year. So zero credit to pope for finding and recruiting Amari. Also helping make Amari a NBA type player. I can’t help it you jump in and can’t comprehend.

The guy above this was correct. I have no idea what the recruitment of Amari looked like. I wasn't insulting Pope. Whether, Pope specifically identified Amari or slightly lucked into him because of late scrambling in putting a roster together, having Amari on that team was very fortunate. All I was really saying is that Amari was key to making that offense unique and special. Pope should be grateful for that even if he specifically targeted and prioritized him.

 

[ScWildcat3]

The guy above this was correct. I have no idea what the recruitment of Amari looked like. I wasn't insulting Pope. Whether, Pope specifically identified Amari or slightly lucked into him because of late scrambling in putting a roster together, having Amari on that team was very fortunate. All I was really saying is that Amari was key to making that offense unique and special. Pope should be grateful for that even if he specifically targeted and prioritized him.

Gotcha. Makes more sense now. To your point about how he found him. I remember lot of talk about pope seeing the passing abilities and his analytics for passing and those things were at the top of the charts. Keegan brown helped assemble a large part of that first roster by the way with his analytics. That’s why I’m glad he’s back on board.

 

[kyhankypanky]

If it were even semi fair I could take it. Its make it up as you go for many who hate Pope

The Pope hatred isn't rooted in some irrational, baseless contempt. We are just sick of a bad product and subpar results and are better at pattern recognition than you. You can direct your anger toward us and try to jabs at us, but we don't really care one way or the other. We want UK basketball back, and it is pretty apparent that Pope isn't the answer. It was pretty apparent about 5 games into the season last year honestly, and nothing since has changed the assessment.

 

[FLBBNFAN]

The guy above this was correct. I have no idea what the recruitment of Amari looked like. I wasn't insulting Pope. Whether, Pope specifically identified Amari or slightly lucked into him because of late scrambling in putting a roster together, having Amari on that team was very fortunate. All I was really saying is that Amari was key to making that offense unique and special. Pope should be grateful for that even if he specifically targeted and prioritized him.

I know we ragged on him at times but looking back he was really unique with his handles and passing ability.