I get tired of the Cal vs Pope debate. Cal sucked at the end and needed to go but Pope did nothing to earn the job and is also terrible. I'm ready for option 3.
BB: UK vs UCF (EXH) Game Thread
- Thread starter Farsight Clone
- Start date
Meanwhile Cal and Arky are up 15 against Memphis in the second half. It’s jarring how much more consistent they look compared to us.
Noah isn’t making us any better. He hasn’t preformed really in many games here. He’s just not the kind of talent we need. If he could come in and make some shots he could help, but he’s easy to shut down.
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I actually think last year had the talent to be good. I dont think Purdue was a fluke. I also dont think it showed we were that much better than them. I dont take much from these exhibitions like you said.
But my opinion of last year's failures were solely because of locker room issues. Not skill issues. The team hated each other. The fight that is never talked about happened and the team never recovered. Sure they were just rumors. I believe it happened. A team full of jealous players. A team with zero trust.
That's why im extremely scared of Pope sitting zoom even tho its needed. I feel that will derail the locker room once again.
Well as bad as Cal was at the end here even he is a better coach than Pope sadly. He definitely recruits players capable of playing better.
Man im trying to not be overly negative lol. I dont think hes a difference maker in the sense of coming in and making a bunch of plays. But he seems to stay in the right place at the right time. Im hoping he can come in and knock a few shots down. Come in and maybe injure the other teams best player with a couple of Eastern Kentucky hack fouls then get back to the bench lol.
I definitely think we need to ride with our top guys with this team. Trying to play too many guys with this roster is a bad idea based on what we've seen so far.
I like to think a lot of problems for Cal stemmed from Mitch Barnhart and our boosters. Our jackass of a former AD couldn’t get his boosters to play nice with the NIL. Now we’re suffering with Pope. I hope Batt can course correct because we’re heading south fast.
I don't even understand how Pope got that team to the tournament.
It was horribly constructed
They hated each other
2 starters gone
No pg
That team had to business winning more than 18 games.
Do we not think junior year Noah can be what Almonor was? I hope he can be.
Random player thoughts from the game. Results be damned, although it did look like both staffs were doing everything they could to get a dub. Save the rotation. Surely McBride, Hawthorne and Potter won’t see real action with that many mins.
Mason—I’m sold. Dude is good. Way better than anticipated. Damn good thing too…
Diallo—Woof. He’s so bad on offense right now. He’s fine defensively. But he’s lost on offense. No feel. No flow. Nothing. He missed a TON of easy assists tonight.
Wilkins—Super frustrating to watch. His game is immature and needs to mature quickly. He does nothing within the flow of the offense. Lots of my turn possessions and odd decisions on when to attack.
Milan—As polished and as good as expected. Really enjoy watching him play.
N’Diaye—His length is a problem when he’s on the ball defending. Constantly gets lost off the ball on the perimeter. His offense will be feast or famine. Needs to be able to score around the bucket more and not just rely on hoisting 3s.
Moreno—Glad he showed up last 5-8 mins or so and OT. Complete non factor prior to. He’s got a motor issue.
McBride and Hawthorne—When they make shots, their lack of defense can be tolerated. If they don’t, they can’t play. Kam can’t get healthy quickly enough. Hawthorne can at least block some shots with his length. But man, he’s not good on the ball and gets lost like N’Diaye constantly. McBride couldn’t guard me.
Frank—Is as expected. 10 mins of fouls and muscle.
Potter—No, just no.
Mason—I’m sold. Dude is good. Way better than anticipated. Damn good thing too…
Diallo—Woof. He’s so bad on offense right now. He’s fine defensively. But he’s lost on offense. No feel. No flow. Nothing. He missed a TON of easy assists tonight.
Wilkins—Super frustrating to watch. His game is immature and needs to mature quickly. He does nothing within the flow of the offense. Lots of my turn possessions and odd decisions on when to attack.
Milan—As polished and as good as expected. Really enjoy watching him play.
N’Diaye—His length is a problem when he’s on the ball defending. Constantly gets lost off the ball on the perimeter. His offense will be feast or famine. Needs to be able to score around the bucket more and not just rely on hoisting 3s.
Moreno—Glad he showed up last 5-8 mins or so and OT. Complete non factor prior to. He’s got a motor issue.
McBride and Hawthorne—When they make shots, their lack of defense can be tolerated. If they don’t, they can’t play. Kam can’t get healthy quickly enough. Hawthorne can at least block some shots with his length. But man, he’s not good on the ball and gets lost like N’Diaye constantly. McBride couldn’t guard me.
Frank—Is as expected. 10 mins of fouls and muscle.
Potter—No, just no.
Go back and watch the Michigan State and Gonzaga games.
They ended up kissing and making up, but you could clearly see it wasn't real. They gritted it out, but they didn't have each others back.
Just watched the replay. I'll agree with most observations here. There was good, bad. I can accpet it. UCF was really scrappy. that we got as much of a live game feel and effort from them as we did was a good thing. Even going to OT the way it did, its a net positive for me.
Zoom has got to improve. Maybe Kam and Noah coming back from injury can help everyone adjust to their proper roles. I think if, as a team we can consistently hit 12 - 14 threes a game, we willwin, provided we are as good defensively and hold up well in rebounding. (Otherwise, even then, it's going to be hairy.
I don't see much that makes me change either way about how I think the season may go. It still could be good bad or fugly.
Maybe they're not just going to be a fringe top 20 - 25 team all year. It depends on how well they do in the OOC against the best teams we are going to face. That will be the bell weather for this team.
Hold onto h9ome court advantage and win all the home games at all costs. Against everyone. Losing a couple away games or neutral court games, meh .... as long as we hold onto home court, it'll be favorable, because I think the shcedule is favorable, if we are going to win, well ... we can do it with that schedule.
So, we shall see. But I'm cautiously going to stay optimistic. It might not be altogether that bad.
Keep your faith, may we all stay thirsty my friends.
Go Big blue !
Zoom has got to improve. Maybe Kam and Noah coming back from injury can help everyone adjust to their proper roles. I think if, as a team we can consistently hit 12 - 14 threes a game, we willwin, provided we are as good defensively and hold up well in rebounding. (Otherwise, even then, it's going to be hairy.
I don't see much that makes me change either way about how I think the season may go. It still could be good bad or fugly.
Maybe they're not just going to be a fringe top 20 - 25 team all year. It depends on how well they do in the OOC against the best teams we are going to face. That will be the bell weather for this team.
Hold onto h9ome court advantage and win all the home games at all costs. Against everyone. Losing a couple away games or neutral court games, meh .... as long as we hold onto home court, it'll be favorable, because I think the shcedule is favorable, if we are going to win, well ... we can do it with that schedule.
So, we shall see. But I'm cautiously going to stay optimistic. It might not be altogether that bad.
Keep your faith, may we all stay thirsty my friends.
Go Big blue !
Because Cal had stopped producing. Just like Pope. Why would someone want to invest in a product that was struggling on the floor. Sure, Mitch didn't help. But I'd say 95% of Cal's problems were caused by Cal's attitude at times. Talking down to the fanbase. That HORRID BBall/FB school feud that the two ignorant prida-suars in Stoops and Cal fed. His crappy lineups and playing favorites.
It was just like Cal....shut up!
Yeah....that team had a chemistry problem. The "something" that happened before the UofL game last year hamstringed the team. And then Pope's absolutely goofy PR in addressing it was even worse.
Do you have ANY evidence that our team "hated" each other? Sounds like an exaggeration to me.
Yeah....go watch last season's performances. Simple as that. There where our assist totals were awful. Teams with good chemistry SHARE the ball.
Our "fans" spread a rumor that Oweh had sex with Dioubate's girlfriend, remember? Oweh even addressed it in the post-season documentary, IIRC. "Hate" seems like projection. I certainly believe some people here hate our players, but I remain unconvinced that those young men hated each other until I'm shown overwhelming evidence on the contrary.
Ah, so its the fans fault we underperformed last year? Is that what you are implying?
Pope said it himself. Something happened before the UofL game. He then had to back peddle it to "we got too hype".
Again, go back and watch some of those games. They did not get along.
Our "fans" spread a rumor that Oweh had sex with Dioubate's girlfriend, remember? Oweh even addressed it in the post-season documentary, IIRC. "Hate" seems like projection. I certainly believe some people here hate our players, but I remain unconvinced that those young men hated each other until I'm shown overwhelming evidence on the contrary....
And you'll never get that because no one is gonna come out and say it.
And no long term poster here hates our players. That's asinine.
Then you can't substantiate your claim.
No long term poster hates our players? There were more conspiracy theories about Jayden Quaintance on this forum than there are about aliens on the internet....
That's not how burden of proof works. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and the onus is on you, not me; welcome to Logic 101. First day?
I'm not going to get too up or down this year unless we go like 15-0 or something to start the year of really start off horribly. I'm officially in wait and see mode.
Use common sense. Just watch the games. It’s right there for you to see
If you choose to ignore the obvious, that's on you. Good luch with that.
This isn't court of law dude. It's a message board. And yes, I have more circumstantial evidence to my claim that you ever have to yours.
But I'm not going to feed someone looking for an internet argument.
It was also obvious that Jayden Quaintance was secretly not injured and that Oweh made Dioubate a cuckold... until it wasn't so obvious.... There's a reason everyone thinks our fanbase is insane.
Theres as much evidence that the players didnt like to play for Pope as much as they didnt like to play with each other.
So I've heard. I might just check out highlights.
A lot of really good points by disagree about Hawthorne's defense he was extremely disruptive caused a couple turnovers plus his blocks..
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