us not having ten losses this season means we win the sec tournament and the championship lol
hope ur right
Jordan Smith Commits to Arkansas
- Thread starter ComebackCats98
- Start date
hope ur right
No...we could win out the last 7, lose in the SEC Tournament and lose in the S16 and still have 9
No disrespect meant but Hurley was 16-17 and 19-12 in his first 2 years at U Conn. Didn’t make the tourney. Then 15-8, 23-10 and in his 5th year a title at 31-8. Took him 5 years. Won it in 2023.
Was a superb 113-82 in his 6 years prior 2012-2018 at Rhode Island. Yep Hurleys been “one of the best in the last couple decades”. Is that still multiple 10 year periods? 20 years?
Did you know that before you wrote?
But yeah CMP needs to win that title in his first 2 years after inheriting zero players and battling injuries to show he’s a good coach. That correct? Only got to the Sweet 16 in his first year. Jesus man. I swear some fans.
UK fan?
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How long can the current recruiting situation continue before there is no choice but to make a change? Pope is a really good coach, but not a great one. He might even be able to win a title in the right circumstances. But it seems we are far from those circumstances. You need shooters in his system. Getting a Brea is fine, but one of those isn't enough.
IMO, Pope needs to get stud PGs and wing shooters from recruiting, and pick up a few role players in the portal. But how do we get there? Something is seriously broken with recruiting. Not a single player at this point? Not one? How is that even possible at Kentucky?
IMO, Pope needs to get stud PGs and wing shooters from recruiting, and pick up a few role players in the portal. But how do we get there? Something is seriously broken with recruiting. Not a single player at this point? Not one? How is that even possible at Kentucky?
Cal may not win another championship. However, he has taken 3 different programs to the final four. It takes a lot of luck to win the championship. Ask Dean Smith. It took Georgetown throwing the ball to them at the end of the game for Dean Smith to win the championship with some of the greatest players to ever win a game. JORDAN, WORTHY, PERKINS
Cal will get his players. Kentucky help build that reputation and he is going to benefit for it. We now have to find our path and rebuild our reputation by putting some players in the league if when want top level high school talent.
Ask 8 of the last 9 teams we played, or better yet ask 13 or 14 SEC teams behind us the standings
Last season Oweh, Brea, Williams, Robinson, Butler, and Carr all averaged over 20 minutes per game. This season so far Oweh, Aberdeen, Chandler, Moreno, and Dioubate are averaging over 20 mpg. This is a stupid and inaccurate mantra. If a standout freshman commits here his chances of averaging over 20 minutes a game is pretty well a given.
If I could quote the legendary Col Angus…
Just fu**ing win. To do that you have to have talent. Young or older, I don’t give a fu**…just WIN. He isn’t doing that at the level required of a UK coach. He has good stretches followed by mini stretches of head scratching horrible play (mostly led by the team showing really bad effort), and he has zero HS recruits he will bring in next year that will make a splash. He had two top players knocking in the door and it didn’t get done. I don’t give a damn if you want to blame pope or JMI but something needs to change.
My fear is that his corniness combined with the negative recruiting against him
Will prevent him from getting any top talent.
It’s not confusing, just win damn it, at the level we expect here. Be in the top 10 consistently with a chance in March. It’s not rocket science.
Just fu**ing win. To do that you have to have talent. Young or older, I don’t give a fu**…just WIN. He isn’t doing that at the level required of a UK coach. He has good stretches followed by mini stretches of head scratching horrible play (mostly led by the team showing really bad effort), and he has zero HS recruits he will bring in next year that will make a splash. He had two top players knocking in the door and it didn’t get done. I don’t give a damn if you want to blame pope or JMI but something needs to change.
My fear is that his corniness combined with the negative recruiting against him
Will prevent him from getting any top talent.
It’s not confusing, just win damn it, at the level we expect here. Be in the top 10 consistently with a chance in March. It’s not rocket science.
I’m very aware. As is everyone with eyes open.
If what you say is true then why aren’t recruits flocking to Pope?
There is some awareness missing. But it’s not on my end.
JMI being a problem is nothing but Matt jones propaganda.
Pope has a blank checkbook.
The problem is simply the coaching staff.
The Matt Jones minions will cry about JMI until JMI until the next coach comes in and recruits like mad with JMI still in place.
I don’t know they will try to explain that away but they will find a way.
You are correct that Cal was a divide but correlation does not equal correlation. In Issel’s day virtually no one went pro until their eligibility expired. Even with Pitino Mash stayed for three years. Cal seized the desire of many to forgo college or minimize the college experience. I don’t believe the previous era of loyalty and love of the institution will ever exist again in the NIL and Portal age. Any iota of loyalty will be for the coach 98% of the time. We have seen what freshmen can do in the tournament when pressure hits just like the ice skater did yesterday in his first Olympics. Most on this board blame the coach for this kind of meltdown but there are some that will rise to the occasion. You may never know who will or won’t until they are placed in the pressure cooker.
Up until Hurley won his first title, he wasn't very good at all and heck, wasn't UConn an 8 seed last year? Had 11 losses.
Hurley's first season at UConn, he went 16-17, no post season tournament.
2nd season, he went 19-12. Mind you, UConn played in the AAC back then, that conference wasn’t exactly 2025 SEC caliber.
Year 3 was better, only 8 losses, but lost in the first round.
Year 4, lost 10 games and again, lost in the first round.
It’s very possible Hurley caught lightning in a bottle those 2 years. Scott Drew did the same thing in 21 and 22, now look at him.
I don't know if Pope will ever win a title, but Pope's first 2 seasons at UK, are going a heck of a lot better than Hurley's first 2 seasons at UConn did.
Same nonsense, different day. All the incessant "Pope isn't good enough" people would have fired Hurley after year 2 (by their very own definition of failing) at Ucon and his success wouldn't have happened. These people just love hearing themselves talk. Armchair QB's know it all.
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i think when a coach goes back to back you can throw previous results out the windowSame nonsense, different day. All the incessant "Pope isn't good enough" people would have fired Hurley after year 2 (by their very own definition of failing) at UCONN and his success wouldn't have happened. These people just love hearing themselves talk. Armchair QB's know it all.
He’s no fan. True fans support the coach.. This guy hates anyone not like him and cowards are what they are
This post is of course, based in truth, which makes the commented on post look even more absurd than it did before
If you look at the composition of teams that win titles and get to Final Fours in the portal era (and even before) doesn’t it suggest that your roster construction method should be flipped? And instead get stud PGs and wing shooters from the portal, and maybe pick up a “talented” OAD role player in high school recruiting.
Yeah, the 20 minutes a game crap is dumb. Moreno is a freshman and gets all the pt he can handle. JJ doesn’t get as much because he hasn’t earned it, although he has been playing more and better of late. Oweh and Aberdeen get all the minutes they want. If Stokes can’t see he would get all of the Oweh’s minutes he wants, he’s blind. PT will not be the reason if he doesn’t pick UK.
Guys its okay. Pope will bring in some 3 star from Kentucky that everyone loves to save us.
Never in my life would I ever foresee large portions of the fan base simp for a coach who's started out his UK career 41-19 with no top ten recruits committed in two cycles.
Pope cannot relate to elite recruits. He needs to fix that by next fall and demonstrate it with actual elite commitments, otherwise he won't make it here.
If you cannot recruit at UK, you should not be at UK.
Pope cannot relate to elite recruits. He needs to fix that by next fall and demonstrate it with actual elite commitments, otherwise he won't make it here.
If you cannot recruit at UK, you should not be at UK.
I was burned out on HS recruiting the last few years under Cal. Mainly because all of our focus was there, and the guys that we were getting later on, weren’t as good as the players that he was getting early on. Got tired of the endless hype.
Fast forward to the Pope era, and I was fine with the retention and portal approach. This year changed my tune on that somewhat. This freshman class has so many elite, difference making freshman in it, that you have to throw a bag at the elite ones, retain some of your roster and fill the rest with key portal pieces.
Every freshman class is different obviously, but we have to become more than a hat on the table of the elite ones. We need a GM in the worst way I believe to achieve this.
Fast forward to the Pope era, and I was fine with the retention and portal approach. This year changed my tune on that somewhat. This freshman class has so many elite, difference making freshman in it, that you have to throw a bag at the elite ones, retain some of your roster and fill the rest with key portal pieces.
Every freshman class is different obviously, but we have to become more than a hat on the table of the elite ones. We need a GM in the worst way I believe to achieve this.
He kind of is missing big in the portal, though. We got turned down by a lot of the elite transfers.
Kentucky got just ONE top35 guy, and that was JQ, who i think we are all realizing got a huge offer from UK when a lot of other teams maybe didnt pursue him all that hard due to injury.
You are not going to win final fours if you cant get a top25 recruit OR a top25 transfer. Forget about our transfer class ranking, because Kentucky is always going to be able to fill the roster with 3 and 4* players.. but we have got to find a way to get a few high end guys or Pope just isnt going to work.
Is next year's class elite like this year? Im still all in on portal over high school recruits. Maybe I'll be proven wrong in March but I still think it will be the upperclassman leading their team to the title like usual. Ament is amazing and Tennessee is having their worst season in years. Maybe the top 5 guys but after that it's really a crapshoot. Stokes kid sounds like another potentially massive headache instead of a savior. Michigan, Iowa St, UConn, Nebraska, Mich St, Gonzaga, Purdue and Florida all built title contenders without relying on freshman.
All of our 2026 commits must be hiding as well.
Then we have to start recruiting better n the portal. Not getting it done there either to compete for a title.
Could be that JMI hurts with top players, as in top 10 - 25 caliber. Football, we don’t get those anyway.
Riddle me this Batman, why does Pope recruit 5th year seniors if he wants system guys?
I get it seems too good to pass up, but Kentucky isn’t hiring coaches 5 year and waking to see if a crappy coach has a miracle. Also, again, the was BEFORE the NIL era. Since the NIL era, he hasn’t skipped a beat. That’s all pre NIL era.
“Let’s all suck for 5 years because that’s what Hurley did before the NIL and somehow won championships” no.That’s not happening here and it doesn’t make sense anyway.
What about the hundreds of average / below average guys who remain average / below average and never improve?
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Popes beginning vision from this team and what he was selling vs. where we are today is hot even remotely the same thing. He was selling something totally different before the season started.
Barnhart and Pope and 22 mil is a story all in and of itself. Just telling everyone, it’s one of the reasons I want a change as fast as we can get on all fronts. Now that’s just my personal hope based off of what I’ve heard and believe it 100%. If Barnhart and those guys are in control of Mark you aren’t winning anything unless you get lucky.
Yeah definitely agree. We shoulda paid whatever it took to get Yaxel instead of Michigan. Get Yaxel instead of wasting money on JQ, BG, etc and we are probably top 10.
Would you say the same thing about Scott Drew? He had the best team in 2020 and won it all in 21. He’s a sh*t coach, he just caught lightning in a bottle.
Hurley did a great job in 23 and 24, but the players on those teams had as much, or more to do with those titles as Hurley did.
Then, Hurley followed those titles up with an 11 loss season and a 2nd round exit.
But, for this excersize, we are talking about Pope in year 2. Why would we compare Pope in year 2, to Hurley in years 7 and 8 at UConn?
In my mind, it's fair to compare resume's from the beginning. Pope was at Utah State and BYU, then UK and Hurley stunk at Rhode Island and he stunk his first 2 years at UConn, that's not going to go away just because he had 2 great years.
We all understand it, this season is not acceptable, but Pope, through injuries, has turned this thing around and we should give him credit.
Take 3 starters off any team and they don't usually win 8 of 9 in a power conference. That's a heck of an accomishment, there aren't many coaches that can do this.
Last point, Pope didn’t have the resume for this job, he shouldn't have been hired, but he’s getting a 3rd year, whether we like it or not. Yes, there are red flags, but there are a lot of blue flags too and to me, the fact that Pope will put UK first, work harder than anyone else and has and intelligent basketball mind, is good enough for me at this point in time.
Lose 10+ games next year, the Pope experiment probably needs to end.
Quaintance was #2 to Lendeborg's #1 ranking. It certainly sucks that he will end up being hurt all year, but we did get the #2 player in the portal. (Or JQ was #10th per 247)
From Quaintance to the top 25, the portal is also hit or miss with players:
#3 is Cluff of Purdue, role player. Also, Wooley, Dent, Ian Jackson, Fland, Thiam, Freeman, Dix, McKneely, Bailey, Folguieras, Watts, Yates, Murphy, Sason, Lee~ all role players.
Stirtz, Haggerty, D Williams, Gillespie, Wright, Reneau, Conwell, Hall, Stojakovic, Demary, Nick Boyd, Hopkins, Wilkerson, D Thomas, Baker-Mazara, Veesaar ~ Stars.
Essentially, Louisville might be smart by getting 2-3 of the top guys. One will work out. One will be a role player.
well no because scott drew hasnt been at the top or near it since the title
uconn has been a legit title contender for a while
to win in this current landscape you have to be an amazing coach or have amazing players