i just don't like lowering the bar because the players aren't anything special
we need to expect the best regardless
we can't be like "well we don't have the best of the best so a elite 8 would be good this year"
BYU Saunders out for year ACL
- Thread starter BlueBloodKyFan73
- Start date
we need to expect the best regardless
we can't be like "well we don't have the best of the best so a elite 8 would be good this year"
Huge loss for them, I hate to see the young men go down to injuries like this.
That said, it looks really tough for BYU now. With games against Arizona, Texas Tech, Iowa State, it doesn't look good for their seeding. I'd say tack on at least 4 or 5 more losses for them. If they can make it to the NCAAT with only 4 more losses, they will have done well, considering this news.
It amazes me Kentucky has done as relatively well with losing so many of our studs.. how Pope has kept the ship afloat last year and this year, with all the injuries, it's a miracle we haven't totally collapsed. Damn thing is, it still could.
Gonna support the Cats' until the bitter end, though ! Next man up !
Go Big Blue !
That said, it looks really tough for BYU now. With games against Arizona, Texas Tech, Iowa State, it doesn't look good for their seeding. I'd say tack on at least 4 or 5 more losses for them. If they can make it to the NCAAT with only 4 more losses, they will have done well, considering this news.
It amazes me Kentucky has done as relatively well with losing so many of our studs.. how Pope has kept the ship afloat last year and this year, with all the injuries, it's a miracle we haven't totally collapsed. Damn thing is, it still could.
Gonna support the Cats' until the bitter end, though ! Next man up !
Go Big Blue !
I challenge the fact that they got better. The got hype because of Dybantsa, but the win loss record is basically exactly where Pope had them and where they’ve been as a program for the last 15 years. There not a great team and were carried by Dybantsa and Saunders. And now without Saunders they’re probably in some trouble.
It’ll be interesting to see how people view the end of their season without Saunders considering that’s kind of what Pope has been dealing with his entire tenure here.
No, Duke did what was expected with the talent they had. Cal, his last several UK seasons and ARK season did not.
"its not a coaches job turn poo into pee" WTF does that even mean?
Easy to get top talent when the Mormon Church has billions surprised they did t buy more talented players than just Rob and AJBYU was only in the BIG12 for Pope’s last year there, before that, they played in the WCC conference. Also, NIL didn’t exist for all those years so Pope and BYU wasn’t able to buy top 5 draft picks to come to a school that doesn’t allow sex or alcohol on their campus. Pope and BYU’s first year in the BIG12, they faired pretty well with zero bought players. All this would require you to actually know stuff about basketball, which you clearly do not.
what i mean is its not coaches jobs to recruit at a low level to surpass expectations
if you have a team that has natty expectations and gets a elite 8 its still and elite 8
if you have a team that is expected to be a 1 tourney win team and they make the elite 8 its still an elite 8
having good players doesnt take away from the result
also why cant we create a roster with matty expectations, because neither of popes rosters had been near that, even with no injuries
Name me one coach who recruits at a low level to surpass expectations.
This is another one of your gems. I almost believe you are trying to say stupid stuff.
at times i feel like pope does, because the only reason he avoids all the criticism is because the players arent great
So your "feels". You actually think that he signed who he did, both seasons, so no one would expect to win? Seriously?
The job the coach did is more impressive. Inconceivable that you cant grasp this
yes but if the result is the same does it really
matter
the coaches job especially at uk is to build a roster to win it all
and when the roster isnt built to win it all us as fans cant be like "well lets just get 20 wins and a couple tourney wins"
I just had this happen with someone else. Davtay weren’t you a huge Calipari supporter until the very last day? I know Chattanooga was, cardsstink (wrestling wcw guy) and quite a few others were. I thought you were too?
Because we’ve gotten into this space where the same guys who attacked constantly over most of us saying Calipari needed to go, are now doing the same thing with Pope and acting like they were not for Calipari the entire time. It’s a common theme of backing coaches no matter what.
I’m just curious I thought you also backed Calipari until the last minute? I know the others did just wondering I thought you did too.
I would be embarrassed if I pissed away as much talent as Cal has.
How do you lose to Oakland, Saint Peters, Evansville, UNCW and Kansas state with lottery picks and first rounders coming off the bench?
We're roasting Pope because he can't get talent, but Cal got more talent than everyone not named coach K.
How anyone can try to defend Cal, is crazy to me.
Who, Cal? Jeez, he can't win anytbing big with NBA talent these days, he better keep getting it, because I would hate to see what would happen if he didn't get it.
Had three NBA talents on that 2021 team and went 9-21. Wow.
We all know I wanted him out after 2018. Most of the guys backing Pope also backed Calipari until the last second of that tells you anything though.
The thing about caliapri is he needed to go, but you certainly don’t run him out to hire a Mark Pope. He’s not qualified. This was a control hire by Mitch Barnhart and he’s been in control the entire time and that’s not going to work here. What saved Kentucky, was Calipari being powerful enough to keep Mitch out of basketball affairs. With Mark, Mitch is the guy in full control. You’ve got Pope calling shots on the floor, Mitch calling shots behind the scenes. I am absolutely not going to support that. We’ll never win. With Barnhart’s vision, we’ve got 0 final fours in 23 years. We’ve got a guy who took over after the 90’s pinnacle and ran it into the ground. Make no mistake, Pope is that guys choice. I don’t have to post his record.
Calipari also had a pedigree and was highly qualified to coach at Kentucky. It was just time to go. This isn’t a binary choice. You need Calipari to retire, and you don’t follow that up with pope.
Yeah, but when you have a Porsche and you keep losing to Ford Econoline vans, you're going to get critisized.
"How do you lose to Oakland, Saint Peters, Evansville, UNCW and Kansas state with lottery picks and first rounders coming off the bench?" BECAUSE HES A BAD COACH
if pope had that talent i bet hed win one
I'm trying to figure out how they're losing so many games. They've very talented, but they have been crumbling. Losing Saunders isn’t going to help, that's for sure.
Personally, I will always believe Calipari was throwing games in his own way. He was into it with the boosters and wasn’t getting demands met. He thought with his contract he could strong arm. “You want to win, give me what I want”. You don’t ever offer a guy like Calipari that kind of power in a contract. Again, Mitch. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. He cannot operate at this level with psychopaths like Calipari, Oats, Golden, coach K, whoever. He’s not able to wade in those waters.
Calipari has always been believed to be a guy who will throw a game, 2008 Memphis / Missouri. Nobody thinks that game was up and up.
The second he leaves Calipari is seconds from an elite 8, mind you. And Calipari never loses games like he was losing here at the end so….
Calipari has always been believed to be a guy who will throw a game, 2008 Memphis / Missouri. Nobody thinks that game was up and up.
The second he leaves Calipari is seconds from an elite 8, mind you. And Calipari never loses games like he was losing here at the end so….
do u realize weve become the ford econoline
ppl hate on cal for getting only 1 title and some final fours in 15 years here, but fail to see that with pope we might not get any of taht
No, you're twisting what was said. Nobody crushed Cal for "only getting to the sweet 16". He was critisized for losing 10+ games with a roster loaded with NBA talent and barely getting in as an 11 seed. He lost by 30 to a South Carolina team that didn't even get to the NIT.
See, when you lie, it kills your argument.
The run Arkansas went on in the NCAAT, was great, until Cal did what Cal always does and found a way to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.
Yea this is the issue. You don’t follow up losing to Ford Econoline by hiring a Ford Econoline. That’s the worry, that’s the entire issue. Pope hadn’t even won a tournament game when he came here. Mitch hired him for a reason. We’ve got JMI issues and he needs a control hire. Pope is not going to dominate at Kentucky. That’s not who is he and it’s not what he’s hired for. And anyone who supports the mediocrity is going to give Mitch exactly what he wants and why he hired him. “90’s nostalgia, Mark is so nice, ignore the results”.
Pay no attention to how far we’ve fallen and how bad the JMI deal was. Focus on Mark, his family, and the 90’s uniforms”.
"He was critisized for losing 10+ games with a roster loaded with NBA talent"
so literally us right now but without talent
If we have a healthy Butler and Robinson, who knows how far UK gets. Injuries to key players do matter, if they didn't, UK doesn’t lose to Robert Morris in the NIT in 2013.
To be perfectly honest, I was supportive until the Oakland game. I could understand in a one loss tourney, that an upset could happen (even K had one), so while extremely unhappy with St. Peters loss I know it sometimes happens. (UK against Middle Tenn. and UAB in the early 80s). I also wasn't happy with the loss to K State. Cal absolutely wasted Oscars years, but the last seasons team I was excited about. Then, Oakland. I was done. I should have been earlier.
This situation I feel is different. Cal had checked out. I honestly do think that taking over with 0 players and the injuries it is too soon to know if Pope is the right fit.
I usually don’t lie about it, we’ve lost so many players im usually like well fine, now you see what we have to endure for 15 years. But I don’t hate BYU and Saunders was really solid. I wish we had him.
Gotcha. Thanks for being honest, the Chattanooga guy just flat out lied right through his teeth.
honestly, if recruiting was better, and the same 10 year record wasn’t happening, I’d be good with another year and waiting patiently. I’m ready to call it but he’s getting another year so, here’s to hoping I’m wrong. I feel like with UK basketball I rarely am though.
i domt like arguing but ill just sum up my points, i love pope as an xs and os coach, im way higher on him than most
matter of fact i think 17-8 with this roster is genuinely impressive
last season i was asking people i knew if we would even make the tournament, and we made a s16, so hes a great coach
the good thing about pope is the same thing that haunts him, he elevates nearly every player he gets which is great, but you can only get so much out of these guys, these last 2 rosters just didnt have it and popes COACHING isnt the reason why, he just cant get those guys that fake you from a top 30 team to a top 10 team
Just for the record, K had two in a three year stretch just like Cal did. Since 2012 they both had two first round upset losses, one title, another Final Four each, and an awful Covid season where they missed the tournament.
Yes but..when a team hires a coach in APRIL, the team usually has something...anything...to work with coming in. A couple of starters...a few subs...part of a recruiting class...SOMETHING. You can't hand a chef a pile of **** and ask him to make a 5 Star meal
I'd also like to add, that I do not believe I ever attacked anyone. I offered my opinion, and maybe defended the wrong position ultimately, but I don't believe I ever sought out anyone to "attack". I may have responded with kind in some threads. If it was taken as such, I apologize, it is all good natured message board banter.
POPE HAD TIME chaz lanier was out there, jeremiah fears, will riley, there were plenty of difference makers still out there, i think pope did an okay job at builder that roster and we had an okay season
this season he had no excuses and build very poorly
and for year three hes missed on about everyone lol
Could be wrong, I believe what he’s saying is because everyone always hit on Calipari for doing less with more, some are now giving Pope a pass for doing less with less? As in, say, since he didn’t get good players, it’s okay to lose?
My hope is that by next year, everyone just accepts if Pope isn’t dominant he’s not UK caliber and apply the pressure to have him removed. It’ll take Barnhart another year or 2 to actually do it anyway. I want to remind everyone of a Barnhart comment around the time we hired Mark and the recruiting issues were being confronted.
“winning is important, but”.
His goal in hiring Mark isn’t really about continuing the blue blood excellence. I’m hoping by the end of next season the boosters sour even more and force a change. I know there’s already been a souring with some based on several factors.
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