USA Today Artical.....It's Not Good
- Thread starter jedwar
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Sensationalist article. Really good for getting clicks. Kentucky is not and never will be a football school. Even if we became elite at football --- if I say 1984, most Kentuckians have little remembrance or regard for what happened that year in football. However, I guarantee you almost every Kentuckian of a certain age can tell you who was on that basketball team, some of the highlights/lowlights and how it ended to Georgetown. That type of history is just different.
Well, on one hand I am happy we beat TN twice (I live here so there is that). On the other hand, these losses that are unexpected are piling up, and our defense sucks because I guess we refuse to teach it.
IMO for Pope to stay for next year he needs to win at least 4 of the next 5 and go on runs in both tourneys. If not lets just move on, I am 2 old to go through another mediocre year. Maybe that is 2 harsh and he needs 1 more year regardless. Heck if I know I am just an unreasonable fan wanting TO WIN! aren't we all?
IMO for Pope to stay for next year he needs to win at least 4 of the next 5 and go on runs in both tourneys. If not lets just move on, I am 2 old to go through another mediocre year. Maybe that is 2 harsh and he needs 1 more year regardless. Heck if I know I am just an unreasonable fan wanting TO WIN! aren't we all?
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After IU’s historic football season I will never say never again. My concern is that we will not be a football or basketball school.
Nah bro. There's a whole bunch of us spending multiple hours a day still talking UK basketball on here. We won't ever let that happen, no matter how much we disagree on small things. It matters here --- still a whole lot.
The last 7-8 years we haven't even resembled a basketball school. The only thing we have accomplished anything in has been Volleyball. I think Stein will do an excellent job on the football side. On the basketball side Cal's last 6-7 years and now Pope's 2 years we have not lived up to our basketball brand.
I don’t really get the point of that article, especially since we stink at football right now. Don’t you have to do better than 4-8 and 5-7 seasons to become a “football school”?
UK basketball still easily beats UK football, even if the margin of difference ain’t quite as large as it once was.
UK basketball still easily beats UK football, even if the margin of difference ain’t quite as large as it once was.
far from depressing, its pointless and clickbait
I still see that 3-33 in my head. You are spot on with your post.
What that dope writer doesn’t get is that it’s not just about how you’re doing right now.
Our status as a basketball school is firmly established by 8 national championships, the all time wins record, and BY FAR the largest and most passionate CBB fan base. It doesn’t go away because of a few down seasons.
Our status as a basketball school is firmly established by 8 national championships, the all time wins record, and BY FAR the largest and most passionate CBB fan base. It doesn’t go away because of a few down seasons.
Our status as a basketball school might be intact, but our reputation and tradition are taking a big hit.
Nebraska football? UCLA basketball? IU basketball? USC football? Cal State Fullerton baseball? All these programs were once regarded as some of the best in their sport but not so much these days.
UK Basketball is not feared as it once was or regarded as "Camelot" as someone once said. The shine does not shine so bright these days.
UK is at a place that it has been before and when it was all said and done, UK Basketball shined once again.
Question is now, when does the polishing start?
Talking is nice, but we don't hang banners or get media clout for talking on a message board.
Ah man. That’s a very good point. I hadn’t even considered that — you really must be a hyper-intellectual.
We can thank our great AD for destroying Kentucky Basketball!
Crazy but i almost read your last line as "because of a few DOZEN down seasons". Subconcious i guess.
I think we way overplay 8 national titles. Other blue-bloods have won one and some even 2 since our last title. I think fans like you are hanging on to the dream that was UK basketball. Despite Uconn not having the history, they have more recent history than us. Find a person under 25 that thinks UK basketball is better than Uconn. You likely won't. It's what have you done for me lately and with UK basketball, its not much. You think fans outside of the state have any reverance for Rupp's Runts? The Fab Five? Hell, the Untouchables? They don't. We need to win, and win now.
Hopefully Mitch reads this article in his physical copy of USA Today.
It’s true. I’m getting apathetic toward bball, but really excited about football. Pope is piling up losses. With nothing to look forward to. We missed on all our high school recruits and last year showed we can’t compete on the transfer portal (ended up losing on most of our top targets).
If 30 wins n 2019 and a possession away from the final four and then winning the sec by 3 games n 2020 are not considered living up to the brand then I guess you think onlu final four seasons or better live up to the brand.
We need to stop lumping n 2019 and 2020 with the last 4 truly crappy Cal years. I think it's a but lazy. We were never gonna sustain 4 final fours n 5 season like he did his first 6 seasons.
And this falls solely on Mitch. Someone I work with is a season ticket holder and he told me that Mitch doesn't want to retire soon so he can make sure Pope gets a fair shot. He said take it with a grain of salt.
PLEASE. LET THIS NOT BE TRUE
That is precisely what I'm afraid of. He will stay to dig in and try to force this to work.
You say that but this board isn’t remotely the size that it used to be. A lot of that is because On3 has basically killed it but even at Rivals it had shrunk.
The very fact that we have people on here defending Pope and saying he needs more time is proof enough that it could happen here. Some people have no clue when to cut their losses. Not to mention Brainfart is still here and as long as he’s picking coaches we will never be worth a ****.
A “few” down seasons? We are coming up on a decade straight of down seasons by UK standards.
We are going to become a football school if posters aren't negative all the time......let that sink in...that's literally what some of you all are saying...
And btw my point was just that Kentucky basketball fans still care alot about basketball. I don't care about comparing message board numbers to previous eras when this is largely dying as a communication tool. As long as fans want Kentucky basketball to be great, I can't imagine becoming a football school.
That was a fun football season. Joe Worley was one good kicker. That bomb he hit at the end of the Hall of Fame bowl was exciting.
Honestly I’m afraid that’s what’s happening. Matt Jones said back in December that Mitch had to let UK know by January of his intention to retire, a 6 month notice, to be able to get that deal where he’s paid a large payout just to basically be a consultant or whatever for the AD’s office for the next two years.
Could he have given notice without word getting out? I guess it’s possible but I highly doubt it given the amount of people that want his *** gone. Word would leak and spread immediately I would think.
Great post I agree. What should I get lost as we have had quite a few drought periods in our history I'm pretty much been written off. That includes after rep left and the probation scandal and bcg tenure. But what is also true as we've come back from all those. As we will again.
He is the root of the problem and needs to retire. Even if he fires Pope after this year, I don't trust his pick after Pope. Mitch is single handily making our program on track to become Indiana
What’s there to be positive about though? And you say negative but I say it’s just being realistic.
Yes a lot of people still care but there has ABSOLUTELY been apathy that has already started to set in with the fanbase. Covid showed people just how much they could go without certain things in life. It’s why certain parts of the entertainment industry has never reached the popularity or numbers it would do prior to Covid. UL basketball is a perfect example of what happens when a program goes in the toilet for too long. They have to beg people to come to games now and they’re better than they’ve been in years.
As for message boards, yes it’s a dying tool, but UK has a very large older fanbase. The type that isn’t on Twitter, discord and so on. They still use forums because that’s what they’ve always done. If the dumpster fire the last 7-8 years doesn’t happen then i guarantee this board wouldn’t have shrank the way it did.
I think there are definitely truths to what you’re saying. I just don’t agree with the conclusions of yourself or the article. I also wholly reject the notion that posters’ dispositions mean anything one way or another about whether we become a football school. And yes, there is absolutely a need for honest assessment and not sugarcoating things but a lot of folks won’t listen to reason. We lose to freaking Georgia and it means the issue is “recruiting.” What how did Georgia’s recruiting match up to ours? No one cares…the answer is recruiting. If you don’t agree, you’re the problem. Wait…I’m just trying to find real answers….No, agree or you’re the problem. This is fanatical behavior but it’s proof we still care. Apathy in places? Sure. But if we were a 1 seed next year, most everything would be firing again.
Our fans don’t understand that either. The present is never guaranteed to stay the same, good or bad. There’s a reason 1993-98 and 2010-2015 are more of a historical anomaly for us than the norm. We are never dominant for ling periods of time. We’ve just been consistently good to great for almost 100 years. That can’t be erased by an NIT, a 7 seed or even 9-16.
In this new era things can improve (or go south) from one year to the next. If Pope ain’t the guy, the next guy could plausibly win a title year one or be even worse than Pope. Too many variables to definitively state we’re doomed for the next decade, although historically, we very well continue to be mediocre until the 2030s. (Check out our success in the 60s,80s, 2000s, 2020s vs 50s,70s, 90s, 2010s). History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.
Eh I still think 2019 was sort of embarrassing. We lost to Duke by 100. And we choked against Auburn in a very winnable Elite 8 game without Auburns best player if I remember correctly. Just like we lost to Kansas St in 2018 without their best player...embarassing.
2020 yes we were good, I think we were a projected 2 seed...so yeah we had a shot. But Kansas was the overall #1 that year, and Duke was projected to be a 1 seed too, those are the teams that really got screwed.
Recruiting is a big issue? First recruiting class he gets a pass, but this year’s team isn’t very talented as a whole. I’m not sure why our portal class was ranked as high as it was honestly. At this point I don’t even see how that’s even debatable that recruiting is a problem at this point. I’ve read where you’ve insinuated it’s not recently, but I don’t understand where you’re coming from at all.
