I mean just look at the nasty stuff said about Lowe. It started out as fair criticsm by the OP and then a bunch of of rabid dogs showed up, as always, to mark their territory. Who dresses these people???
We Have Turned On Each Other
- Thread starter ala_kat2
- Start date
I’d love nothing more than fans to be able to discuss and debate these topics in a way that wasn’t riddled in vitriol and personal insults. I have immense amount of respect for the moderators here, and both of the ones I know of are beyond over it on Pope, which is completely fair and understandable. However, if they want to keep this the go to water cooler for Kentucky basketball, it would help if they would at least police things some to allow the minority opinions as well, even if they disagree with those opinions.
Example, you have one poster who didn’t get a timeout and is still posting here everyday who within the last week literally wished death on MB. I’m not a Barnhart guy and I’ve made that clear, but that’s about 10x too far. He was asked if he was serious and he double, even triple downed on it without any repercussions. Something like that needs policing, if even a short timeout to say, “Hey bro, we can’t wish literal death on people here.”
Back to topic about Pope, there’s an insane amount of personal insults and direct attacks if you say something positive about Pope. That shouldn’t be the case. I don’t support pro-Pope people doing it to the Fire Pope crowd and I don’t support it the other way. Something as simple as moderators posting a set of rules on this site that people have to follow would be a good thing. If we policed ourselves better, we wouldn’t need it but we don’t. I had to take a few days off myself, because of the repeated comments from many posters blaming fans for the fall of Kentucky basketball. There were posts calling us “cucks”, saying that anyone who wants a year three obviously is a troll, a coach shill or an idiot. That’s not how to engage in conversation at all.
A lot of this is why I’m posting more on KSR+ under a different name (couldn’t add the subscription to this one for some reason.) I look forward to engaging here but it’s going to become more and more infrequent unless there can be some level of civility.
We really are fans of the same school. We live and die by the same results. That should unite us even in our heated debates.
Example, you have one poster who didn’t get a timeout and is still posting here everyday who within the last week literally wished death on MB. I’m not a Barnhart guy and I’ve made that clear, but that’s about 10x too far. He was asked if he was serious and he double, even triple downed on it without any repercussions. Something like that needs policing, if even a short timeout to say, “Hey bro, we can’t wish literal death on people here.”
Back to topic about Pope, there’s an insane amount of personal insults and direct attacks if you say something positive about Pope. That shouldn’t be the case. I don’t support pro-Pope people doing it to the Fire Pope crowd and I don’t support it the other way. Something as simple as moderators posting a set of rules on this site that people have to follow would be a good thing. If we policed ourselves better, we wouldn’t need it but we don’t. I had to take a few days off myself, because of the repeated comments from many posters blaming fans for the fall of Kentucky basketball. There were posts calling us “cucks”, saying that anyone who wants a year three obviously is a troll, a coach shill or an idiot. That’s not how to engage in conversation at all.
A lot of this is why I’m posting more on KSR+ under a different name (couldn’t add the subscription to this one for some reason.) I look forward to engaging here but it’s going to become more and more infrequent unless there can be some level of civility.
We really are fans of the same school. We live and die by the same results. That should unite us even in our heated debates.
Name me another team that lost 3 starters, or even 3 of their top 10 players and did anything worth a damn. Did they even make the tournament and if so, did they do it while playing in a league like this SEC?
Team's that quit, don't beat Arkansas in Fayetteville, or Tennessee in Knoxville. I didn't see our guys quit yesterday and I didn't see them quit in the other 2 Florida games. They didn't quit both times UT had us down big either.
This team was broken for the first half of the season. It had locker room issues. Cal had a team like that and so did Tubby. But Pope saved it through serious injury problems. Again, this isn’t a video game.
Pope was a mess this year, but last year, he showed he can beat anyone. Everyone forgets that.
Does he have things to work on? Absolutely and I believe he will do everything possible to fix those issues. Will it be good enough? I dunno, but it's his career and the ball is in his court. If he fails, he's out, it's that simple.
I feel better about this situation than the one we were in with Cal. That guy held us hostage, we were lucky to get out of it, but with Pope, it's pretty simple, win big in 26/27, or you're out.
Last edited:
Yay, another year added to your boys contract. Sweet 16s do nothing at UK. No fan is getting excited about that but ones like you with no expectations. Pope should decline the additional year if he was as good a person as some of you claim and truly "knows the assignment." A sweet 16 with 14 losses isn't the assignment.
And nice fantasy about what we would have done against FL at full strength. Florida would continue to toy with UK. They are way better and have an immensely better coach.
I don’t care what someone does but when it gets to the point where they want their gaslit viewpoints accepted that I won’t do. Like Marks record, I’m not going to pretend the data is anything else. Tell the truth there aren’t problems. Be objective. I’ve even said if you’re someone who doesn’t manipulate reality and want to see a third year I don’t agree, he should be removed now, but that’s fine. But then to go around acting like Kentucky fans who see this for what it is, and see how bad of a coach this is, are out of place, I won’t do.
Not one site had JQ playing half the year. I don’t know where something like this got started, but some reports had him possibly coming back by February. Most said maybe sometime in January. That’s not half a year.
And that injury isn’t something that you spring back 100% anywhere close to half the season. And you’re always at risk of going back down, we knew this when he was recruited. JQ was likely only at UK under Pope because everyone backed off. They knew he wanted the NBA. Pope took him because he needed recruiting momentum not to be an impact.
Even here everyone said sometime in January / February.
Sort of. Except now we have an influx of 12 post goobers flooding in to a mess of a forum that is for discussing everything from Kentucky sports (all of them) to music to gyro. At the very ******* least before this season you could escape it by checking in on football news or heading over to be embarrassed by what your neighbors are saying in off-topic.
Exactly. We loved the 14-14 team. Pope doesn’t know what he’s doing and he’s an absolute embarrassment. Nobody will be taking a wait and see approach next season when they see oh wow, it’s the same it’s been for going on FIFTEEN YEARS. I guess he had a bum leg guy and a high volume low % losing career guard go down every year….
I think some of these guys forget, Pope isn’t a young coach lol. Look at your SAMPLE SIZE.
Like I said Barnhart and the administration went on a gaslighting campaign man. And it’s gonna take a second.
I’m not calling anyone out and respectful of their opinions but I just want my team to be feared by opponents again.
Pope never passed the eye test to me and I believe Barnhart thought he was smarter than anyone else so here we are, stuck with this guy.
Thanks to the Popes former teammates and fans into nostalgia we won’t fire this guy.
Pope never passed the eye test to me and I believe Barnhart thought he was smarter than anyone else so here we are, stuck with this guy.
Thanks to the Popes former teammates and fans into nostalgia we won’t fire this guy.
Jaland Iverson and Jayden O'neal would have sonned Florida. Just look how they owned Alabama and Gonzaga. Who could forget Jayden Chamberlain's performance against Bellarmine. No doubt in my mind we'd win 2 out of 3.
Yea, the injuries are only a good excuse when good players are hurt. JQ was offered a place here and coach fully knew he may not play much. Lowe just isn’t very good.
I guarantee I have higher expectations than you, don't even dare come at me like that, you know better. I got booted off here because I went after Cal for losing and not caring.
I want a sweet 16, or better, because I literally have a mancave built for March madness, it's my favorite time of year and since 2021, we have won 3 f*cking games.
Not only that, but I'm also thinking about our lead over Kansas. We need to protect that.
In my opinion, you hoping we lose, is the very definition of someone that is not a fan. That's pretty pathetic and you know what, Pope getting to a sweet 16 doesn’t save his job.
False, most people thought the latest would be sec play. No way pope would have gone for JQ if he'd seen this current situation coming.
Sounds like some of you all need a safe space. Maybe start your own Facebook group?
As others have pointed out, blind loyalty and kool-aid drinking positivity HURTS the program. It doesn't make you better fans, although it may give some of you some unearned holier-than-thou sense of sense of self worth.
What makes Kentucky basketball special is that the fans expect and demand success. There's not a bigger pressure cooker in the sport, and that's one of the reasons why all of our head coaches are paid lavishly. Some coaches can't handle the pressure and expectations here. But there are coaches who can and with the money and power of this fan base behind them they can reach staggering heights of success, accolades, and absurd money.
The more and more the blind homers keep swallowing mediocrity and celebrating it, the more and more the Kentucky basketball program keeps slipping. My god, look at Indiana. That's what this program can become if our fans don't hold the head coach and administration accountable and instead remain blindly loyal.
We had fans acting like the SEC Tournament was kind of a success. Why? Because we scraped by some 15-16 LSU team and took down the basketball powerhouse that is Missouri? Beating LSU and Missouri should be the BARE MINIMUM expectation for any head coach at Kentucky. Is that unfair? If they think so, they're free to go elsewhere where they'll probably make less money, undoubtedly have less money to spend in the portal, and won't matter near as much.
And if Kentucky fans are honest with themselves, they know where Pope falls at in terms of which coaches and which personalities can handle the pressure here or not. He practically sounds like he's getting ready to break down into tears every time he's interviewed after a loss. I honestly thought he should've been on a suicide watch after the MSU game. You'd think he'd get better at putting on a brave face considering he loses so much...
As others have pointed out, blind loyalty and kool-aid drinking positivity HURTS the program. It doesn't make you better fans, although it may give some of you some unearned holier-than-thou sense of sense of self worth.
What makes Kentucky basketball special is that the fans expect and demand success. There's not a bigger pressure cooker in the sport, and that's one of the reasons why all of our head coaches are paid lavishly. Some coaches can't handle the pressure and expectations here. But there are coaches who can and with the money and power of this fan base behind them they can reach staggering heights of success, accolades, and absurd money.
The more and more the blind homers keep swallowing mediocrity and celebrating it, the more and more the Kentucky basketball program keeps slipping. My god, look at Indiana. That's what this program can become if our fans don't hold the head coach and administration accountable and instead remain blindly loyal.
We had fans acting like the SEC Tournament was kind of a success. Why? Because we scraped by some 15-16 LSU team and took down the basketball powerhouse that is Missouri? Beating LSU and Missouri should be the BARE MINIMUM expectation for any head coach at Kentucky. Is that unfair? If they think so, they're free to go elsewhere where they'll probably make less money, undoubtedly have less money to spend in the portal, and won't matter near as much.
And if Kentucky fans are honest with themselves, they know where Pope falls at in terms of which coaches and which personalities can handle the pressure here or not. He practically sounds like he's getting ready to break down into tears every time he's interviewed after a loss. I honestly thought he should've been on a suicide watch after the MSU game. You'd think he'd get better at putting on a brave face considering he loses so much...
JQ wasn’t even in the portal that long. Who backed off? This is news to me.
Fact is, JQ wanted UK. He signed with UK out of HS, then Cal left, but as soon as the portal opened, he jumoed in and he wanted UK, I never heard of any other school even being considered. Kid is a UK fan.
Also, he was 100% expected to be on the court by late December/early January. Again, it's not a risk I would have taken, but I understand why Pope took him. If it worked out, we would be pretty damn good in the front court.
Hell man I read on here guys that are apparently in the profession itself said it could be all the way to February. There were reports at the time that said expect it sometime in January. So that all I saw, if you’ve got a timeline that we’d better then that I’d like to see it.
Pope never once insinuated he’d be ready before sometime in January or February. He was even practicing.
UK basketball facebook is hilarious. 800 boomers saying they'll never support UK again if they fire Mark Pope.
Nobody said Pope was a young guy, but how long has he been coaching at a power 4 school? Only a few years.
Also, last year, the SEC was, by the numbers, the best conference in the history of college ball and through injuries, Pope coached his best season ever, got a 3 seed and won 2 games in the tournament.
I keep seeing comments about Pope being the same coach he's always been, what previous year did he do anything close to what he did last year?
And injuries matter, especially when your star pg (Butler) pf (Carr), sf (Robinson) go down.
Also, I know you hate Lowe and JQ, but this team is greatly improved with both those guys. Not good enough to be title worthy most likely (we'll never know), but we wouldn’t have 13 losses if we had those 2 guys.
Show me another team in the history of cbb that lost 3 guys and even made the tournament.
I understand completely why he took him. It makes total sense. Pope cannot land NBA elite level players. He’s been coaching near 15 years and never has landed any. JQ was an opportunity to get a guy at that level. He was trying to get recruiting momentum.
I don’t think we know which teams backed off, but they obviously did. With Pope / JMI, he can’t take players away from just about anyone. The best he did was a few bench players from SEC teams, and as we see, they weren’t the impact players they had. Florida didn’t miss a beat without Aberdeen. MO wasn’t a key player at Alabama. Mark needed the recruiting momentum he didn’t take JQ thinking much more imo. Also we’d have to look back, but I believe UNC did in fact back off JQ. I remember they had interests. Other than that I don’t remember many high profile teams involved. But like I said had they really wanted him I doubt JQ would have allowed Pope to land and JMI to handcuff. It’s the best deal they could get
JQ’s father was also a major problem for programs I’m sure. But nah there weren’t a massive list of programs willing to pay out for JQ, a player who might not ever play, and if he did, might not be 100%, or who might not want to risk injury. Either way, he’s not some guy that went down mid season during an all star run. JQ wasn’t even that good to begin with, guy is offensively challenged.
The idea that guys like JQ who were recruited injured, or Lowe who’s not an elite level guard, or Kam who was terrible most of the year and not an elite level player were going to make UK elite makes no sense. We can all say “hey maybe they’d be Jordan we don’t know!” But it’s not accurate to their history as players.
This doesn’t touch Mark’s abysmal coaching, head scratching subbing, never reined in guys who stopped offensive flow all year. His usage of Chandler when he was turning into the best shooter in the league is flat out incompetence. There are a lot more issues than just the injuries, but those guys playing Kentucky still isn’t elite. It’s irrelevant. 13 year sample size man, the data shows Mark is a bad-mid level coach.
He did get a sweet 16 last season which is different than his previous record. That’s the only reason I held up, but the JMI contract wasn’t in play last season. Now you’ve got JMI + Mark Pope abilities and that equals disaster
Mark might be able at times to produce decent basketball, but he’s never in 13 years shown he has any ability to be elite. You can look anywhere at his past record, not one indication you’ll find that says this guy can be elite. Mark is mid on his best days minus a few wins against better teams. Where does any of this equate to UK level coach?
Bottom line, not one single UK fan on here is happy about the state of affairs. Nobody is happy with the losing, the injuries, the substitution patterns, the recruiting and getting swept by Florida, but why attack those that are not foaming at the mouth and are doing nothing but hoping Pope figures it out?
I gotta tell you guys, you fire Pope and don't get Pearl/Oats/Otzelberger etc… we'll be rolling the dice on another guy that could be worse than Pope. Be careful what you wish for. Sorry, but the guys that are proven, aren’t coming here.
I gotta tell you guys, you fire Pope and don't get Pearl/Oats/Otzelberger etc… we'll be rolling the dice on another guy that could be worse than Pope. Be careful what you wish for. Sorry, but the guys that are proven, aren’t coming here.
One could also make the argument that it's unreasonable fans like you that have the program in this mess. There's a reason why coaches keep turning us down. Perhaps it's you. That ******** game you're playing can go both ways.
Did you call them and ask? "Nobody is coming to UK, a school that just dropped 20 million on a roster, no coach wants those resources, because the fans are too mean. So, we should just be happy with Pope. Yeah he loses 12-15 games a year. But he's the best we can get". Disappointed, Jeff.
Okay, but you keep saying he's the same coach he's always been. That's just not true. Butler, Carr and JR were all hurt, or out and the SEC was a Royal rumble. Pope did an exceptional job considering the circumstances that nobody can deny.
This year… .totally sucks. He lost this team and it was flawed to begin with. That happened to Cal and Tubby too.
Yeah, if he can ever figure out how to sustain consistency, he could be really good. I've never seen a coach have such high highs, then follow them up with ridiculous lows. He needs to fix that and if he doesn't, he’s out, no doubt in my mind.
Like I said in a previous post, firing Pope will he easy, a whole lot easier than getting rid of Cal. I thought we were stuck with Cal for 5 or 6 more years.
Who turned us down, except Drew and Hurley? Is that why coaches keep turning down, Alabama, the cowboys, eagles, steelers, packers, cardinals, yankees, giants, dodgers, Notre dame, Boston, and Ohio State? Or are UK fans the worst ever?
So, are you saying there's zero chance we strike out on all the candidates that are proven?
You can guarantee we won't end up rolling the dice on another Mark Pope?
Give me your list of guys you know would leave their current program and come to UK.
The alternative is we keep Pope because we are afraid of being told no? That's the same mentality Calipari's troops had.
All of this. You have people touting the wins over Arkansas and Tennessee, but leave out what happened immediately after those games. After winning those games, they come back and lose 5 out of the next 7 to end the regular season. And that is Mark Pope in a nutshell. Capable of producing a big win, but totally incapable of going on a sustained run. Hence, his 63% winning percentage. It’s who he is and it’s not gonna change.
1. Some can’t handle others having their own opinions and not be accepting of theirs.
2. If you’re going to be here, have thicker skin. Yes, some things are over the top but much of it is ignorable.
3. The issue is the non-truth tellers and gaslighters that attack and derail. The ones that only go after others in about every response they have. That’s going to be addressed. The forum is for respectful opinions, not constant bickering and attacking of others. Who cares if someone has their view and won’t accept yours.
4. This is a really busy forum. Many things are missed simply due to the traffic pace. If you see something and have concerns, please report it. All eyes will see it then.
2. If you’re going to be here, have thicker skin. Yes, some things are over the top but much of it is ignorable.
3. The issue is the non-truth tellers and gaslighters that attack and derail. The ones that only go after others in about every response they have. That’s going to be addressed. The forum is for respectful opinions, not constant bickering and attacking of others. Who cares if someone has their view and won’t accept yours.
4. This is a really busy forum. Many things are missed simply due to the traffic pace. If you see something and have concerns, please report it. All eyes will see it then.
Drew, Hurley, Oates exed us before even being offered, Donovan turned us down twice. And yeah, fans like you make us one of the worst.
Drew's wife turned it down, Hurley said no, Oats was never offered (his own words) and put out a statement for recruiting. Donovan turned us down 25 years ago. I can't take a guy named Phillip serious. Sorry.
That's such BS. Dumb Mitch went after literally 3 guys.
Surprised to see Jeff eat up Mitch Barnhart propaganda. "We got turned down by every coach in America. Except Mark Pope. He's the best and only we can do. So just rally around the flag. The fans are too mean".
Mitch was sure he had his friend Drew locked in and when it failed he threw a panic offer at Hurley and went after Pope because he knew the nostalgia crap would lure some in.
People swear up and down Oats said no. Even though, per his own words, he was never offered.
Then put me on ignore and stop responding to me. It would make my week if I never had to deal with the worst poster on this board again.
Offered or contacted in back channels? He was 'likely' contacted thru his agent, but you or I will never know.
I read folks saying he would not be ready at all, so those folks seem the most accurate. My point is pope would not have had the medical staff and jq bust their *** if he would have seen the current situation in advance.