I'll deal with real injuries for this kid and guys like Butler any day of the week as opposed to "swollen knee" aka lack of heart and balls.
BB - Washington Center Kepnang commits to UK
- Thread starter BlueBloodKyFan72
- Start date
It’s not even close, BCG is miles worse.
You cant just compare records like so many people are trying to do. Pope had to play top 3 and 4 SOS's in a time where college basketball is more physical and so much more competitive than it used to be.
Billy G and Cal played against extremely weak competition and during a time when the SEC was terrible.
Saying Pope is one of the worst coaches at UK is a weird statement anyway. I mean, look at the rest of the coaches he is being compared to. Most coaches in the history of college ball wouldn’t be better than Rupp, Hall, Sutton, Pitino, Tubby and/or Cal either.
But, we're judging Pope after year 2, after a bad year, where he still made the tournament, against everyone else's best years. Tubby and RP never went to an NIT, but Pope hasn't either. Cal, Hall, Sutton and BCG did.
Truth is, you guys are solely focusing on the negative and ignoring any of the positives. Pope's first year was very good. Had some ups and downs, some injuries and ultimately a sweet 16 after getting a 3 seed. You may not like this, but that is within the standard for UK, especially considering the injuries and the SOS.
Year 1 was a success, year 2 was a failure and every coach in UK's history had at least 1 failure of a season. BCG had 2 seasons here, both were massive failures. Compare Pope's worst to all the other coaches in our history and compare the SOS' and the parity. Today's college basketball us so much more competitive than.it has ever been and Pope, at his worst, still got a 7 seed and a win. Can any other coach say that?
Lastly, what will you say if Pope gets to the E8 this year with less than 10 losses? You guys are piling on worse than we did BCG and I don't understand why. He's nowhere near as bad as you guys are making him out to be.
It’s been well documented that Pope and Hart disagreed often on substitution patterns during games this year. And after Brooks and Hart left we were told that one left voluntarily and the other was asked to move on. You don’t leave UK to go to SMU for a lateral move. Hart moved on because he didn’t want to be here.
How can you say this isn’t the worst shape our program has been in minus probation? Pope has lost 26 games in two years, multiple blowout losses including being behind by 20+ in the first half of how many games? We played on Wednesday of the SECT for the first time ever. He can’t recruit at a UK level.
With all that said, it doesn’t mean that he can’t turn it around. I’m cautiously optimistic with this years roster, especially if we can add Momcilovic.
And yes…Washington went 16–17.
Congratulations on discovering Google.
But guess what?
Pope isn’t recruiting Washington’s record.
He’s recruiting Washington’s grown‑man center who fits the system.
You say there’s “nothing exciting” about this recruit? That’s because you’re still addicted to the Calipari dopamine drip of 5‑stars and mixtapes.
Pope is out here building a TEAM, not a highlight reel.
Ridiculous.
First of all, don't move the goalposts, probation happened, that was absolutely the worst time in UK history, unless you go back to the gambling scandal.
But this isn't even close to as bad as the BCG years were. BCG played incredibly weak SOS's and stunk up the place. I believe we were a 9 seed his first year and went to the NIT in year 2 before he was run out of town.
You are out of your mind if you think a 3 seed with a sweet 16 and a 7 seed, are worse. Pope lost 26 games, but he did it against the #3 and #4 SOS's in a time where the SEC is 10 times better and deeper than it was in 08 and 09. The SEC was a joke back then.
We played on Wednesday in the SECT, yes, but there are more teams in the SEC and we were 1 win away from placing 4th, while playing one of the tougher schedules in the SEC. Only MSU had a tougher league schedule. It’s funny how you ignore these things.
Go take a look at the records in BCG's two years, you obviously haven't. It’s not even close. Back then, only 2 or 3 SEC teams even made the tournament. Don't just count wins and losses, look at the strength of schedules. UK was a 3 seed two seasons ago for a very good reason and Pope's worst seed, is a 7, that's better than Billy's best.
Are you young? Like, really young? Tubby's last 2 years had 2 fewer wins and 1 fewer loss, 2 straight first weekend exits. Then we rolled into Billy G who in 2 years had 6 fewer wins and 1 more loss, missed the tournament, and lost first round.
Interesting take for sure.
We will see if Pope wins this year to UK standards. I advocated firing him last year based on array of factors. Primarily his record. Coupled with an offseason which he continues to struggle, it’s not good sign as I believe he is over his skies.
With this team existing talent, I think this year he will have to prioritize getting this team to jell as he will not be able to win based on overwhelming individual talent.
In other words, the whole team performance will have to be greater than the individual talent.
Hope it happens and would be pleasantly surprised. But based on history it would be an aberration.
See if he can pull couple of “game changer” surprises out of the recruiting hat. There is still time.
Go Cats!
Moreno is coming back and Kepnang will be our backup center.
No. I've been watching UK for 40 years.
Although Tubby's last two years were similar to Pope's, we knew the end was near and there was hope. Plus Tubby had earned a little goodwill by winning the SEC regular season and tournament 5x each. And Tubby's teams never got blown out the way we have the last two years. Tubby hated recruiting and even he could pull out of state 5 stars.
Most of us knew BCG was a dumb hire and wouldn't last long. That was another Mitch classic but we cut bait after two years.
Hopefully Pope turns it around and all this talk is moot but the ugly losses combined with the recruiting struggles have made this not very fun.
I reckon that I just don't understand what your expectations of a back up center are.
This is a 250 pound near 7 footer that is a plus defender who is physical and runs the floor with power 5 experience a plenty.
Yes, he has been injury plagued but when healthy the guy is a good piece and probably starter level for a lot of schools.
You see what a commodity Moreno is and he is a long way from being Kareem Abdul-Jabbar so handwringing his back up isn't such is pushing up against reality as it exists today.
I guess the path to what you are looking for would be a freshman that is willing to wait their turn but nothing promises us that some thin freshman is going to be an upgrade over Big Frank if he can stay on the floor.
I find this a bizarre hill to die on, this is a good get.
Obviously granting JQ but who are the other injury prone players when we recruited them?
Lowe wasn't hurt, nor was Robinson, nor Butler,, nor Kam, or Mo, or Oweh, or Carr, nor Krissa or anyone else just JQ that I can think of.
Guys getting injured doesn't retroactively make them injury prone when they get hurt
Little to nothing can be done or foreseen on nearly every injury we have dealt with.
There is no magic spell that is withheld from us to prevent dislocated shoulders, broken bones, or a torn tendon. Stuff happens in a real and physical universe.
People are being irrational about the injuries.
So? We took their mostly starter and made him our backup.
Useful or even oustanding players can be on poor overall squads. Happens all the time.
What is your issue with the player at hand and his role?