Matt Jones disturbing stat

[Tri-Countycat]

In UKs 19 games against power 5 opponents. Uk had trailed in 15 of those games at halftime. Have been down by more than a dozen points in 13 of those games and we have a record of 10-9. With five games left we will be dogs in 4 of them. This stat alone should cost you your job at UK. Pope knows this stat and hasn’t changed a thing in the first half all year.

 

[UKortho]

Pope after finding out he received another year added to his contract by getting to the sweet 16-

 

[AJG-15]

And I think as long as he makes to sweet sixteen his contact is automatically extended,,,,, thank you Mitch for hiring pope who brings us no hope…

 

[UKCowboys]

Pope after finding out he received another year added to his contract by getting to the sweet 16-

Think about this fact and tell me with a straight face that MB is going to fire Pope.

Every Pope bash thread on this board should be an MB bash. MB won't fire Pope...but if MB is fired, the new AD will bring in "His own guy" as basketball HC

 

[fisherscatfan]

And I think as long as he makes to sweet sixteen his contact is automatically extended,,,,, thank you Mitch for hiring pope who brings us no hope…

To me that seems odd. Curious if that is standard for Duke, UNC, KU and others? Seems like Mitch thinks that is the ultimate goal for UK. Maybe that is standard at blue-bloods but seems odd.

 

[UKortho]

Think about this fact and tell me with a straight face that MB is going to fire Pope.

Every Pope bash thread on this board should be an MB bash. MB won't fire Pope...but if MB is fired, the new AD will bring in "His own guy" as basketball HC

MB and Pope are a match made in heaven. Honestly, they are perfect for each other. Pope is a beta (good for Mitch) and Mitch grossly overpaid the goof. No, unless he loses all his remaining games he will be here another year. Now- that doesn’t mean I like it and will remain silent

 

[Pygmy Sasquatch]

Think about this fact and tell me with a straight face that MB is going to fire Pope.

Every Pope bash thread on this board should be an MB bash. MB won't fire Pope...but if MB is fired, the new AD will bring in "His own guy" as basketball HC

 

[UKortho]

It would have been hard to make that kinda money as a doctor. Be a mid level basketball coach and retire with 20 plus million stored away. Sign me up.

Most definitely. He will also get a buyout and make all that without working.

 

[Cats4321]

Think about this fact and tell me with a straight face that MB is going to fire Pope.

Every Pope bash thread on this board should be an MB bash. MB won't fire Pope...but if MB is fired, the new AD will bring in "His own guy" as basketball HC

I actually agree with this to an extent. I really like Pope and would have been thrilled for this to work, but it has been a complete failure so far. Ultimately it's Mitch's fault. He hired a guy that has never shown any signs of having success as a coach. Mitch put him in this situation. Can't blame Pope for taking his dream job. We all would.

To give an example of how bad it is, I was texting with my mom earlier. She's watched probably 95 percent of UK games for decades but never says anything bad about the team or coach. Her exact comment was "I don't think Pope has it".

 

[JayHank]

Pope is on track to take us to depths not reached by Billy G

 

[UKWildcats1987]

Has he been asked about this or is the media afraid to ask?

This happened last year too but not on this level.

 

[RunninRichie]

Buyout incoming IMO. Total disaster. At least we got a sweet 16. Cut bait before we sink lower. This can still be saved.

 

[JAC71]

Teams use to fear UK especially playing them in Rupp.

 

[BlueSince92]

I don't really disagree and I don't pretend to be happy about the state of the program.

But for me it's just about Ws and Ls.

Being 10 and 8 in those games is what irks me.

Personally Icgaf if we were down by 40 in each of those games if we had come back and won them all (or at least a UNVIERSITY OF KENTUCKY WILDCATS-worthy percentage of them). I'm not a control freak. I want a coach to win. It's his business how he does it. If we'd won 18 games coming back 40 points you might say "yeah but we might not come back in the tournament." And I might say, "okay."

Other little detail and doesn't change anything: If he put it this way I think Matt either accidentally counted one of Purdue, Georgetown, or Gonzaga, or else is commenting from our future. We've only played 18 games vs P5 schools this season.

1 L Louisville-ACC
2 L Michigan State--Big 10
3 L UNC-ACC
4 W Indiana--Big 10
5 W St. John's--Big East
6 L Bama--SEC
7 L Mizzou--SEC
8 W Miss. State--SEC
9 W LSU--SEC
10 W UT--SEC
11 W Texas--SEC
12 W Ole Miss--SEC
13 L Vandy--SEC
14 W Arky--SEC
15 W Oklahoma--SEC
16 W UT pt 2--SEC
17 L UF--SEC
18 L UGA--SEC

Other games (8):

Nicholls--Southland
Valparaiso--Missouri Valley
Eastern Illinois--Ohio Valley
Loyola Maryland--Patriot League
Tennessee Tech--Ohio Valley
Gonzaga--WCC (w be PAC-12 next year)
North Carolina Central--Mid-Eastern
Bellarmine--ASUN

Puts us at 17-9.

 

[The_Answer1313_rivals]

I don't really disagree and I don't pretend to be happy about the state of the program.

But for me it's just about Ws and Ls.

Being 10 and 8 in those games is what irks me.

Personally Icgaf if we were down by 40 in each of those games if we had come back and won them all (or at least a UNVIERSITY OF KENTUCKY WILDCATS-worthy percentage of them). I'm not a control freak. I want a coach to win. It's his business how he does it. If we'd won 18 games coming back 40 points you might say "yeah but we might not come back in the tournament." And I might say, "okay."

Other little detail and doesn't change anything: If he put it this way I think Matt either accidentally counted one of Purdue, Georgetown, or Gonzaga, or else is commenting from our future. We've only played 18 games vs P5 schools this season.

1 L Louisville-ACC
2 L Michigan State--Big 10
3 L UNC-ACC
4 W Indiana--Big 10
5 W St. John's--Big East
6 L Bama--SEC
7 L Mizzou--SEC
8 W Miss. State--SEC
9 W LSU--SEC
10 W UT--SEC
11 W Texas--SEC
12 W Ole Miss--SEC
13 L Vandy--SEC
14 W Arky--SEC
15 W Oklahoma--SEC
16 W UT pt 2--SEC
17 L UF--SEC
18 L UGA--SEC

Other games (8):

Nicholls--Southland
Valparaiso--Missouri Valley
Eastern Illinois--Ohio Valley
Loyola Maryland--Patriot League
Tennessee Tech--Ohio Valley
Gonzaga--WCC (w be PAC-12 next year)
North Carolina Central--Mid-Eastern
Bellarmine--ASUN

Puts us at 17-9.

See I cannot separate the two to be honest. The thing is if you get down by that much all the time vs anyone with a pulse.........you're not coming back in a large majority of those games.

The fact we are down by so much should tell you all you need to know.............regardless of whether or not we actually end up winning the game.

I'd rather win then lose obviously. But this isn't sustainable. There's no team that plays like this that's considered to be a good team or title contender which is what UK should be about.

I don't think we should have the mindset of "well as long as we comeback this is ok".........this just doesn't work.

We go down by so much because we aren't an elite team. And at UK and for Pope, you need to be more often then not.

 

[MarvinHagler89]

Think about this fact and tell me with a straight face that MB is going to fire Pope.

Every Pope bash thread on this board should be an MB bash. MB won't fire Pope...but if MB is fired, the new AD will bring in "His own guy" as basketball HC

Mitch deserves to be more than fired

 

[BlueSince92]

See I cannot separate the two to be honest. The thing is if you get down by that much all the time vs anyone with a pulse.........you're not coming back in a large majority of those games.

The fact we are down by so much should tell you all you need to know.............regardless of whether or not we actually end up winning the game.

I'd rather win then lose obviously. But this isn't sustainable. There's no team that plays like this that's considered to be a good team or title contender which is what UK should be about.

I don't think we should have the mindset of "well as long as we comeback this is ok".........this just doesn't work.

We go down by so much because we aren't an elite team. And at UK and for Pope, you need to be more often then not.

You're welcome to think that but I think it's dumb and ultimately I think it's dishonest. Mostly dishonest with yourself. You're not really that dumb.

I do not believe that if we were 26-0 (we'd be ranked #1 at that point and nearing a lock for 1 seed) you would feel the same way. Even if we had come back from 40 point deficits in all 26 of those games.

I do believe you think you would feel the same way. But I believe that's just because you haven't thought about it enough. And if you authentically would feel the same disgruntled way right now if we were 26-0 and #1 ranked then sorry I just don't respect your thinking on that. You may not be able to separate the two consciously. But trust me, if you're sane, you're separating the two somehow. Or damn straight you should be.

 

[The_Answer1313_rivals]

You're welcome to think that but I think it's dumb and ultimately I think it's dishonest. Mostly dishonest with yourself. You're not really that dumb.

I do not believe that if we were 26-0 (we'd be ranked #1 at that point and nearing a lock for 1 seed) you would feel the same way. Even if we had come back from 40 point deficits in all 26 of those games.

I do believe you think you would feel the same way. But I believe that's just because you haven't thought about it enough. And if you authentically would feel the same disgruntled way right now if we were 26-0 and #1 ranked then sorry I just don't respect your thinking on that. You may not be able to separate the two consciously. But trust me, if you're sane, you're separating the two somehow. Or damn straight you should be.

Your not dealing in reality tho.

That hasn't and will NEVER happen. Good teams don't consistently go down by that much and continue to win ballgames.

What team in the history of college basketball has done this?

It's naive to think just because we happened to come back in a few of these games (we've lost way more than we've comeback in).......that this is a sustainable way to play basketball.

 

[BlueSince92]

Your not dealing in reality tho.

That hasn't and will NEVER happen. Good teams don't consistently go down by that much and continue to win ballgames.

What team in the history of college basketball has done this?

It's naive to think just because we happened to come back in a few of these games (we've lost way more than we've comeback in).......that this is a sustainable way to play basketball.

You're not dealing with either reality or my post. Good luck to you.

 

[WeWant9]

Mitch deserves to be more than fired

Don’t think UK would ever actually fire him, but he 100% needs to be told/forced to retire this summer. He can no longer have control, we’ve fallen a lot in this current era.

 

[The_Answer1313_rivals]

You're not dealing with either reality or my post. Good luck to you.

Good luck to you too

 

[Eight_Banners]

Pope is on track to take us to depths not reached by Billy G

Just stop. I'm not pumping Pope sunshine, but show me any loss under Mark Pope that is as bad as these losses under BCG:

2007-08:
Gardner-Webb: 84-68 @ Rupp
UAB: 79-76 (Neutral)
San Diego: 81-72 @rupp
@ Vanderbilt: 93-52

2008-09:
VMI: 111-103 @ Rupp

Finished 8-8 in an SEC with only two ranked teams

People have simply forgotten how bad BCG was. Pope is struggling, and some of the losses have been lopsided, but none of them have been to non-Power-conference teams (unless you call Gonzaga a mid-major).

 

[Blue Jesus]

And I think as long as he makes to sweet sixteen his contact is automatically extended,,,,, thank you Mitch for hiring pope who brings us no hope…

I just can’t think of an argument why it shouldn't be at least an elite eight to get an auto-extension at UK

 

[Woodrow24]

Pope needs to fix his recruiting issues and he would be fine here imo. Talent wise, he hasn’t had the talent that he should here. Last year was understandable but this years team should have been better as far as talent goes. Even with a healthy team, I’m not sure how good we would have been. Pope has to look in the mirror and figure out what he has to change to start getting more talent. He’s a good bench coach, but that will only take you so far. He’s gotta get more talent.

 

[Woodrow24]

It’s weird how different Pope is than Calipari. Calipari could recruit players better than anyone but struggled as a bench coach. Cal is a good motivator and the players respect him. Pope is the opposite in every way. He’s a real nice guy, good bench coach, can’t recruit worth a crap imo lol

 

[wccat]

Think about this fact and tell me with a straight face that MB is going to fire Pope.

Every Pope bash thread on this board should be an MB bash. MB won't fire Pope...but if MB is fired, the new AD will bring in "His own guy" as basketball HC

Unless the new AD is Mitch's current second in command. May be different if the new AD is Dewayne Peevey from DePaul.

 

[The_Answer1313_rivals]

It’s weird how different Pope is than Calipari. Calipari could recruit players better than anyone but struggled as a bench coach. Cal is a good motivator and the players respect him. Pope is the opposite in every way. He’s a real nice guy, good bench coach, can’t recruit worth a crap imo lol

Thing is one of those ways you can still win.........the other way............well lol.

U need the players lol

 

[UKGrad24]

Think about this fact and tell me with a straight face that MB is going to fire Pope.

Every Pope bash thread on this board should be an MB bash. MB won't fire Pope...but if MB is fired, the new AD will bring in "His own guy" as basketball HC

It is 100% mitch’s fault. Mark just wants to be here and win for the program. But we can’t let the program slip. So it’s irrelevant. Mark needs to go.

Mitch will never be allowed to hire here again for basketball. People were already skittish about it but he talked people into it. He’s too old now and he’s on his way out. I don’t even think he’d try it honestly. They’ll name his understudy AD and let him make the hire and he’ll likely have to go with who the boosters say.

 

[UKGrad24]

Mitch deserves to be more than fired

He’s an absolute dumpster fire AD. But he brings “profits”. Been saying it for 20 years. He’s a financial administrator he is not an AD. UK sports have been sucked dry and the money goes where it shouldn’t.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

It’s weird how different Pope is than Calipari. Calipari could recruit players better than anyone but struggled as a bench coach. Cal is a good motivator and the players respect him. Pope is the opposite in every way. He’s a real nice guy, good bench coach, can’t recruit worth a crap imo lol

Cal was lazy. When he wanted to he could coach. His coaching jobs n the 2011 and 2014 tournaments were great IMO.

 

[LexingtonThoroughblade]

Cal was lazy. When he wanted to he could coach. His coaching jobs n the 2011 and 2014 tournaments were great IMO.

Yeah, Cal just got stubborn and wouldn't change for some reason. I kept wondering his last 5 or so years here where the guy was who coached a team of Derrick Rose and a lot of role players to the NCAA title game.

 

[SenseMaker_Cats]

Yeah, Cal just got stubborn and wouldn't change for some reason. I kept wondering his last 5 or so years here where the guy was who coached a team of Derrick Rose and a lot of role players to the NCAA title game.

Role players?

 

[Littlecreek10]

Barnfart has never understood the importance of Kentucky MEN’S basketball, it’s almost like he’s resentful of the dominance that it has over all of the other sports here. When he was hired he immediately focused on football and the other less popular teams here. They have all improved but at the cost of men’s basketball. Actually men’s basketball should have their own AD because of how big it is. Football and women’s basketball are never going to have a chance to win championships while in men’s basketball Kentucky traditionally is in the conversation except for recently. Because the focus has been taken away from men’s basketball and spread around on the other sports, this is the result.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

Buyout incoming IMO. Total disaster. At least we got a sweet 16. Cut bait before we sink lower. This can still be saved.

We can only hope but we all know Mitch will let the arena get empty before making a move. He would have to start 0-10 next year to do anything.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

See I cannot separate the two to be honest. The thing is if you get down by that much all the time vs anyone with a pulse.........you're not coming back in a large majority of those games.

The fact we are down by so much should tell you all you need to know.............regardless of whether or not we actually end up winning the game.

I'd rather win then lose obviously. But this isn't sustainable. There's no team that plays like this that's considered to be a good team or title contender which is what UK should be about.

I don't think we should have the mindset of "well as long as we comeback this is ok".........this just doesn't work.

We go down by so much because we aren't an elite team. And at UK and for Pope, you need to be more often then not.

Exactly, no team or coach that is good consistently gets down this much at half against teams with a pulse.

 

[UKGrad24]

Yeah, Cal just got stubborn and wouldn't change for some reason. I kept wondering his last 5 or so years here where the guy was who coached a team of Derrick Rose and a lot of role players to the NCAA title game.

Eh. Antonio Anderson, Chris Douglas Roberts (especially), Dorsey, Dozier…

Far, far from just role players. CDR is one guy that I would kill to have on most Kentucky teams. I hate Memphis and most of their players, but CDR is one of my favorite non Kentucky players all time. Just a tremendous college basketball player. I know Antonio have for years his defense was lights out. Dozier was really good and dependable. That wasn’t a team of role players.

Calipsri’s Memphis NIT teams with Darius Washington jr were the roll player bunch. Calipari has never been a good coach. He went back then either it’s just hit style for given the time period. Calipari is the only coach who could have lost that title game. He’s just always had some damn good players and knew how to recruit a certain guy to play the roles. But a floor coach he has never been any good. Ever. The “DDMO” used to kill me. It was a recruiting pitch there’s never been such a thing. Cal is smoke and mirrors. He just recruits well.

 

[CNJ1966]

I don't really disagree and I don't pretend to be happy about the state of the program.

But for me it's just about Ws and Ls.

Being 10 and 8 in those games is what irks me.

Personally Icgaf if we were down by 40 in each of those games if we had come back and won them all (or at least a UNVIERSITY OF KENTUCKY WILDCATS-worthy percentage of them). I'm not a control freak. I want a coach to win. It's his business how he does it. If we'd won 18 games coming back 40 points you might say "yeah but we might not come back in the tournament." And I might say, "okay."

Other little detail and doesn't change anything: If he put it this way I think Matt either accidentally counted one of Purdue, Georgetown, or Gonzaga, or else is commenting from our future. We've only played 18 games vs P5 schools this season.

1 L Louisville-ACC
2 L Michigan State--Big 10
3 L UNC-ACC
4 W Indiana--Big 10
5 W St. John's--Big East
6 L Bama--SEC
7 L Mizzou--SEC
8 W Miss. State--SEC
9 W LSU--SEC
10 W UT--SEC
11 W Texas--SEC
12 W Ole Miss--SEC
13 L Vandy--SEC
14 W Arky--SEC
15 W Oklahoma--SEC
16 W UT pt 2--SEC
17 L UF--SEC
18 L UGA--SEC

Other games (8):

Nicholls--Southland
Valparaiso--Missouri Valley
Eastern Illinois--Ohio Valley
Loyola Maryland--Patriot League
Tennessee Tech--Ohio Valley
Gonzaga--WCC (w be PAC-12 next year)
North Carolina Central--Mid-Eastern
Bellarmine--ASUN

Puts us at 17-9.

He’s counting Gonzaga

 

[UKGrad24]

Pope needs to fix his recruiting issues and he would be fine here imo. Talent wise, he hasn’t had the talent that he should here. Last year was understandable but this years team should have been better as far as talent goes. Even with a healthy team, I’m not sure how good we would have been. Pope has to look in the mirror and figure out what he has to change to start getting more talent. He’s a good bench coach, but that will only take you so far. He’s gotta get more talent.

I thought this last year, but then I started seeing a lot of bad coaching that I thought was just a few mistakes last year that wouldn’t carry over.

Pope’s coaching this year has been abysmal. That’s part of the problem. Not only can he not recruit but as a coach, he’s been just as bad this season on many fronts. His substitutions are head scratching and bizarre. It looks like he wants load management but doesn’t have the roster to even try it once. Oweh was lighting up yesterday and he pulled him out right in the middle of it. Chandler was red hot and he didn’t get him involved at all, letting him go unnoticed for long stretches. His play of Garrison is horrendous. It shocks me, Pope has been coaching not just bad but shockingly awful. Most coaches win that game against Georgia. Calipari might win it. Probably would.

Mark appears to have made a critical error in philosophy. He’s going analytical 100% because he I think he doesn’t trust himself as a coach now. And recruiting probably won’t improve unless he really overpays. It’s not a good long term strategy. Further it appears he severely didn’t understand how to apply data. For a guy as smart as him to not fully comprehend how to analyze the data and apply it is the most shocking thing to me. But it really appears he misunderstands how to apply it.

I get it some are wishing for a turnaround and since there’s no way Mitch is going to fire him they’re just staying in it. And that’s fine, but nobody should encourage this hire anymore until he gives a reason too. Certainly shouldn’t come at anyone who wants a change. And simply winning a few games isn’t going to change it because the future looks so bad. Recruiting IS the lifeblood of the program. If you can’t do it, you’re done. And he can’t do it.

 

[JustBlue]

0% chance that Pope gets fired after this year. Zero. Zip. Nada. Zilch.

Actually, let me rephrase that - there is a 0% chance Pope gets fired for basketball results. If he smacked a kid, banged a staffer, got caught dropping bets on games - different story. But they could finish 17-16 with a first round NIT loss and he will be back next year. Mark Fox is going to be the sacrificial lamb after this season no matter what happens. Should NEVER have been here to begin with after his disastrous 3-29 2023 season at Cal Berkley in a 4 bid Pac 12. But Pope will be here. He is going to use the injury card and promise to make staff adjustments and bring in a "defensive specialist". Whatever. But he will be the head coach unless he wants to go. Mitch will retire and we'll get a new AD. And if Pope has a terrible year next year they will show him the door. But Mitch won't make that call. Not after two years.

JB

 

[Woodrow24]

I thought this last year, but then I started seeing a lot of bad coaching that I thought was just a few mistakes last year that wouldn’t carry over.

Pope’s coaching this year has been abysmal. That’s part of the problem. Not only can he not recruit but as a coach, he’s been just as bad this season on many fronts. His substitutions are head scratching and bizarre. It looks like he wants load management but doesn’t have the roster to even try it once. Oweh was lighting up yesterday and he pulled him out right in the middle of it. Chandler was red hot and he didn’t get him involved at all, letting him go unnoticed for long stretches. His play of Garrison is horrendous. It shocks me, Pope has been coaching not just bad but shockingly awful. Most coaches win that game against Georgia. Calipari might win it. Probably would.

Mark appears to have made a critical error in philosophy. He’s going analytical 100% because he I think he doesn’t trust himself as a coach now. And recruiting probably won’t improve unless he really overpays. It’s not a good long term strategy. Further it appears he severely didn’t understand how to apply data. For a guy as smart as him to not fully comprehend how to analyze the data and apply it is the most shocking thing to me. But it really appears he misunderstands how to apply it.

I get it some are wishing for a turnaround and since there’s no way Mitch is going to fire him they’re just staying in it. And that’s fine, but nobody should encourage this hire anymore until he gives a reason too. Certainly shouldn’t come at anyone who wants a change. And simply winning a few games isn’t going to change it because the future looks so bad. Recruiting IS the lifeblood of the program. If you can’t do it, you’re done. And he can’t do it.

I will agree with his substitutions being strange and he’s definitely experimenting to much with lineups and I think he struggles at times having a feel for the game because he depends so much on analytics, but I don’t agree with a couple of things you’ve said.

Pope does a good job making halftime adjustments or we wouldn’t have came back and won so many ball games this season. I think you’re being a little too dramatic about his in game coaching being bad because he’s out coached Barnes, Cal and Rick this season. Cal’s Arkansas team is way more talented than we are too. Lack of talent and injuries has hurt this team. Recruiting better could solve a lot of problems.

I’m not going to name drop the players but you and I both should agree that some of these guys aren’t good enough to play here. Popes substitution patterns wouldn’t look as bad if we had better players and also guys that fit his style of play lol A couple of our power forwards don’t fit his style of play at all because they can’t shoot worth a crap.

If he can’t recruit any better we will definitely be looking for a new coach after next season. I hate that too, it sucks seeing one of our own struggle here but we can thank Barnhart for putting him in that position