After the losses and humiliation, once I’m calmer, I like to be more positive. One positive of failing miserably in almost every single way imaginable this season is that it makes the failures so obvious and blatant that only a fool wouldn’t be able to correct them—assuming Pope gets a third year. If Kentucky were having some success but still playing mediocre basketball, with everything just feeling “off,” it would be harder for Pope to identify and address the issues going into next season. This will truly be the best test of whether Pope can have any real success here in the future: how he responds to clear and obvious mistakes—from roster building to game preparation, to evaluation, recruiting, NIL, everything. When the problems are made so crystal clear and the chaos of the season dies down, is Pope able to get out of his own head and make simple, effective corrections to set this program up for success.
One Good Thing
- Thread starter 0r1c
- Start date
Perhaps he could make corrections and right the ship. Yours is a very positive outlook. Right now I'm assuming coach will get a 3rd year. Just hoping for the best outcome.
the problem with trying to be positive is that Pope has been a horrible recruiter. He has 0 players coming in. I;m not sure why we are signing up for another year of this
He will get another year solely because Brainfart is completely inept and has no clue what he’s doing.
Year 3 will be Popes worst yet. He has zero recruits and would take a minor miracle in the portal to field a team even comparable to last year or this year. A chance at winning #9 is out of the question. All Mitch is doing is kicking the can down the road and delaying the inevitable. But at the same time he absolutely CANNOT be the one to pick the next coach. He’s proven numerous times that he can’t be trusted and makes bad decisions.
Year 3 will be Popes worst yet. He has zero recruits and would take a minor miracle in the portal to field a team even comparable to last year or this year. A chance at winning #9 is out of the question. All Mitch is doing is kicking the can down the road and delaying the inevitable. But at the same time he absolutely CANNOT be the one to pick the next coach. He’s proven numerous times that he can’t be trusted and makes bad decisions.
True but I'm saying maybe seeing how he failed so miserably will help him in the next cycle/season with a fresh start. Since the failure can't be denied and is so publicly obvious.
He hasn’t proven he can learn/adapt. His career resume reflects that.
2 positive things about the 2 Nashville blowouts -
Pope is on Double Secret probation
MM will be back next year
Pope is on Double Secret probation
MM will be back next year
I get what you’re saying man, but I haven’t seen anything even remotely resembling that he is capable of change. That, along with the inability to recruit, really makes me doubt if he can do this job. I do like trying to look at things from a positive viewpoint though.
Because he was skating by previously. I'm not saying I'm pro Pope. I'm saying the issues and mistakes are so massive and so public that it almost forces him to adjust, so this is a test if he will be able to.
He hasn't learned from the one main mistake so far & that's how to not fall behind by 20 at the half lol.
He cannot get the players for the level of basketball expected at Kentuckys basketball program.The game is over for Pope and Barnfart time to move on.
The defensive philosphy/technique is not gonna cut it. They only way I see forward for Pope is hire a guy that is really good at coaching defense and let him have full control over that side of the court. Pope can coach a good enough offense (with the right players I think) and we need to stay healthy.
Otherwise we are just gonna lose another year and get more behind in recruiting player development it will take several to get out of it.
There is no Calapari type that can save Kentucky in a season or 2 now.
Otherwise we are just gonna lose another year and get more behind in recruiting player development it will take several to get out of it.
There is no Calapari type that can save Kentucky in a season or 2 now.
Good positivity. No sense and being negative 24/7 but we can be honest. It’s not gonna get better. Let’s start being realistic and not call it negative. I’m on board with OP. Just at some point will we cut out the nonsense? Not op I’m talking about all of us.
Maybe it’s possible he rights the ship but a lot of the things I hate going on right now aren’t gonna change. Mainly Pope having some damn fire. He is who he is and we will be that until he’s gone. There’s not much to save.
Maybe it’s possible he rights the ship but a lot of the things I hate going on right now aren’t gonna change. Mainly Pope having some damn fire. He is who he is and we will be that until he’s gone. There’s not much to save.
Some of you guy still don't realize how bad next year is gonna be if Pope is back. The guy can't even land a 4 star and generally strikes out on all his first targets in the portal. It will be apocalyptic next year if Pope is coaching.
Im always a realist. I said we beat bad/middling teams. And get crushed against good teams. I caught hell.
I was on the phone with a buddy before the Vandy game started. I told him Tucky is about to play. He said hell let me get off the phone because ik you’re about to get all pissy when they start losing
. I was like na man I don’t get mad anymore. I only get mad when I think we have a chance and lose. I expect losses now. It’s hard to get mad when you get what you expect.I don't think some of you understand what I'm saying. I'm 95% out on Pope. I didn't want him here to begin with, he's a great guy and should have some role with "fan experience" or something but I'm saying for next year specifically, since he is guaranteed a 3rd year, no matter what, for some reason. I would prefer the mistakes and issues to be blatantly obvious and so massive that even Mark Pope couldn't overthink it and mess it up again. I actually think that's part of the reason he was so depressed looking after some games. He realized his mistakes were so massive he wouldn't be able to fix them until the off-season and that he was stuck with this ****** product for a whole season.
He kicked the can hella hard on NIL. Signed up til 2040 without any idea if JMI/UK would be a successful working relationship given the landscape.
Also, people need to realize that Pope showed last year that he can in fact coach. I’d argue year 1 was a big over-achievement knowing that he basically had to build a team out of the clearance transfer bin and we were hit by some key injuries.
Somehow he underachieved this year more than he overachieved last year. Roster construction is the biggest issue by far, but Pope has also seemed to have no ability to motivate this group and then injuries once again bit him. I do think he gets a third year (it would be really hard to find a great coach next time if they are afraid they will be fired after two years), but he better learn a lot of lessons when putting that next roster together.
That's debatable.
You can make a case for last year being an overachievement but otoh Pope will never have 6 5th year seniors on a roster again.
Watch out.... people on this board don't want to hear facts like this. Pope was hired late, took over a team that had NO returning players, had to recruit from players who were still available in the portal and still managed to put together a team that, despite injuries, made it to the Sweet 16. No matter how the Pope haters want to twist that, there's no denying that last season exceeded everyone's expectations. When Pope was hired, everyone on here said they would give him 3 years to make it to the tournament, but if that didn't happen, he had to go. Well, he made it in his first season. That should buy him a little grace. This season has really been bad and we really need to see some improvement next year, but I feel Pope deserves the chance to turn it around next year. If he fails, then it's probably time for him to move on.
Are those failures really that obvious that fixing them is a no brainer?
If so, what would Mitch say the failures are and what would be the obvious fix?
If so, what would Mitch say the failures are and what would be the obvious fix?