...after losing in the SEC tournament, that the Cats are going to play much better going forward. I guess that's possible, but more likely it's Pope at his hyperbolic best. Nothing wrong with being optimistic, but it helps if the optimism is attached to a semblance of reality. While I like Pope as a person, it's well documented that BBN has legitimate concerns about his coaching ability. What's discussed less is his propensity to take on the role of cheerleader. He is perpetually "super excited" and projects "great things" than rarely materialize. He is overly lavish in his praise of players and excels at happy talk. Again, I am a fan of optimism, but when everything is "beautiful," it dilutes the message. In this season's darkest hours, he promised to find solutions and have a great year. Not much time left to fulfill that promise.
Pope says...
- Thread starter CatBlueBlood
- Start date
I guess the question is, why wait this long to play better?
He said they won't fail this year. I guess we'll see.
Upgraded the quality of his analytics LLM? Now he’s running it on a new MacBook Neo.
The lower the floor, the higher the ceiling. Something like that.
Well said. I don't think Pope has the personality nor demeanor to successfully coach this program to the standard that is expected.
This Kentucky team is what it is, I know Pope can coach, he's just not a great recruiter, maybe the recruiting thing changes with a better recruiting assistant coach or GM? Not having a PG has definitely slowed this team down for sure. Maybe we catch a lucky break this tournament?
Pope said he saw nine everywhere before the season started. Maybe we lose by nine to Santa Clara and the nightmare that is this season ends early.
I doubt we somehow fix the PG position, defensive miscues, offensive ineptitude, lack of passing, or find someone competent to back Moreno up in the next few days.
I doubt we somehow fix the PG position, defensive miscues, offensive ineptitude, lack of passing, or find someone competent to back Moreno up in the next few days.
You guys are killing it with these AI pictures lol.
They know exactly what it means to play in the NCAAT. They will show up and play the best they have ever. I know it.
- Mark Pope
He’s an internal optimist and I prefer that over the sky is falling mentality.
A lot of people in the real world forget that Ted Lasso took place in the fictional world.
So much toxic positivity after that show came out.
So much toxic positivity after that show came out.
I’ve been critical on Pope but I don’t hate the guy. If he could just show that he could get better talent. You don’t win championships without studs. We didn’t have them last year either. Also, the inconsistency of not having his teams ready to play. Pope has broken NCAA records on how many times he has been down double digits at halftime. How many times have we played well the entire game against a good team. This year, Arkansas and Vandy at home, the rest were coin flips or blow outs. Even last, our biggest wins were double digit comebacks.
People don't hate Pope. This notion that if you are critical of Pope's performance then you hate Pope and want him to fail is inaccurate. Fans look at his performance and this team's performance and judge him based off of those metrics. We use 'our' analytics just like Pope uses his. He is paid to produce. I really don't think if a CEO's company performs poorly then we say how much people hate him. We expect results...no excuses.
I would like to add 'Writing our story' to the "See 'n Say".
I would like to add 'Writing our story' to the "See 'n Say".
What’s with this caveat - “I know he’s a good coach”?
Based on what? Low 60’s win percentage? No conference or regular season titles? No previous ncaa success until a sweet 16 at Kentucky? Consistently inconsistent teams on a micro level (major swings in game) and a macro level (seasons with great wins and awful losses). His constant therapy speak and Ted talk platitudes?
Like wtf is in this guy’s history that causes all these posters to claim he’s a good coach? He’s in his 50’s. The results are the results (12 Effing years). He is a very AVERAGE coach and kind of full of s.hit
Based on what? Low 60’s win percentage? No conference or regular season titles? No previous ncaa success until a sweet 16 at Kentucky? Consistently inconsistent teams on a micro level (major swings in game) and a macro level (seasons with great wins and awful losses). His constant therapy speak and Ted talk platitudes?
Like wtf is in this guy’s history that causes all these posters to claim he’s a good coach? He’s in his 50’s. The results are the results (12 Effing years). He is a very AVERAGE coach and kind of full of s.hit
His favorite words are elite, beautiful, massive, and competitive.
Isn’t that more or less exactly what he said when he was looking forward to the SEC tournament after getting his clock cleared by Florida a second straight time?
Fool me once…
Fool me once…
Fake optimism. He has also said he just wanted to die. He couldn't talk in a couple of post game interviews because he was so down. Face it folks, we do not have a true leader, we have a cheerleader that is trying to relive the good times. I am very tired of the 6' 9" Goofball.
Unfortunately he is in over his head and the opposing coaches know it and so do recruits as evidenced but not having any signed for this fall.How much lower do we have to go to admit that.
It s*cks with him being a former player and captain but the mental gymnastics some are doing to defend his record is amazing. I dont want Cal back either because his last 5 years were dismal and it was time to part ways.
Sorry but a S16 is not the standard for success at any top basketball program.
Exactly and if Pope wasn't a former player he wouldn't be getting away with the poor performance issues. It's not hateful to hold him accountable for his results here. Bashing him for his faith etc is hateful not judging his substandard results.
lol i get this is coach speak and what else should he say but........
why this time? Why March is when this team turns the corner?
Why not after all the blowouts vs good teams? The double digit deficits?
UK was 25th in Kenpom entering SEC conference play.
They finished 28th.
In other words this team has been what it is for nearly half the season. They didn't improve, they didn't get worse.
And I am supposed to believe that now we'll play better? lol
Sheesh at least when Cal was here and we had some rough start to seasons you could at least see teams turning the corner. It was just a matter of the constant turnover taking a longer time to gel.
This......we are what we are. There's really nothing here to think this team will play better at all.
why this time? Why March is when this team turns the corner?
Why not after all the blowouts vs good teams? The double digit deficits?
UK was 25th in Kenpom entering SEC conference play.
They finished 28th.
In other words this team has been what it is for nearly half the season. They didn't improve, they didn't get worse.
And I am supposed to believe that now we'll play better? lol
Sheesh at least when Cal was here and we had some rough start to seasons you could at least see teams turning the corner. It was just a matter of the constant turnover taking a longer time to gel.
This......we are what we are. There's really nothing here to think this team will play better at all.
The biggest problem with your argument that Pope is not a good coach is most of you want Hurley. First, he is not coming here. Second, you'll would have wanted him fired his first few years also UConn allowed him time that you're not allowing Pope.
You're cherry-picking. Just because you can find an outlier (under completely different different circumstances than what resources Pope has at UK + pre-portal compared to post-portal) doesn't speak to any greater truth. Like I told another poster in another thread, it's like arguing smoking isn't bad for your lungs because one guy's great uncle smoked a pack a day and lived to 100.
Should Billy G have gotten 5-6 years? Following your logic, we f'd up by not giving him that chance. He could've turned out to be Hurley here, right? Or the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of other times where programs moved on from a failing head coach after 2-3 years. Were they all wrong to do that?
This year was a total and complete failure. We have no f'n recruits for next year. A guy with Pope's resume wouldn't have even sniffed an interview with Ole Miss, let alone should have been handed the throne to the Roman Empire. We're just all praying that someone with a clue builds the team in the portal this year who isn't Pope. He's lost that trust after completely f'ing up this year.
Can't believe a thing he says!! Hey coach, the fans are looking solely for performance not unwarranted hype and hope. We have already seen too much of that.