As opposed to Mark Pope's impressive resume? If Mark Pope never played at UK do you think he would have been considered for the job?
Pope vs Sean Miller
- Thread starter 0r1c
- Start date
Miller has 4 Elite 8's and 8 S16's. He's a very good coach that hasn't been able to get over the hump. At a place like Texas, I can see him competing for F4's.
Homerism and fanboyism knows no bounds. Saying Mark Pope is a better coach than Sean Millers is embarrassing. Just because Pope is our “coach”.
I was one of the many who actually thought Pope had potential when he was signed, thought the dynamic was pretty good. He could have shown a bit more winning, but had the reps.
This is a big year for him. Need to see how it plays out. To me, it's s or get off the pot.
He made the pass to Jerome Lane for the dunk that took the basket down.
I think we all just need to understand that Kentucky is not a great college sports team any longer. That could be because of NIL or Pope or a multitude of different factors but we need to stop comparing ourselves to other programs. As the old quote says, "Comparison is the thief of joy." Let's just try to do the best we have done the last several years and do what most of us believe this team is capable of and that is get past the round of 32.
I'm not lowering my expectations for Kentucky basketball. Period. Not doing it.
If others want to, that's fine.
For me, this is an Elite Eight or bust year.
Not to fire the coach mind you -- I don't make that decision.
But for me to believe in Pope, I need an Elite Eight.
Then I fear that you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Kentucky simply is not a great basketball school any longer.
You're being hyperbolic
That guy reeks of arkansas fan or something, even the username.
This is why I made the post. Of course, anybody can say, "We don't know what will happen." That's not what my post is about. It's about the fanbase becoming more and more comfortable lowering its expectations in the offseason instead of having the national championship hype we should have almost every year at Kentucky—with the right coach.
The fanbase is becoming apathetic under Pope and feels like they are becoming okay with Kentucky not being in the title contender conversation, not having the hype of top recruits, media attention and barely being top 20 going into the season every year.
I can definitely say that's true speaking for myself. I view it more as accepting reality than lowering expectations. Kentucky just doesn't have a contender in basketball any longer.
You just keep repeating the same old crap no matter how many times it is demonstrated that many top notch coaches including those with national championships on their rusume had careers that got off to no better of a start than what Pope's has.
There are plenty of examples of coaches with resumes no better than Pope's that have landed high level jobs and eventually had a high level of success in them.
Last edited:
Another stupid post. Your trolling and wanting to get people angry in July about something they can do NOTHING about other than stop watching if it makes them that miserable. People have lives and 99% of them aren't going to go around and throw a tantrum.. You aren't getting what you want (mass anger in the summer).
I agree with the first statement but I will also note that Hurley went 15-8 and lost in the first round his third year and went 23-10 with a first round loss in year four at UConn so I would not give up all hope if we fall short of the Elite Eight this year. There is a difference in exercising a level of patience and lowering expectations.
Excuse me. Who is acting rudely now?
I will say this: You are stuck in your views pretty deeply. You repeatedly throw out the same line about past coaches, not accepting that the current NIL recruiting system renders past comparisons obsolete. Somewhere there’s a pile of sand; let’s see if your head can find it, fake Paul Calhoun.
The rude thing is just being pulled out of thin air here. I did not accuse you of being rude and I was not being rude. The NIL mantra is just a lame excuse used to try to avoid facts.
No. When you cry about me being rude to you, then don’t refer to my posts as crap. Double standard.
The reality is that it is easier now to quickly assemble a strong roster in a single season because of the transfer portal and because guys leave for the NBA early now compared to some of your examples. This is especially true if you have the kind of $ we do.
When coach K was hired in the early 80s, few guys transferred and no one really left early for NBA. He needed years to assemble a roster. Imagine how different the situation was for Scheyer. To say this is somehow a lame excuse (for what btw?) is an analytic fail. You like Pope and have cherry picked examples that aren’t even relevant any more because the situation has so fundamentally changed.
I take it you are the one who always uses obscenely gay insinuations. I never cried about it I just pointed out what a lame tactic it was and that you used it in place of any substantive retort. It's not even close to the same thing at all and you know it.
Your assumption that the only reason other coaches had slow starts was entirely due to bad situations with talent deficits is erroneous and I have demonstrated this in detail numerous times. It is not the established fact that it is easier to get talent to UK now due to NIL that you believe it to be.
I'm actually not even necessarily sold on Pope but I do believe in giving people a fair shake and exercising a bit of patience.
Your assumption that the only reason other coaches had slow starts was entirely due to bad situations with talent deficits is erroneous and I have demonstrated this in detail numerous times. It is not the established fact that it is easier to get talent to UK now due to NIL that you believe it to be.
I'm actually not even necessarily sold on Pope but I do believe in giving people a fair shake and exercising a bit of patience.
Last edited:
Miller - Coaches son - Great HS & College career as point guard- immediately started coaching after college - 70+ % winning numbers at Xavier - Az - Xavier again & Texas.— WAS Doing NIL before it was legal. Great “players“ coach. Ky would never have hired him.
Pope is Pope & this site has written volumes of his resumes. He is our Coach so I support him.
I would take :
Miller over Pope
U. Texas over UK
Austin over Lexington
Kentucky over Texas
Pope is Pope & this site has written volumes of his resumes. He is our Coach so I support him.
I would take :
Miller over Pope
U. Texas over UK
Austin over Lexington
Kentucky over Texas
I have made a great many exhaustive posts laying this out.
This is copy and pasted from a couple of them.
Dean Smith 23-15 60.5% after 2 seasons at UNCheat
Billy Donovan 27-32 45.8% after 2 seasons at UF
Coach K 27-30 47.4% after 2 seasons at Puke
Nolan Richardson 31-30 50.8% after 2 at Arkansas
Danny Hurley 35-29 54.7% after 2 seasons at UConn
Todd Golden 40-29 58% after 2 seasons at UF
Scott Drew 17-40 30% after 2 seasons at Baylor
Tony Bennett 31-31 50% after 2 seasons at Virginia
Jay Wright 34-29 54% after 2 seasons at Villanova
Jim Calhoun 29-33 46.8% after 2 seasons at UConn
Gary Williams 35-26 57.4% after 2 seasons at Maryland
Lute Olson 31-27 53.4% after 2 seasons at Arizona
That's a few National Championship coaches (13 of 22) since 1991 (accounting for 21 titles) with a worse record their first 2 seasons at the schools that they won it at than Pope's first 2 seasons at UK.
I was then asked about their previous jobs and provided this.
Smith and Izzo held no previous job.
Donovan 63.6% at Marshall
Hurley 63.2% at Wagner
57.9% at RI
Coach K 55.3% at Army
Todd Golden 61.3% at SF
Drew 64.5% at Valpo
Tony Bennett 67.6% Wash St
Jay Wright 58.9% at Hofstra
Jim Calhoun 64.4% Northeastern
Nolan Richardson 76.3% Tulsa
Gary Williams 63.2% American, 62.8% BC, 59% Ohio St
Lute Olson 64% Iowa
Last edited:
Nope. Anyone with a brain is praying for it. He will either have a healthy team and be successful, or he will have a healthy team and not get it done and we know it's time to move on. This is how reasonable people feel.
Then go cheer for someone else. My God I'm so sick of losers like you. We aren't lowering the standards of the program. If Pope doesn't win a ton of games this season and make a deep run, almost everyone will be ready to move on. Almost all of the media said we were contenders last season. It didn't pan out but we were in the conversation. His first year, he had about 15 minutes to put together a team. This year, he seems to be prioritizing fit and chemistry. That doesn't always show up in the beginning of the season predictions. If it doesn't pay off, we move on. But fans like you who write the season off before Big Blue Madness even begins are the worst. You suck.
Every coach you mentioned had to build a roster. Important fact, Build a Roster. Pope has had record level money to work with and yes, he has brought in pretty good talent. So far the talent, the money spent and his record do not say to me, good coach. It does say to me, average, or, a little below average coach. I hope this year is his last. Aside from that, he acts goofy.
Not true and you would have no clue whether it was true or not since you do no research and just spout off whatever fits your agenda. I have gone to great lengths multiple times cataloging the records in the preceding seasons before some of these coaches took over and listing what they had returning.
Pope was hired in mid April and all we had on the roster was Travis Perry so this claim is preposterous. The fantasy that Pope stepped in to a much better situation than the rest of them is simply unfounded.
You can't compare anything pre-portal to now. Look at what May did in two years. That is a lot more relevant. Golden, Pitino, Lucas, etc.
The whole body of work matters, it's hard to put it all on the tourney as weird things can happen in a single elimination tourney. I would agree on the Elite 8, but it's more about the quality of basketball.
Hurley picked up a train wreck of a program that Ollie dug into the ground in the AAC. The portal only opened in 2018 and it was a brand new process. Pope picked up a program that sent two kids to the lottery.
Hurley was in year five at UConn before he accomplished anything more than Pope has. The portal was already a thing when Hurley took the UConn job. If that makes it so easy as you claim why was it year five before he had high level success?
What good do you think those two lottery picks (who lost in the first round) did Pope when they were already gone. I will repeat. Incoming freshman Travis Perry was the only guy Pope inherited and he had to put a team together starting in mid April. As I have pointed out many times schedule and injuries matter as well.
Last edited:
A handful of guys having success establishes absolutely nothing. Anyway Pitino is one the all time greats and Lucas has a one season sample size against a much easier schedule. If you look at the sports reference SRS (performance rating vs. schedule played) UK was 19.13 last season vs. 17.69 for Miami. Golden has been blessed with very good rosters and had one great season and one very good season after winning less than 60% through his first five seasons. Time well tell how good he truly is though he looks set for another big year due to very fortunate roster retention.
Last edited:
The portal was in infancy, it's nothing like it is now. And I'm not sure you recognize the level of dysfunction Ollie caused with UConn. Hurley talks about it in some interviews. Meanwhile, Calipari left UK in good standing and a recruiting machine. That of course goes away largely with a coach leaving, but I'm sure there was still some perception there.
Hurley also has a much different roster build strategy as he builds a core with HS kids, then supplements with the Portal. No one was flipping a program in a year or two in 2018. Take a look at Ville and Texas this year and how they built their rosters into year 2.