Because Dusty May is actually a really good coach. It’s possible if you can coach.
I mean, that is literally the final result of the season. There really isn't a better metric to use.
Lol. Would you prefer using the pres-season? Lulz
We played ranked teams because 25 teams have to be ranked, that doesn't make those teams good. We played few good teams and got embarrassed by pretty much all of them we did play.
I’d be willing to bet to make that bet…and it makes me sad to type that. The one thing, ironically enough, that might get him fired with those results is if he’s just equally as weird as he was last season in regards to the media. If he cleans that up and returns to year one (end result) he’ll get another bit at the apple. Again, makes me sad.
Well, I’ll hope for an elite eight so that we don’t have to find out.
No. You use the full body of work. You have computer metrics, eye test, human polls, etc. In the postseason, madness happens. Unless you think San Diego State was one of the best four teams in the country in 2023, believe that 2022 Saint Peter’s was better than Kentucky and believe that the 2014 UConn Huskies were the best team that season. They don’t call it madness for nothing. It’s a small sample size and it’s over before you blink, so no, it’s not what I use to rank every team.
The SEC is rated much better than it used to be, so the schedule rating is better. Should UK just accept that for being mediocre now?The rocky start is the two seasons here which are not nearly as bad as you believe them to be when difficulty of schedule is considered. What he did before getting here is pretty irrelevant at this point. Nobody fires their coach based on what they did before their arrival.
You've probably seen me post these facts before and choose to ignore it but our average SRS (performance vs schedule rating) for his two seasons is actually better than 15 of the 25 seasons prior to his arrival.
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I know…and it’s so odd to me. Minus the Unforgettables, the 88 (skewed for my love of Rex, that team was a hot mess ant the end) and the 96 team, it’s my fav probably.
That 2012 team was just absolutely perfect in the way it was assembled and played together. If Wiltjer had been worth a damn that team walks to 40-0. That team had no depth and one injury to ANYONE would’ve crippled them, but it didn’t happen. Had the perfect mix or returners and elite level frosh and the one senior leader, who was an actual damned leader, to pull it all together.
Pumpers gonna pump. And rationalize. It’s all they’ve got.
Is the SEC better? Yup. Is Pope keeping up? Nope.
That might even be worse. Lol. 12 losses. Catches lightning in a bottle and gets to the E8. Legit Keatts situation. Everyone knows you’re out because you can’t cut it after 3 seasons of “meh”. Get hot and win a game or two you shouldn’t…bam, back in the same cycle. I almost hate how the tourney rewrites the story for the entire body of work for some of the coaches. It’s kinda like when a P4 school hires a mid major guy off of a single S16 run. And then that guy sucks. And nobody can figure out why.
The fan in me will never consider an elite eight worse than not making one.
Keatts is also not a good example for the theoretical problem you’re trying to resolve. Yes, he made a final four but he was gone within a couple years anyway.
I really think the issue is — you’ve decided Pope CANNOT do the job and he CANNOT be the man here. You aren’t open to the idea that he can be. So, an elite eight or final four run wouldn’t be evidence to you that he can — it’s a “fools gold run”, mere luck in that scenario. However, if he flames out in the round of 32 in this scenario, that IS evidence to you that he CANNOT do the job. There’s nothing objectively wrong with being set against the coach, but it does help support why you’d refer to it all as sad. As a fellow fan, I’d hate to feel that way and I’m glad I’m not nearly as settled as you are on Pope. My mind can be changed one way or the other, based on how things play out.
I'm literally using the entire season. How much fuller body of work is there?
I am not really using upsets though. There weren't even that many in the tournament this year. The SEC just simply wasn't that good and was pretty overrated. You're welcome to disprove that.
UCONN and UK were 2 of the better teams in terms of talent and ability that year, they just both found their best late in the season.
Were Uconn, Michigan Zona and Illinois not 4 of the better teams all season?
I don’t disagree with you using your methodology, as I’ve said. I just don’t use it. I don’t think it’s a good indicator, as I’ve pointed out. Plenty of great teams perform worse in the NCAA tournament. If you took your methodology to its natural conclusion you’d have to say the 2010 Kentucky team was overrated and/or wasn’t one of the best four teams in the country. You’d have to say the 2011 team was better than the 2010 team. You’d have to say the 2015 team was slightly overrated. You’d have to say the 2022 team was vastly overrated. Etc.
When i evaluate teams, I separate the regular season and post season. I grade each individually because they are both very different.
Regular season: Larger body of work, better for reliably assessing teams
Postseason: Smaller body of work, culmination of regular season
Right but I could see fanbase being split and administration bringing him back after that season unfortunately.
I think you're misunderstanding. I am not strictly limiting to F4 or championships. There's also other rounds that play a factor. How many teams from the conference advance? Is it really an upset if only 1 SEC teams makes it past rhe sw 16? Are you saying all the SEC teams were upset? Lol.
So, no. I wouldn't have to say any of those things youre alleging unless I lacked an understanding of what was actually being asserted. As it appears you may be.
I have done all of those things though. When looking across the SEC, we weren't a strong conference overall. We were overrated.
Feel free to point out the regular season accomplishments you believe exist in support of your position though.
Each SEC game in the tournament was its own thing. So…no.
Wouldn’t be a shock if I misunderstood something.
I understand why you’re saying that. I don’t disagree with you viewing it that way. I don’t agree.
I have no clue what this means. I said last year was a bad year. I simply said we played 14 ranked teams. I think you think that you’re speeding around the track but you’re still at the same point where the race began. You can poke holes all day. You can add all the paprika, pepper, salt, oregano and nuance you want, 14 ranked teams is still a fact. It was a difficult schedule. If you want to rail against it, be my guest, but I don’t find your arguments satisfying or convincing. The SEC didn’t perform that well in the postseason, so that means it was overrated? Ok, that’s your opinion. I don’t agree.
It's not an upset if all 1 but 1 lose befire the E8. It just indicates the conference was overrated.
Then you should easily be able to point out the strengths of the SEC. How did the SEC do across the board in the OOC portion of the schedule?
But 14 ranked teams isn't that impressive if most of them aren't that good. You have to use context. 25 teams have to be ranked. That doesn't mean those 25 are all good teams.
It was a very weak schedule full of weak teams. The good teams we played curb stomped us for the most part, and we had several losses against mid to weak teams and some other nail biters. UK sucked, the SEC was overrated and there really isn't anything you can point to to disprove that other than "bUt 14 tEaMS wE pLaYeD wAs rAnKeD"
Let’s just, for the sake of arguing, grant your premise:
Ok, the SEC was overrated. Now, let me ask you — did the 2026 Kentucky Wildcats play fourteen ranked teams?
I've nver denied they did, but does being ranked automatically make a team good?
Outside of the SEC in the regular season, we played 5 ranked teams and beat 1. Only 1 of those, Gonzaga, was ranked in the top 15. In the SEC we played 4 games against teams in top 15, the other 4 were below. So most of the ranked teams we played were near or at the bottom of the rankings.
Also, are you counting tournament games in your ranked teams or just regular season? Because I am only getting 13 in the regular season.
FL 1 -3 against ranked teams in the OOC schedule.
Bama was 2 -3 against ranked teams in the OOC schedule.
Arky was 2 - 3 against ranked teams in the OOC schedule.
Vandy played 0 ranked teams OOC.
TN was 2 - 1 against ranked teams in the OOC schedule.
Just the top 5 teams in the SEC were 7-9 against ranked teams in other conferences during the regular season. That's a losing record. It doesn't get better the further you go, it gets much worse. It also wasn't any better in the post season. In fact, that was worse, too. Yet, you don't think the SEC was weak?
He will have a mediocre season again next year and will be fired immediately after the final four
The point of it all is, you’re pushing back on me saying they played a tough schedule. You’re saying that doesn’t count because the SEC was weak. Just don’t agree.
They beat Tennessee twice (made the elite eight).
Texas, Arkansas and St. John’s made the Sweet 16 and we beat all three of those teams.
Yes, we lost to teams we shouldn’t have. That’s obvious. It was a bad year. But it also remains true, regardless of your grind to dismantle it, they played 14 ranked teams, something im not sure ANY Kentucky team has ever done.
KenPom finishes
Florida 6th (3X)
Iowa St 7th
Michigan St. 10th
Vanderbilt 11th (2X)
Alabama 12th
St. John’s 13th
Tennessee 14th (2X)
Gonzaga 15th
Arkansas 18th
Louisville 19th
So that means we played 14 games against KenPom Top 25 teams as well.
^ No rational human being on earth is going to argue that is not a tough schedule.
I did say Illinois and Michigan were the 2 teams after him and I believed it would be one of them. I’m sure like everyone else I’m surprised he went to Duke with all the guards they have coming back and coming in. They are over loaded at the guard position he obviously will start you dint pay that type of money for someone coming off the bench.Yet another response that makes absolutely no sense.
Have you given up the Nostradamus routine after that humiliating fail?
Blackwell to Duke.
You insisted repeatedly that Illinois and Michigan were the only two possible destinations.
ZERO recruits that’s damage alone. Had to hire a dad just to get one and again trying to hire Crawford to lure Stokes who obviously doesn’t want to come here.
But what was tough about it? Most of those teams weren't good. Which is exactly why you're providing zero breakdowns of their schedules against those ranked teams and their accomplishments during the season.
And UT was the only E8 team we did beat. One team.
TX, Ark and St. John's all lost in the sw16.
Well, maybe we can hang a banner that says 14 games played against AP top 25 and KenPom top 20 teams. That should show our haters. Should be put we went 5 - 9 on there, too? What about the fact that of those 14, 1 made it past the sw 16? The other 13 were "upset"!
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Think everything I’ve said has been pretty well established. Even though I disagree with your methodology, I even used it to show 5 wins over teams that made the Sweet 16, two of those against the Elite Eight. Your whole premise is that the SEC sucks (somehow) because they didn’t perform as well as you expected in the NCAAT. Even then, your premise fails. I showed the KenPom metrics for the teams the 2026 Cats played and showed they played 14 against the top 25, which is insane. Once you get to the “hang a banner” and all that, you’re no longer having a serious discussion anyway. Think it’s clear that we aren’t coming to any kind of agreement, so I’ll just say thanks for the back and forth.
None of that is elite. 11.9? Elite scorer? Even 14 isn’t elite. I’m kind of amazed at the post to be honest.
You have only reiterated flawed ranking with 0 context. LOL. That's not establishing anything. It's weird you would think otherwise.
A sw16 is the middle of the tournament, right? What is that accomplishment?
We beat the same team in the E8 twice. They were also an upset team in the E8 which you were harping against earlier.
The SEC didn't perform well in the tournament or regular season non conference schedule. The top 5 SEC teams had a losing record against top 25 teams in the OOC schedule. So if they weren't good in the OOC or tournament, what makes the SEC so good? Don't be afraid to really dig and answer with facts and data. It shouldn't be too difficult if you based you conclusions on facts.
I have a very good discussion that you keep avoiding. Here's your big chance though.
I'm simply highlighting the moral victory of your premise. If we wouldn't hang a banner for it, is it really something to brag about? Particularly when went 4 - 9 against those teams.
Don’t forget the prayer shot against LSU and coming back twice against UT down double digits. This team should’ve lost those three and missed the tournament.
This guy has got to be one of the cringiest dudes outside of Mark Pope. He’s obsessed with creating this image of big time expectations and all that, Louisville doesn’t have expectations because they don’t have a fanbase here. The guy was hired walking around on video begging people to come watch a f’n game. Legit begging. Nobody even knew or cared who he was on campus. He wants so bad to be important it’s pathetic.
Then the constant “fight” nonsense from that little program. It’s just embarrassing right now with that midget mouth breather and Mark Pope, cringe fest 5,000 going on in this state.
Nah. I did enjoy the back and forth. I just don’t think we see things the same way.
2025 team would’ve beat this team easily. 2026 team was poorly constructed with role players and 6th man. 2025 team played together and were fun to watch.
I believe everyone’s frustration is we never knew what team would show up and just the lack of effort in games. At least that’s my view when I watched them play this year. Attitude of I didn’t get my check I’m not playing or the check cleared and played hard.
Definitely didn’t have the same fire and chemistry of the first Pope team. Just bipolar.
If I provided nothing, doesn’t that mean you “win” by forfeit or something? Go celebrate.
Dude, this is the internet. And particularly an anonymous message board about UK sports at that. If you honestly feel there are winners and losers, you might take this a bit too seriously.
It literally just means you provided nothing.
Why do you keep @ing me on this, my brother? I’m letting you know very expressly that I don’t want to continue debating the same points. I’ll enjoy more of your posts going forward. For this one, I really just don’t feel like continuing the topic.
Then don't continue. Who is forcing you to respond?
Right choice on your part though. You didn't really have much of an argument.
I will almost always respond when someone directly quotes me. Not responding feels like someone standing there in my face asking me a question and I’m above responding to it. Let it go though. I’m done talking about the back and forth, ok? Done with it. Hope you have a good day.