Pope

OldFuk

All-Conference
Nov 18, 2011
21,070
2,290
113
Anybody hating on Pope doesn't know squat about basketball. They make complaing statements or future results without any details whatsoever.

I give KUDOS to Pope. He's figured out how to coach this team, going into territory he had no experience with, and is coming out on the bright side. He has a tremendous work ethic and is one smart dude. Give the man time, he's going to be the real deal here at Kentucky.

You complainers, go F yourself.
 

yoshukai

Heisman
Dec 21, 2002
29,649
41,901
102
This is what you get Mediocre Coach, yeah he is good if you want a sweet 16 or maybe an elite 8 every 4 years but will never win a national championship here
National Championship? Is that still our goal? We’ve had ONE in almost 30 years! And that was with the massive help of WWW and the NBA lockout.

Maybe a final four should be our goal , it’s only been 10 years since we’ve been to one of those . We’ve at least had FOUR of those in almost 30 years.

Maybe we should get back to winning an sec championship first. It’s only been 5 years since we won one of those .

Im joking of course……kinda .
 

theKybluedude

All-Conference
Jul 2, 2025
631
1,452
93
It is all subjective with this roster. I am not sure you could rank this roster 1 through 12. None of them are superstars and it really doesn't matter who is available. I think the results have been proven with that this year. The Alabama game the Cats were fully healthy and were embarrassed. The Arkansas game the Cats were limited with players and looked like a tournament team. I think the injury excuse just does not apply to this team. If this team only had 8 players that were significantly better than the rest, then yes it would make a difference. Pope even said this team was built to deal with injuries.
They most certainly miss those 3. No other team would not be hurt with like injury absences. To ignore that is a mistake. Depth took a big hit. One guy was a projected lottery pick and another was All ACC
 

Tim0808

All-Conference
Apr 4, 2013
696
1,119
93
They most certainly miss those 3. No other team would not be hurt with like injury absences. To ignore that is a mistake. Depth took a big hit. One guy was a projected lottery pick and another was All ACC
I think we can agree to disagree. Even when everyone was healthy, Kentucky looked worse than we do now. I think the injuries have probably helped this team. The rotation was cut down and players got consistent playing time. The injury execuse gets old. It got old with Cal, it got old last year, and I think it is really old this year when the head Coach was implying that this team could have multiple first round draft picks. We are not the first team to have injuries. Vandy had one of it's top players out and we still got crushed. LSU'S best player did not play and it took a miracle play to beat one of the worse teams in the league. We were fully healthy against Alabama and got crushed. Now that Kam is out, he is labeled a starter by some when he only started about a third of the time when he was healthy. When Noah was out, he was labeled a starter by some and sometimes he never gets off the bench even when he is healthy. This is a multimillion dollar roster and it should be able to deal with injuries. I am not saying this to bash Pope, because it seems he is figuring this team out. At least he has busted his butt to salvage the season. So he deserves a lot of credit for that.
 

paulcalhoun_rivals397471

All-Conference
Aug 23, 2024
1,575
4,310
113
National Championship? Is that still our goal? We’ve had ONE in almost 30 years! And that was with the massive help of WWW and the NBA lockout.

Maybe a final four should be our goal , it’s only been 10 years since we’ve been to one of those . We’ve at least had FOUR of those in almost 30 years.

Maybe we should get back to winning an sec championship first. It’s only been 5 years since we won one of those .

Im joking of course……kinda .
We have 7 final fours, 5 title games, and 3 titles in the last 30 years.
 
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yoshukai

Heisman
Dec 21, 2002
29,649
41,901
102
We have 7 final fours, 5 title games, and 3 titles in the last 30 years.
Yeah , that three year run we had 30 years ago makes everything seem a lot better now ,right ? Lmao.

Serious question ,if you’re old enough to remember . In 1998 , coming off 3 consecutive national championship games with 2 championships…..if someone would have told you that we would only have FOUR more final fours and just ONE more national championship in the year 2026 ,would you have believed them ?

I would have thought they were crazy.
 
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Snarks

All-American
Jan 31, 2005
8,427
6,685
93
I think Pope can consistently keep a top 20 squad. My issue is can he recruit at a high enough level to field a top 5 team? So far the answer is no. If we don’t have a top 5 team next year, I think it’s time to move on. No sense in delaying the inevitable.
 

davtay

All-Conference
Dec 31, 2002
1,263
1,211
113
Yeah , that three year run we had 30 years ago makes everything seem a lot better now ,right ? Lmao.

Serious question ,if you’re old enough to remember . In 1998 , coming off 3 consecutive national championship games with 2 championships…..if someone would have told you that we would only have FOUR more final fours and just ONE more national championship in the year 2026 ,would you have believed them ?

I would have thought they were crazy.
To be perfectly honest, I was thinking, enjoy this because it will be over soon. Heaters like that are just not sustainable. When you are that successful, a downturn is inevitable.

We have had three such runs in history, Rupp, Pitino/Tubby, and Cal. Even though Cals didn't have the championships the FF runs were impressive. Then, we kinda regress to the mean....although out mean is higher than most.
 
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SenseMaker_Cats

All-Conference
Jul 3, 2025
1,131
4,380
113
Yeah , that three year run we had 30 years ago makes everything seem a lot better now ,right ? Lmao.

Serious question ,if you’re old enough to remember . In 1998 , coming off 3 consecutive national championship games with 2 championships…..if someone would have told you that we would only have FOUR more final fours and just ONE more national championship in the year 2026 ,would you have believed them ?

I would have thought they were crazy.
I would not have believed it. Especially considering the Cats were 1 game away from yet another final four the very next year.
 
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YankeeCpt_rivals378522

All-Conference
May 7, 2009
1,971
1,040
113
this billy ripken needs to go