So Pope has wins against both....

[nicky]

The Big East conference champion and the SEC conference champion....

How's that play with you guys..? (I'm well aware of the bad losses too)

Deserving of a 3rd year...? (Even though we all know he's going to get it)

 

[theGspot_rivals175609]

Can we get a banner for that?

 

[chattanogawildcat]

Can we get a banner for that?

Can you stop being an azz in every thread? We already know you hate Pope and/or UK.

 

[cat tat2]

Bad losses > big wins
This is Kentucky, big wins are expected and bad losses are not acceptable.

 

[theKybluedude]

Hell yeah. Gets a 3rd year but it’s a pivotal one. Has to show he can recruit at a UK level and to fit his system. Give him a chance to coach with his full roster.

Wish he had kept Antiqua. Had confidence in his ability to evaluate and bring players.

I’m sure CMP has learned a bunch. Sweet 16 last year with those crippling injuries was a really good start. This year had highs and lows but isn’t over.

Don’t worry about the x and os. Recruiting will make or break him.

 

[preacherfan]

Bad losses > big wins
This is Kentucky, big wins are expected and bad losses are not acceptable.

Not always. I would never trade the 2012 title for the loss against IU. Losing to IU was horrific on so many levels but the title more than made up for it. Even during the regular season, I would rather lose to Gonzaga by 30 and beat UNC by 2 because that big win is far better than that bad loss. So, for me at least, it is circumstantial.

 

[KentuckyWildcats74]

Can we get a banner for that?

No, but they might give us one for wanting to fire our coach every other year.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

Just shows how inconsistent he is. He also has 3 losses to the sec conference champ.

What the OP is referencing is the tournament champ.

 

[TFCat11]

Can we get a banner for that?

Beat me to it

 

[Eagles_Ball_69]

The Big East conference champion and the SEC conference champion....

How's that play with you guys..? (I'm well aware of the bad losses too)

Deserving of a 3rd year...? (Even though we all know he's going to get it)

SEC “Tournament champions”. There’s a difference.

UK should win those games. What they shouldn’t do is…
-get blown out by that same team
-have a 5-11 Q1 record
-have a 5-9 record vs T25
-celebrate a S16 like it’s the ceiling for the program
-lose every 5 star recruit to another school
-have to put a roster together of other programs bench players
-have a roughly .500 record vs P4 teams in its last 30 games
-lose to UGA and Mizzou at home
-get blown out by Louisville
-get turbo clocked in Nashville by Gonzaga

Those are all things KENTUCKY basketball should not do. But sure, make a post pounding your chest about two anomalies on the season.

But to answer your question of how it plays with me? That’s what Kentucky SHOULD do. I, unlike some other, refuse to lower my expectations and standards of UK simply because Mark Pope is the coach.

 

[MonsterMash79]

While MP has shat tha bed in some games, I still think UK’s gotta shot at upsetting somebody in the Tourney. Will they need to play outta their minds? Hell yeh…. But they’ve beat some pretty damn good teams this year and we all know anything can happen in March ..


No, I don’t want him back for year 3

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

Hell yeah. Gets a 3rd year but it’s a pivotal one. Has to show he can recruit at a UK level and to fit his system. Give him a chance to coach with his full roster.

Wish he had kept Antiqua. Had confidence in his ability to evaluate and bring players.

I’m sure CMP has learned a bunch. Sweet 16 last year with those crippling injuries was a really good start. This year had highs and lows but isn’t over.

Don’t worry about the x and os. Recruiting will make or break him.

This issue is outside of Stokes maybe coming he hasn’t come close to recruiting at that level and next year is almost upon us. He hasn’t already proven he can’t really recruit HS to our standard.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

SEC “Tournament champions”. There’s a difference.

UK should win those games. What they shouldn’t do is…
-get blown out by that same team
-have a 5-11 Q1 record
-have a 5-9 record vs T25
-celebrate a S16 like it’s the ceiling for the program
-lose every 5 star recruit to another school
-have to put a roster together of other programs bench players
-have a roughly .500 record vs P4 teams in its last 30 games
-lose to UGA and Mizzou at home
-get blown out by Louisville
-get turbo clocked in Nashville by Gonzaga

Those are all things KENTUCKY basketball should not do. But sure, make a post pounding your chest about two anomalies on the season.

But to answer your question of how it plays with me? That’s what Kentucky SHOULD do. I, unlike some other, refuse to lower my expectations and standards of UK simply because Mark Pope is the coach.

 

[blackcat714]

The Big East conference champion and the SEC conference champion....

How's that play with you guys..? (I'm well aware of the bad losses too)

Deserving of a 3rd year...? (Even though we all know he's going to get it)

It shows those coaches have gotten their teams better and our team has went in the opposite direction

 

[SamePooter]

Can we get a banner for that?

No we are running out of space for moral victory banners

 

[Kantucke_rivals]

And we're watching them both play for conference titles, this is not.the flex pumpers think it is.

#HangTheBanner

 

[Johnny_Jeepers]

Can we get a banner for that?

He came here to hang banners and by gawd he has! Pay raise?

 

[theGspot_rivals175609]

No, but they might give us one for wanting to fire our coach every other year.

Wasn't our last coach here like a 15 years?

 

[theGspot_rivals175609]

Low BB IQ but high feminine product IQ. Cracks me up.

You need a high IQ to know about women's reproductive systems?

Yes, the person who actually can point out the flaws in our porgram honestly and demands a better standard for the most historically successful program on CBB history is the one with the low BB IQ. Makes sense!

Also, I notice there was nothing listed for how I bashed UK. Why is that?

 

[Zuma75]

With Pope it seems like always looking for the silver lining around the cloud. Not how it’s supposed to work here. He’s gonna get another year regardless.

 

[theGspot_rivals175609]

View attachment 1219091

He came here to hang banners and by gawd he has! Pay raise?

Can we get one for playing on Wednesday in the SEC tournament for the first time ever, too?

 

[Tim0808]

The Big East conference champion and the SEC conference champion....

How's that play with you guys..? (I'm well aware of the bad losses too)

Deserving of a 3rd year...? (Even though we all know he's going to get it)

We do not care about regular season wins. Let's see what he does in the NCAA tournament.

 

[kyjeff1]

He has shown us that he can beat anyone on any court.

The issue is, he can't sustain it. It’s been a problem his entire career and I think it's his soft, girl dad personality.

Can he fix this? I don't know, but I hope he can. I think he needs kids on the court that are MKG type A personalities. Refuse to lose guys.

As much as I like Oweh, he’s not a refuse to lose guy. Butler was, Amari was, but on this team, we have 1, Mo D, but he’s not a leader.

I just hope we have an injury free season next year and Pope gets a fair shot to rectify the issues. If he wins at a UK standard, he stays, if he loses 10 games and falls short of the E8, he’s out. I think that's fair.

 

[Snarks]

I mean, that’s great. But, also have losses against UGA and Auburn

 

[Wildcat_in_DC]

for every 2 wins het gets, he loses 1. it doesn't matter who the wins are against, thats not the standard.

 

[Ukwazoo3]

Not always. I would never trade the 2012 title for the loss against IU. Losing to IU was horrific on so many levels but the title more than made up for it. Even during the regular season, I would rather lose to Gonzaga by 30 and beat UNC by 2 because that big win is far better than that bad loss. So, for me at least, it is circumstantial.

I wouldn't consider the 2012 loss at IU to be bad. IU was a good team that year and Anthony Davis had 2 fouls on him before he even got off the bus. And it still took a buzzer beater to beat us, which IU has celebrated for years and years after.

 

[preacherfan]

I wouldn't consider the 2012 loss at IU to be bad. IU was a good team that year and Anthony Davis had 2 fouls on him before he even got off the bus. And it still took a buzzer beater to beat us, which IU has celebrated for years and years after.

True. It basically comes down to semantics. What is a bad loss? For me, it is losing to a hated rival. For others, it might be losing by 30 to anyone and maybe to someone else it is losing to a team that you should have beaten.

Also, there is big difference between losing to KState in the tournament and losing to them in the early season. One is a bad loss in a way the other isn't. Losing to Oakland was a bad loss and it didn't matter if it were in the tournament or even a pre-season game. That one was bad!!

 

[Damage_inc]

The Big East conference champion and the SEC conference champion....

How's that play with you guys..? (I'm well aware of the bad losses too)

Deserving of a 3rd year...? (Even though we all know he's going to get it)

This is some big mental gymnastics. I expect our SEC and BIg east tournament champs trophy to be in the mail by Monday

 

[ZMCats]

The Big East conference champion and the SEC conference champion....

How's that play with you guys..? (I'm well aware of the bad losses too)

Deserving of a 3rd year...? (Even though we all know he's going to get it)

I say no he shouldn’t get a 3rd year but he definitely will. His record is almost the exact same as last years and quite frankly similar to his entire head coaching career.

 

[megablue]

The Big East conference champion and the SEC conference champion....

How's that play with you guys..? (I'm well aware of the bad losses too)

Deserving of a 3rd year...? (Even though we all know he's going to get it)

"How it plays" is to confirm that we are NOT terrible, but just consistently inconsistent. We can be a good team, at times, but we clearly are not an excellent or special team in any way whatsoever. It is important to note that MANY "average" teams have big wins in the current basketball landscape. For example: Florida went 16-2 in the SEC, losing to Missouri (20-12) and Auburn (17-16). Also, don't forget that we were extremely fortunate to beat LSU (15-17/3-15) on a last-second shot.

Yes. Pope will get a third season, regardless, but there will be immense pressure on him and his staff to put a highly-competitive team on the floor next year. I think we can all agree on that.

 

[MegaBlue05]

I can’t say I’m elated by the Pope era so far, but I am not ready to play musical coaches like a bottom feeder NBA franchise just yet.

It’s been mixed bag for me. Pope has had a lot of really nice wins (Duke, Gonzaga, UF in 2025, UTx4, at Arkansas) along with some of the worst losses I’ve seen (Ohio State, Bama in 2025 SECT, MSU, Gonzaga, at Vandy) as a UK fan.

I don’t think his x’s and o’s are that bad. I like the offense when executed correctly. I don’t care for the defensive scheme but do like he’s willing to lix in zones and presses occasionally. Substitution patterns need major improvement. At the end of the day, Pope being the long term answer will come down to if he can get elite talent. It started promising in that area but doesn’t look so good now.

As others have said, next year is pivotal for Pope. We have to he in the hunt for a national and/or conference championship all year next year. We’ve been anywhere from awful (2021) to good (2022, 2024, 2025) to mediocre (2023, 2026) this decade. Looks like 2026-27 has a theme of “win big or get out.”

 

[Old Blue Fart]

Whether or not my opinion matters if Coach pope gets a third year or not, what I do know is we, UK fans, have gone a long time without much to crow about.
As I watched St. Johns and UConn last night, I found myself really missing the days when we played in the big game on TV and was relevant in college basketball instead of what we have now.

Years ago, UK seemed to be the game of the day on Super Bowl Sunday, being called "Catlanta", having everyone think of the SEC Tournament as the UK Invitational and awaiting for Selection Sunday to see what region we were in knowing we were a 1 seed.

As for as asking if Coach Pope will get a 3rd year, I am asking when will UK be UK again?

 

[theKybluedude]

This issue is outside of Stokes maybe coming he hasn’t come close to recruiting at that level and next year is almost upon us. He hasn’t already proven he can’t really recruit HS to our standard.

Agree. Recruiting will make or break him.

Florida and UConn won without 5 star fr carrying the major role so it can be done. I think Pope relates better to portal guys than the mercenary 5star guys. I’m ok with that.

 

[meteordealer]

Hell yeah. Gets a 3rd year but it’s a pivotal one. Has to show he can recruit at a UK level and to fit his system. Give him a chance to coach with his full roster.

Wish he had kept Antiqua. Had confidence in his ability to evaluate and bring players.

I’m sure CMP has learned a bunch. Sweet 16 last year with those crippling injuries was a really good start. This year had highs and lows but isn’t over.

Don’t worry about the x and os. Recruiting will make or break him.

We have ZERO recruits going into his 3rd year. That should be enough to send him packing.

 

[UkBluePrint]

Pope is done for.. seriously.... you can't even draw up a play to be the most embarrassment with how things have turned out.

 

[Supafuzz75]

The Big East conference champion and the SEC conference champion....

How's that play with you guys..? (I'm well aware of the bad losses too)

Deserving of a 3rd year...? (Even though we all know he's going to get it)

Sure,, give the bum an extra year on his contract too for those fine wins..

 

[Eagles_Ball_69]

I can’t say I’m elated by the Pope era so far, but I am not ready to play musical coaches like a bottom feeder NBA franchise just yet.

It’s been mixed bag for me. Pope has had a lot of really nice wins (Duke, Gonzaga, UF in 2025, UTx4, at Arkansas) along with some of the worst losses I’ve seen (Ohio State, Bama in 2025 SECT, MSU, Gonzaga, at Vandy) as a UK fan.

I don’t think his x’s and o’s are that bad. I like the offense when executed correctly. I don’t care for the defensive scheme but do like he’s willing to lix in zones and presses occasionally. Substitution patterns need major improvement. At the end of the day, Pope being the long term answer will come down to if he can get elite talent. It started promising in that area but doesn’t look so good now.

As others have said, next year is pivotal for Pope. We have to he in the hunt for a national and/or conference championship all year next year. We’ve been anywhere from awful (2021) to good (2022, 2024, 2025) to mediocre (2023, 2026) this decade. Looks like 2026-27 has a theme of “win big or get out.”

I don’t disagree with any of this but the starting good with elite talent. When has he ever gotten elite talent?

 

[UKGrad24]

Can we get one for playing on Wednesday in the SEC tournament for the first time ever, too?

Spoilers coming give him year 3.