Zoom was having his best game

Bluegrass79

Senior
May 4, 2006
612
927
61
Pope has horrible substitution patterns. I complained a lot about it his 1st year. Last year he really didn’t have the guys to make crazy subs but when he played Garrison with Mo and Moreno it drove me nuts.
This is a common occurrence for Mark Pope actually. Of all the things he has been subject to do.. it is lineup problems.

And now he has too many players.
I think Kam Williams coming back was part of the problem tonight. It happens sometimes when somebody comes back and you know that's supposed to be a starter and they've already settled after 4 games....

It didn't help Kam couldn't hit shots


And you have this problem going forward really... Who in the hell do you really play?

Big Frank got forgot about tonight because they couldn't stop 3's.


This team pretty much has everything that you need on a team it's just a matter of can you make shots and stop shots?
 
Oct 13, 2025
301
504
63
This is a common occurrence for Mark Pope actually. Of all the things he has been subject to do.. it is lineup problems.

And now he has too many players.
I think Kam Williams coming back was part of the problem tonight. It happens sometimes when somebody comes back and you know that's supposed to be a starter and they've already settled after 4 games....

It didn't help Kam couldn't hit shots


And you have this problem going forward really... Who in the hell do you really play?

Big Frank got forgot about tonight because they couldn't stop 3's.


This team pretty much has everything that you need on a team it's just a matter of can you make shots and stop shots?
I'm not in the can't stand Mark Pope crowd. I'm a lot more likely to give him the benefit of the doubt than not. That said, his team on the court and substitution decisions are a GLARING issue, a perpetual issue. He picks weird times to pull guys, weird times to put guys in, weird times to leave guys on the bench, and strange combinations of players, and it's all stuff the average fan can discern. I don't know how he can't see those things when the average fan can.

He's not the first coach we've had to have this issue. Cal was really bad about it too, but for different reasons.
 

Catastic5

All-Conference
Sep 12, 2026
693
1,660
93
I'm not in the can't stand Mark Pope crowd. I'm a lot more likely to give him the benefit of the doubt than not. That said, his team on the court and substitution decisions are a GLARING issue, a perpetual issue. He picks weird times to pull guys, weird times to put guys in, weird times to leave guys on the bench, and strange combinations of players, and it's all stuff the average fan can discern. I don't know how he can't see those things when the average fan can.

He's not the first coach we've had to have this issue. Cal was really bad about it too, but for different reasons.
I think Pope is in over his head. I think most of us who don’t have our blue blinders on can see that. Don’t hate the guy for it. It probably isn’t going to work out and that’s fine. He’ll get a big buyout and we’ll find someone else to coach us. No hard feelings.
 

*Fox2Monk*

Heisman
Jun 10, 2009
48,812
89,992
113
And then Pope took him out and didn't put him back in the last 12 minutes or so of the game. Was his defense not tenable? Or was this just Pope and his inane substitution patterns? Or something else?

I don't get it, kid was having the kind of game to really build his confidence and then just gets benched and left to linger there.
I think the ball moved better with Mason and Alex on the floor. That group was just playing better. Zoom deserves his flowers as he played smart ball when everyone else was chucking shots and he kept us in the game.
 

theBlues

All-Conference
Oct 18, 2025
2,076
4,698
113
I think Zoom, Mason, and Alex would have all been on the floor late if Zoom hadn't had a badly busted lip. I'm sure it was just because they didn't need him to pull out a win and possibly concussion protocol.
 

theBlues

All-Conference
Oct 18, 2025
2,076
4,698
113
I would like to see that at some point. We seem to play better when we go smaller. I’d like to see the 3 guards/MOM/Mcbride or Morneo or even Kam Williams some nights.
I think they should all 3 start with McBride and Hawthorne being the top 2 reserves. They've both shown me more already than Kam Williams has so far at UK.
 
  • Like
Reactions: chroix
Jul 6, 2025
2,901
7,758
113
Im glad because we're better with zoom on the bench and Williams in.

The part that sucks is Pope paying a guy a small fortune that isn't one of our best guys because he can't manage a roster and refuses to hire a gm.
 
  • Like
Reactions: chroix

Aike

Heisman
Mar 17, 2002
75,461
46,455
90
The Kam Williams slander is too much. Low usage glue guy who gets on a roll from three and never misses free throws. We could do a lot worse.
 
KSR

Latest

  1. 01 KSR Football Bio Blast: Tennessee Volunteers
  2. 02 KSR Football Kentucky Fans Paint The Rock at Tennessee
  3. 03 KSR Basketball KSR's takeaways from Kentucky's too-close-for-comfort win over JMU
  4. 04 KSR Basketball Kentucky's backcourt trio didn't log a single turnover vs. James Madison
  5. 05 KSR+ Basketball PHOTO GALLERY: UK vs. James Madison