I’m still behind Pope 100%.
He is a genius on the offensive end of the court and a great X and O’s coach..
My only concern with him when he was hired can he recruit at Kentucky Level and can he be a good defensive minded coach.,

He definately can recruit on the Kentucky Level..
The defense not so sure why I think hiring a defensive minded coach known for great defenses would be great like a defensive coordinator in football..

Just an opinion interested in what everyone’s thoughts on that would be.

I’m just gonna go ahead and throw this out there and see if any of you guys have a hookup.

Hopefully Monk can go to SA in free agency and bring the band back again.

Good to show size of some players

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I got two in the uppers I’m giving out. Can’t make it down this weekend. Go cats.

Coach Popes post game presser seemed to deflect away from giving any information when asked. I thought he mentioned having transparency with the program in his opening speech day one. Cal hadn’t seen his injured players to give updates.

I like his show

Not sure what we learn.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, he is genuinely A VERY nice guy.
We all know you play sports you have to have some real toughness.
He, imo might be too nice and that is what we are witnessing with this team zero toughness, especially on D.

Hope I am wrong

So, I'm randomly awake.

But with good news. I got the tech job. I'm back into IT. It's basically starting over from the bottom a bit, but I'm back into the field. So to all those that have been supportive and praying for me in my prayer requests threads: Thank You. And please keep them up.

I'm excited, but nervous and a little anxious. I'll be starting in a couple of weeks and I'm going to be out of that warehouse in the next day or so. I'm going to use the time in between to get reorganized and get my sleep scheduled readjusted.

Just wanted to share a bit of good news since we are all having a rough week bball wise and I'm randomly awake.

If the over/under was set at 25% from 3 point range for tonight what are you taking? After they couldn't miss Saturday I'm taking the under. They will get the UK rebound effect of not being able to hit a shot from 3 tonight.

Some very interesting situations for former UK players headed into the stretch of the NBA season. Which former Wildcat has the best chance of getting a ring?

OKC (40-9) - SGA had 50 last night, they are getting Holmgren back, Cason Wallace is a tenacious perimeter defender
Knicks (34-17) - KAT having a career year
Mavs (26-25) - AD and PJ team up on what should be one of the best defensive teams in the NBA going forward
Spurs (22-26) - Fox and Wemby is a formidable duo, Keldon Johnson still in the rotation, they could make a late push
Nuggets (32-19) - it's been a good season for Murray after being injured
Heat (25-24) - not likely for Bam and Herro
Sixers (20-30) - If Embiid had Maxey's desire, they would contend, but he doesn't.
Suns (25-25) - another great season for Booker, but not a contender. Nick Richards contributing
Kings (25-25) - Monk averaging 18 ppg
Minnesota (28-23) - Randle averaging 19/7/5
Rockets (32-18) - Sheppard could get a ring even though he doesn't play much

Those are the teams with a shot at the playoffs.

Wins Above Bubble. No longer are Home wins listed. Barttarvik uses this as a way to measure how one team might do compared to a bubble team (NET around 45) against the same schedule.

Kentucky is #14 in WAB, which I guess is ok.

Any metric Gurus out there to explain this more?

I believe if we win Saturday our record will be exactly the same as last season.

That team had 2 lottery picks.

And on December 2nd last season we lost to UNC-Wilmington in Rupp.

We are 3-1 against teams currently ranked in the top 6.

We are dealing with injuries but are in a much better place this season.

I still have faith in Pope.

I don't know the coaching staff like some of you on here. Who they are, what their roles are, etc...
But I do know in general good management, which should apply to head coaching as well, is that you hire people who are good at what they do especially in areas that are not your own strength.

Pope is an Offensive coach. Fine. Then make sure one of your assistants is a Defensive coach.
Do we have "that (Defensive) guy" on staff now?
If not, we need to get him here this summer!

Holds offers from Louisville, Duke, Indiana, Vandy and others. Ranked by one recruiting service as the #1 player in KY in the class of 26.

We beat the #4 ranked team in the nation on their home court. Without Lamont Butler. We will be alright.

In UCONN's first title run in this recent back-to-back, they were dominant in March and won every tournament game by at least 13 points. People might forget that they weren't a 1-seed nor many people's title favorites heading into the tournament. They went into Selection Sunday with a 25-8 record and received a 4-seed. We all found out that that record and seed line they got placed at wasn't indicative of how good they actually were. They had dealt with injuries during league play and even lost 6 out of 8 games during one stretch. But they got healthy at the right time and played up to their potential when it mattered.

In the same way, it doesn't matter what our record is or what seed we receive. If we get healthy by March, we can beat anybody.

Very transparent response from Coach Lawson

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"The old model for Carolina basketball just doesn't work," Davis said, referring to past infrastructures that leaned largely on coaches. "It's not sustainable. It has to build out because there's so many things in play with NIL, the transfer portal, agents, international players."

Several programs have hired a GM, including Jon Scheyer at rival Duke. Former Nike and NBA staffer Rachel Baker was one of his first hires after he took over in 2022 for retired Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski. Davis had opted not to hire a GM when he took over for another retiring Hall of Famer Roy Williams.
The past few years have him ready to change course.
"I am going to increase the staff, and it's needed," Davis said. "I never would've thought in the four years that I took the job that I'm 100% [on] what is needed is a general manager.

Davis: UNC will add GM to manage NIL, transfers

North Carolina's Hubert Davis, the fourth-year coach whose Tar Heels are at risk of missing the NCAA tournament for the second time in three years, is planning staff changes, including hiring a general manager to navigate the NIL and transfer portal era.

www.espn.com

95% of the posters here want Pope to succeed, want him to win. They comprehend that we are down 2 PG's and still a recovering Carr. We know that this is incredibly challenging to overcome.

However....

I would conclude that most posters here are more upset and frustrated with this team right now because of the following reasons:

• Soft
  • Lack of Effort
  • Mentally Leaving the Game
  • Refuse to try to be Physical

I guarantee you, that its HOW we are losing, not that WE are losing. In every loss, we lose the same. Everyone knows what that is. If our team SHOWED they want to WIN, more than half of these threads would not exist.

You're upset, because of HOW we lose, not that WE lose this year. The HOW has been consistent.

How do we win? We out scheme, we play as a cohesive unit. No more ISO, create defensive schemes that WORK with this team. Whatever that may be.

#1 reason why BBN has the right to be Frustrated is, because of lack of will to win, which equates them being soft.

If you're frustrated, that does not mean you hate Pope, you hate this team, you want Cal back. Or you're a bad fan or a bandwagon fan.

If we were losing games and we were competitive and still lost, most reasonable fans here would understand the hand Pope was given.

It's.
That.
Simple.

I'm either a hero or a masochist for doing this

Scores by segment/ stops

Ole Miss / UK / Stops
15-7 ..........one-stop
5-7 ...........three-stops
13-7 .........zero stops
8-7 ..........three stops
13-3 ........one stop
Half ---- only 8 stops the ENTIRE HALF!!!!!
14-13........ one stop
4-11........... four stops
6-11 ..........five stops
11-10.......... two stops
9-9 ..........three stops

15 stops second half... not great but enough with our offense.

Wow .. more stops… better segment... who knew? Only out scored them in two segments but that was enough to win second half... that's how good our offense can be

At 13 minutes in the second half we were shooting 70% and had only broke even.

How to improve defense??... desperate times call for desperate measures...... maybe change defenses every two or three possessions... with some junk included? Can it get any worse? Clearly mtm is not working.

Cancelled K State visit. Kentucky will be his last visit. Per Trilly.

maybe something positive for folks after yesterday.