Following along with the CMP Show tonight. I'll share all the major talking points here in this thread for those of you who may not be able to listen along live on the radio/stream...
* On Lamont Butler... Putting your name amongst the all-time performances in UK Basketball history is something to really be proud of. When he recruited Butler out of the portal, he had played against him every single year and knew what he could do to take over a game. "He's a winner, winner, winner." Notes that every three days or so he learns something knew about him that is cool.
* On the letters the former players sent to the new players on the UK/UofL rivalry... It was really special. All of these guys have just been here for a short time, some will only be here for a short time. Our former players took the time to really make powerful statements about what this game means. It helped them understand what it means. To be in that atmosphere, in that uniform, they get it now, and someday they'll be able to tell future Wildcats what it means.
* Short-term keys: Get healthy; crush finals; work on ourselves.
* Caller asks Pope if they can wear black uniforms. Pope says let me know which game, I'll try to make it happen. Cody asks for Florida. Ha. The league opener.
* Pope asks the audience if anyone was nervous when Oweh took the 3-pointer with about a minute to go... He says, "I wasn't." Tells his guys, I have full confidence in your shooting if you're open. Said he got that mindset from Pitino, who said if you pass up an open shot, you're coming out. We take open shots. We build our confidence by knowing we take open shots.
* Ball-screen defense has to get better before SEC play begins, Pope says. But he was ecstatic about their transition defense against Louisville. "It was elite, and that's where their bread is buttered." Noted that rim protection also has to get better going into SEC play. It's a big, big key to the college game right now and the way a lot of people are playing.
* Pope says they have a "Banner Behavior" segment of practice. Fundamentals important to championship-level play. One of them is "championship chest," which allows you to defend physically without reaching in and fouling. Butler and Oweh are ELITE at it. Trent Noah is also really good at it for a young guy.
* Caller asks about defensive strat vs. Louisville... Pope said there were many arguments among the staff about how to approach them. Stats said they were much better at 2s than 3s, even though we knew they were probably better shooters than they had shown. We emphasized taking away the lane based on the numbers. Did a better job of challenging the 3s in the second half. All but two of them after halftime were challenged/off the bounce. Those are low-efficiency shots on most nights. They got 14 to go in that night. If they're shooting like that, they're going to be hard for anyone to beat, and we beat them, baby.
* Caller says he's thankful Mark Pope did not become a doctor. LOL
* Asked about Amari Williams and body language, Pope says he wants to perform well so badly, sometimes it's hard for him to move on to the next play with a "whole heart." Working on that. They actually have a video edit that is ONLY body language, the whole cut-up. That's something we pay a lot of attention to and work on.
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