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All of Kentucky's losses have one thing in common(besides the other team scoring more points).

Could've been cut down to a couple sentences. Didn't read.

But it's this: we suck on defensive, our sub patterns increase that problem, can't rebound, and in the last 5 minutes lose our minds and become carless.
 
Could've been cut down to a couple sentences. Didn't read.

But it's this: we suck on defensive, our sub patterns increase that problem, can't rebound, and in the last 5 minutes lose our minds and become carless.
It’s hard for me to criticize substitution patterns when we are down 2.5 players and have to play 2 or 3 Freshmen who really have no business being out there yet. But I get what you are saying, it does add to our dilemma having to play those odd sub patterns. I hope we can at least get Butler and Carr back to some semblance of health, so we don’t have to play the Freshmen much in March.
 
You can say we have to play odd substitution patterns if you want to, but there’s no logical reason for playing Chandler in place of Noah… yes Chandler’s D has improved, but Noah hasn’t got much a chance to show what he can do while Chandler gets run out there time after time
 
You can say we have to play odd substitution patterns if you want to, but there’s no logical reason for playing Chandler in place of Noah… yes Chandler’s D has improved, but Noah hasn’t got much a chance to show what he can do while Chandler gets run out there time after time
Have to disagree. I've seen enough of both to know that both are greatly improved but we don't see what Pope sees in practice and Chandler is ahead of Noah on d, with a higher ceiling...if he breaks out offensively, especially.

I've read(maybe here) that Chandler has really looked great in practices, but hasn't broken out in games, yet. He has the right tools to be very good and possesses what we need most, physically. We just need him to play like a sophomore or junior, now. It could happen. He's improving well of late and gaining confidence. You can see it. But I'm asking for a lot of improvement, in a short period of time.. but the potential is there, imo.

We have to get healthier or have someone really make a big step up. If given the decision to play Noah or Chandler and all else equal...I'd go with Chandler too, but based partly on things I've read and heard vs what we have seen from Chandler..yet.

Noah could stand a few more minutes too, at times. Just enough to find a rhythm and see what they've got with him on a given night. I'd like to see good runs from him but he's just making too many mistakes. His offense has to be better, to make up for his d...so far. Give him minutes where we can and let him grow, too. I do think he can give us some minutes but not sure how many or how consistently. I think if a player gets more or fewer minutes, is dynamic and a gut feel vs strictly numbers. At this point, with injuries, we need to find something or someone and Pope is looking for that right rotation, now. It's a very new line up now, vs when we were healthy. It has to involve inexperienced players, any way ya look at it, unfortunately. We're still good but we need something pretty big to go our way, too.
 
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Clemson and OSU -we got bullied and intimidated
UGA- the refs flat out beat us
Alabama and Arkansas- beat us at our own game
Vandy- we flat didn't come to play and by the time we woke up it was too late

Arkansas played the game of their lives. The Cal issue aside failing to win a home
game that we should win is a killer in the SEC this season. This game did more
damage than any other this season

Lastly ,when do Auburn and Alabama get their turn to be everybody's Super Bowl

One more thing, I know our defense isn't what it should be, but every game
some average player has a career day against us. Banked in 3's,shots made
while falling down and rebounds taking crazy bounces got old a while back.
 
I’ve made this point a few times myself. At any point in any given game the team most likely making a run is the one guarding the other with more aggression. The adhesion factor. Watch who’s guarding the other especially on the perimeter with more adhesion and less space and the one who is right and making the other uncomfortable has a great chance to win.

You can talk all the X and Os or substitutions patterns, or metrics all you want but it comes down 75% to simply the above.

When teams lay off we a run out stuff and we are really good. When teams extend their D and don’t let us run our stuff we don’t get the space to shoot the shots we want. The antedote to that is to space and break the D down on the dive but we’re not built for that.

Without Butler we’re also not built to guard with aggression and disruption like others do us so we lose that battle sometimes and it kills us

As you mentioned in also a little worried Coach is not a hard nosed mentality coach that is committed to that style on the defensive side of the ball. He’s trying to find the scheme adjustments when most of the time it’s just LETS GET IN THEIR SPACE and that is the fix.

You can play stay in front of your man defense and with the our offense out score 60-70% of opponents. But you can’t be championship level without a more aggressive style of defense an more players who can do that.

There just isn’t that much difference between all teams talent anymore so the aggressors can win any given game Just guarding harder than the other guys.
You make good points. I don’t think our players are quick enough to play “in your face” defense. If they do, they get blown buy for layups, and we don’t have an inside enforcer like A Davis or Cayley-Stein. Pope may need to play more zone and take some chances.
 
Have to disagree. I've seen enough of both to know that both are greatly improved but we don't see what Pope sees in practice and Chandler is ahead of Noah on d, with a higher ceiling...if he breaks out offensively, especially.

I've read(maybe here) that Chandler has really looked great in practices, but hasn't broken out in games, yet. He has the right tools to be very good and possesses what we need most, physically. We just need him to play like a sophomore or junior, now. It could happen. He's improving well of late and gaining confidence. You can see it. But I'm asking for a lot of improvement, in a short period of time.. but the potential is there, imo.

We have to get healthier or have someone really make a big step up. If given the decision to play Noah or Chandler and all else equal...I'd go with Chandler too, but based partly on things I've read and heard vs what we have seen from Chandler..yet.

Noah could stand a few more minutes too, at times. Just enough to find a rhythm and see what they've got with him on a given night. I'd like to see good runs from him but he's just making too many mistakes. His offense has to be better, to make up for his d...so far. Give him minutes where we can and let him grow, too. I do think he can give us some minutes but not sure how many or how consistently. I think if a player gets more or fewer minutes, is dynamic and a gut feel vs strictly numbers. At this point, with injuries, we need to find something or someone and Pope is looking for that right rotation, now. It's a very new line up now, vs when we were healthy. It has to involve inexperienced players, any way ya look at it, unfortunately. We're still good but we need something pretty big to go our way, too.
Chandler is better on offense but I think Noah is the better shot maker. Noah also has a nose for the ball.
I hope both can contribute.
 
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Mark Pope was not a Rhodes Scholar. He transferred to UK from the University of Washington and always had a scholarship.

When Rod Rhodes transferred to USC, Pitino gave his scholarship to Cameron Mills, who was a walk-on up to that point
Some true and some not true. Yes while he actually wasn't a Rhodes Scholar he was actually a Rhodes Scholar candidate. While not officially a Rhodes Scholar just being a candidate is still very impressive and implies that he is very intelligent.
 
I was thinking about this after the Arkansas game and my thoughts became more clear after watching an Aaron Torres podcast about Kentucky. And before anybody says it I will : Aaron Torres is annoying as Hell; I wish he'd take a valium or something but he is one of the more knowledgeable sports talking heads that I know about. I will warn everybody now...this post will say something negative about Mark Pope. Nobody on this board is a bigger fan of Mark Pope but there is a problem with this team and it's not injuries or athleticism.

Some of our losses came in part because the other team played lights out basketball against us and the Cats didn't play their best, especially late in the game. Guys like Wagner are making step back threes against us like they are layups. That's not bad defense because a step back three is unstoppable but it's low percentage shot if your last name isn't Doncic or Curry. But lets' be clear: teams playing above their heads against Kentucky is not a new thing and the Wildcats need to step up their game and win anyway. That's what Bluebloods are supposed to do.

But there is one common thing that is mostly responsible for ALL of our losses and it's entirely on Mark Pope and I don't know if it can be corrected but I hope there's a fix. A few people have mentioned his calm demeanor and it might be a factor. The one thing that has happened in every single loss is that the Cats played a significant portion of the game with less intensity than the other team. I don't know if our players aren't tough enough or don't want it enough but the end it is the job of the coach to make sure his teams play with intensity and with their heads in the game. That means playing hard defense, fighting for every loose ball and rebound, and always knowing where the ball and other players are(that eliminates stupid turnovers). I get tired of the cliche that the winning team just wanted it more but that was exactly the case yesterday against Arkansas. I love Mark Pope but there's no reason to bury my head in the sand and not recognize the fact that his team just hasn't shown up ready to play in too many games this season. Pope has to figure out a way to get his team to play hard all game and then everything will be fine. Can he do it? I don't know but I hope so because if he can't he's at the wrong place.

Anybody else have any thoughts on the problems and solutions or if you thing there aren't any problems or solutions?
Mike Krzyzewski, Denny Crum & Jay Wright all had a calm demeanor while coaching & between them they made 23 Final Fours & won 9 national championships. And as far as the other team seeming to play harder. This might be because the other team has more quickness than we do which results in them beating us to the majority of loose balls which makes it look like they're out hustling us.
 
Mike Krzyzewski, Denny Crum & Jay Wright all had a calm demeanor while coaching & between them they made 23 Final Fours & won 9 national championships. And as far as the other team seeming to play harder. This might be because the other team has more quickness than we do which results in them beating us to the majority of loose balls which makes it look like they're out hustling us.
You make some good points. But Krzyzewski was the complete opposite of having a calm demeanor, closer to a maniac during games. Danny Hurley is a shrinking violet compared to K.
 
My Lord.
Y'all beat Duke, Gonzaga, UL and Tennessee on the road.
It's Popes first year and he put this roster together on the fly

I feel dirty for having to explain it. You're having as great of year as can be expected considering the circumstances. It's the SEC and you don't need to reinvent the wheel after a loss.
 
Clemson, OSU, UGA, Vandy, and Arkansas all wanted it more than we did. They played with more intensity.

Clemson, UGA, and Vandy needed the wins for their resume and were at home.

OSU had their back against the wall. They needed a big win. They had been struggling.

Arkansas wanted to beat us badly. They were fighting for their coach. They were fighting to prove BBN wrong. They had a ton of bulletin board material to feed their fire.

They had three former players that wanted to show up their former team. Most of the time, players in that situation will play better than usual. Remember Robinson going off against A&M? Bradshaw played better than normal against us in the OSU game as well.

For our former players and recruits at Arkansas, it was their Super Bowl. It is highly unlikely they will ever play a game like that again.

Lots of people on here are stat driven people. I get it. Stats are very important in sports.

But so is emotion. People play this game and people get fired up and perform above their typical stats in certain games. And sometimes they play below them.

You can analyze it until the cows come home, but to me it boils down to how hard these teams play against us and our players not being able to match that intensity.
Playing not hard enough is a harsh critique, other teams are more athletic and physical - they need their PG back desperately

Period. End of story
 
Chandler is better on offense but I think Noah is the better shot maker. Noah also has a nose for the ball.
I hope both can contribute.
The last two games Chandler showed me something I didn’t know he had in him the way he manned up and guarded. He was quick, physical, and strong and showed ability to hold his ground. Had a little attitude too. Seems to have decided that he was going to embrace that defensive role and come in and contribute that way.

You’re right on Noah. He’s a guy that doesn’t loo like he should be able to guard or keep up on the defensive end but he plays a step ahead with his awareness and that makes up for a slower footspeed.

And while Chandler is still a little unsure on the offensive side Noah’s not
 
I’m really sad that so many missed Larry Skaggs’ very dry joke.
I think they missed it because it wasn't a joke; it sounded like he thought a Rhodes Scholar was an academic undergraduate scholarship. (no offense intended Mr. Skaggs)
 
We never performed good defense

We just can not guard anybody and hope the opposite will be cold from 3 point line

Duke, Zaga, TN were not good 3pt shooting team or just cold at games against us, and they lost. We went on miracle to win in a very small margin. Zaga almost made no three in 2nd half, which was a miracle and rarely happened. Duke now improves a lot in 3PT shooting and if we play with them again, we will probably be beaten by 10 in neutral court

And Arkansas is hot from 3PT line, and then we lose. They make blowout to us. Arkansas is hot from three in first half and then you can not guard them in 2PT line as well. It is natural.

Our defense is pathetic, pathetic, can not be forgiven as we are the worst defensive team in P5. If we can perform defense just ranked around 50, we may only lose 3 games and remaining in the talk of 1 seed.

In remaining SEC games, no cupcake teams remaining. We can not guard anybody, all we hope is that opposite is very cold, we shoot very well and win in a small margin. It is somewhat miracle to win games given this kind of pathetic defense.

S16 will be miracle. We could be beaten by anybody given this defense. And it seems that the defense can not be fixed at least in this season.

What is the difference between this season and last season, expect this season we have more experience, but last season had more talent. We can win high quality game in our hot and opposite's cold night, but we can also be beaten by an "average team" in first or second round given our pathetic defense
Big Z, is that you?
 
Could've been cut down to a couple sentences. Didn't read.

But it's this: we suck on defensive, our sub patterns increase that problem, can't rebound, and in the last 5 minutes lose our minds and become carless.
Well, they go home in a bus, so being carless doesn’t matter.
 
I was thinking about this after the Arkansas game and my thoughts became more clear after watching an Aaron Torres podcast about Kentucky. And before anybody says it I will : Aaron Torres is annoying as Hell; I wish he'd take a valium or something but he is one of the more knowledgeable sports talking heads that I know about. I will warn everybody now...this post will say something negative about Mark Pope. Nobody on this board is a bigger fan of Mark Pope but there is a problem with this team and it's not injuries or athleticism.

Some of our losses came in part because the other team played lights out basketball against us and the Cats didn't play their best, especially late in the game. Guys like Wagner are making step back threes against us like they are layups. That's not bad defense because a step back three is unstoppable but it's low percentage shot if your last name isn't Doncic or Curry. But lets' be clear: teams playing above their heads against Kentucky is not a new thing and the Wildcats need to step up their game and win anyway. That's what Bluebloods are supposed to do.

But there is one common thing that is mostly responsible for ALL of our losses and it's entirely on Mark Pope and I don't know if it can be corrected but I hope there's a fix. A few people have mentioned his calm demeanor and it might be a factor. The one thing that has happened in every single loss is that the Cats played a significant portion of the game with less intensity than the other team. I don't know if our players aren't tough enough or don't want it enough but the end it is the job of the coach to make sure his teams play with intensity and with their heads in the game. That means playing hard defense, fighting for every loose ball and rebound, and always knowing where the ball and other players are(that eliminates stupid turnovers). I get tired of the cliche that the winning team just wanted it more but that was exactly the case yesterday against Arkansas. I love Mark Pope but there's no reason to bury my head in the sand and not recognize the fact that his team just hasn't shown up ready to play in too many games this season. Pope has to figure out a way to get his team to play hard all game and then everything will be fine. Can he do it? I don't know but I hope so because if he can't he's at the wrong place.

Anybody else have any thoughts on the problems and solutions or if you thing there aren't any problems or solutions?
I agree, he needs to address that for sure. Lazy getting 50/50 balls is the worst to me.
 
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