Chicken Little Fans Are a Waste

[MrHotDice]

10-2 record, undefeated in Rupp, wins over Duke and Gonzaga by a team of players who’s claim to fame was that they had none. But the Sky is Falling crowd comes around after a loss. I suggest to ignore all negativity this year and support the team and program and Coach Pope

 

[CatFanInIlliniLand]

I was miserable after that loss.

However, your perspective is correct. My expectations were 20 wins, 23 if we had a “great season”. Sweet 16 as a ceiling. I didn’t know the SEC would be this good either. Coach Pope and this team have been fun thus far. I’ll take 10-2. I’m most excited to see how Coach grows himself, not just the team.

 

[kywildcat41035]

10-2 record, undefeated in Rupp, wins over Duke and Gonzaga by a team of players who’s claim to fame was that they had none. But the Sky is Falling crowd comes around after a loss. I suggest to ignore all negativity this year and support the team and program and Coach Pope

Amen brother who had only 2 losses on their Bingo card for a non conference record for Pope’s 1st season? I know I had about 4 or more. 6 months to put a team together and not even 2 months coaching the team and already ready to crucify him. Dude needs a little time to get things going and everyone needs to understand that considering how that conman Calipari left things!

 

[the nail at the foul line]

To quote the Old Man Parker "it's a clinker".

Time to learn and move on.

Team didn't compete.

 

[chevyman 50]

We played a Ohio St. team tonight that had everything going on for them, and Ky did not seem to being playing with intensity to win, I thought Ky should have been zoning some of course our shots was not falling I guess we will know in the next few weeks what this team is made of.

 

[LmdCat]

10-2 record, undefeated in Rupp, wins over Duke and Gonzaga by a team of players who’s claim to fame was that they had none. But the Sky is Falling crowd comes around after a loss. I suggest to ignore all negativity this year and support the team and program and Coach Pope

If last night was a one off, I would understand your attack on fans which is typically what happens around here when our team craps their pants. However, this is not a one off. This team has been trending down for weeks. If it was a stock, every qualified investor would be selling at this point. Every qualified investor knows you should never make emotional investments. There is no difference when it comes to sports teams. To say a team is looking like a bad investment, doesn't mean the team has no chance of correcting things. It simply means it isn't time to put your head in the sand while pretending everything is ok. Why, because past success is no guarantee of future success especially if there are no changes to what is causing the downward trend.

 

[Terrapin_Station]

Don’t think the sky is falling. It’s actually more that the fog is clearing up and we’re seeing who the team really is. The losses will pile up in SEC play and, as expected, we’ll get bounced early in the tournament. Now it’s just about seeing what Pope can do with a roster that’s weaker than most of the teams he will face the rest of the way. Hopefully adjustments are made and he at least attempts to utilize different lineups.

 

[JonathanW]

OP is right.
30% and 18% will not win a game, it’s that simple. I believe if we play this same Ohio St team 10 times, we win 8-9 of them.

 

[YardCat]

10-2 record, undefeated in Rupp, wins over Duke and Gonzaga by a team of players who’s claim to fame was that they had none. But the Sky is Falling crowd comes around after a loss. I suggest to ignore all negativity this year and support the team and program and Coach Pope

What did we actually expect at the beginning of the year? Most people thought we would only have 18 wins, but we win some big games and everyone expects a National Championship but it’s still a 20-23 win team. IMO
Let’s let Pope actually get his type of players he wants and needs.

 

[TTTblue24]

When you play an inferior opponent and they start playing out of their mind, it’s your job to remind them who they are and who you are however you need to do that. No sense of urgency until we were down 17, too late then but the trend of these slow starts is concerning when league play is almost here. If these guys haven’t learned that we get everybody’s best shot by now, the road sec games are going to be like this and worst so better come out on fire or this isn’t the first loss of this nature.

 

[LmdCat]

What did we actually expect at the beginning of the year? Most people thought we would only have 18 wins, but we win some big games and everyone expects a National Championship but it’s still a 20-23 win team. IMO
Let’s let Pope actually get his type of players he wants and needs.

If this team regains its 3-point shooting, the poor defense won't really matter. When we were playing well, it wasn't because of defense. It was because we were simply outscoring our opponents with numbers in the 90s. As well as our opponent played last night, they still didn't achieve our typical scoring.

 

[NerlensCat]

We are an emotional fanbase. I get when people are upset. I hate losing as much as anyone. I have to turn the TV off when they are playing poorly because it makes me physically ill. But, I try to keep perspective.

Just 8ish months ago, after all of the one and done type talent had already signed with a Coach(because let’s face it, that is who they are loyal to) Cal decided to skip out on Ky taking what he could with him. Most agreed at that point that it was a short term struggle. But almost assuredly a possible long term win.

At that point, 99% of the fanbase would have been totally elated if you told them we were 10-2 with wins over Duke and Gonzaga . We had been ranked in the top 10 for what 4 weeks, peaking at #4. We also have a top 5 recruiting class with 2 more Ky boys coming. Anyone who looked at that information in a vacuum 8 months ago would have eaten that up. Why? Because Pope had about 2 months to get on campus, get a coaching staff and 2 months to recruit a team that was almost completely filled by the portal.

As much as older players add stability, you cannot build a roster 100% out of them and not get players who have holes in their game. That is why they are still playing college ball after 5 year.

This is why Pope knew he had to have top level talent from HS. And, you have to get a few of those to stay each year make it work.

So for you guys kicking and screaming like 2 year olds, who want to stick with older guys altogether. You were warned. We are a 10-20 ranked team, who can beat anyone on any given night. But, can lose on any given night.

It is going to take 1-2 years of recruiting and retaining to get to a level UConn is on this journey. If you thought anything else, you were fooling yourself. If we had gotten the insufferable Hurley to move, this probably would have taken way less time, but the dude was not interested. Outside of him and Pearl, who has a lot of warts for someone like Mitch, I don’t think we are getting any better results with another coach.

Just my take.

 

[crestcat]

CMP has 12 games of film and a 10 day gap in the schedule, now’s the time to fix problems.

 

[BIG BLUE GURU]

10-2 record, undefeated in Rupp, wins over Duke and Gonzaga by a team of players who’s claim to fame was that they had none. But the Sky is Falling crowd comes around after a loss. I suggest to ignore all negativity this year and support the team and program and Coach Pope

Best post of the year. Well said

 

[UKWildcats1987]

10-2 record, undefeated in Rupp, wins over Duke and Gonzaga by a team of players who’s claim to fame was that they had none. But the Sky is Falling crowd comes around after a loss. I suggest to ignore all negativity this year and support the team and program and Coach Pope

We haven't played any good teams at Rupp yet. Let's see if we are still undefeated there a month into sec play.

 

[BIG BLUE GURU]

If you expected any better at this point from these players and Coach then that is on you. Most fans understand the situation Pope and these players were put in. Now please just go make the tournament and win a game or two. That would be a success for this year.

 

[Wildcats1st]

These low expectations are why our bb program is trying to recover from life support. Don’t blow the games that are basically must win. This is going to cost us 1-2 seed lines. Going into SEC this isn’t the game you want. Now call that whatever you want but to me it’s uk fans sick of losing. Sick of the excuses the mentality of the fb program seeping in. I want to spend moments with my son again sharing UK basketball. He’s 20 so the last several years are making it more and more difficult to keep him engaged. UK bb fell asleep and woke up as the 6th-8th best team in the sec. You “chicken little” description needs to stay on the uk fb forum.

 

[drew_ukfan]

If you’re on a message board in late 2024, you’re not a chicken little fan

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

How many games is it going to take before we as a fanbase except that Kentucky isn’t a good shooting team, and that the clear issues being said aren’t fans being “chicken littles”. Pointing out the issues isn’t being a chicken little, sitting here watching the same issues every week and acting like Kentucky is gonna win all the time is way worse.

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

If you’re on a message board in late 2024, you’re not a chicken little fan

I honestly think a group of posters on here want everybody to be like the team mom, who tells the team good job and gets them orange slices and cookies after every game because they tried.

 

[drew_ukfan]

I honestly think a group of posters on here want everybody to be like the team mom, who tells the team good job and gets them orange slices and cookies after every game because they tried.

Same people wanted Tom Crean as coach. He’d cut the nets down after a loss and kiss his son on the lips for cheering well in the stands

 

[uk78]

I am equally disappointed in the loss and the fans. I had a feeling before this game (and of course only I know what I am saying is true on my hunch) that this was going to be loss or very close. There were many dynamics suggesting it. However, I didn't anticipate a blow-out of our team. Nevertheless, very early in the season after watching our team I posted here they remind me of the Alabama team of a few seasons ago where they were unbeatable when hitting 3's and marginal when not. This game was the "when not." Other than Carr our inside offense this season is questionable. The middle has opened up when we are hitting some 3's but the main offense is shooting not post play.

What I am truly shocked by is the fans here who have so quickly abandoned everything and are so negative.

Pope has been the best coach we could have ever hoped for. Cal f'kd us by taking the team and Pope inherited no one. What he accomplished has been awesome. Think about it he put a team together that beat Duke and the Zags away from our home court. We played Clemson close on their court and at times have looked unbeatable.

Yes clearly an over-reaction on the degree of expectations with that success but this team is going to be fine.