Don't blame the coach!!!

[4849515878969812...]

Coach Pope is not to blame. He had very little time to assemble a team when he arrived here. It's remarkable what he's done so far. Give him time to get in more talent and he will win big here (even on the road)! Golf analogy: Pope is playing on the PGA tour with only 5 clubs. Once he is able to have a full bag, he'll win.

The team comes out slow, not because he doesn't prepare correctly, but because we have some very soft players. You can coach a guy up all you want, but if he doesn't have the heart to compete and fight, there is nothing more a coach can do. Especially when he doesn't have others he's able to replace him with. Do those of you old enough remember Pope as a player? He wasn't soft.

I still love this team and my coach. Most of all because they have me caring about UK Basketball again. I'll take this over anything Cal would have given us this year.

 

[ManitouDan]

5347984336788444736873378&23-139900

 

[4849515878969812...]

5347984336788444736873378&23-139900

Help me out here. I don't understand this reply.

 

[BlueBomb]

Help me out here. I don't understand this reply.

Call my crazy, but I assume it's related to your screen name.
Me? I'm just simple ol' Blue Bomb.

 

[NerlensCat]

Coach Pope is not to blame. He had very little time to assemble a team when he arrived here. It's remarkable what he's done so far. Give him time to get in more talent and he will win big here (even on the road)! Golf analogy: Pope is playing on the PGA tour with only 5 clubs. Once he is able to have a full bag, he'll win.

The team comes out slow, not because he doesn't prepare correctly, but because we have some very soft players. You can coach a guy up all you want, but if he doesn't have the heart to compete and fight, there is nothing more a coach can do. Especially when he doesn't have others he's able to replace him with. Do those of you old enough remember Pope as a player? He wasn't soft.

I still love this team and my coach. Most of all because they have me caring about UK Basketball again. I'll take this over anything Cal would have given us this year.

It is like anything else. The person at the top is held accountable. Yes he had very little time to assemble a team. However, we at nearly 50% of the way through the season. This is a trend that he has not made an adjustment to fix. We were soft against WKU, Ga St, Clemson, OSU, Florida and now Ga. We got lucky and shot the lights out against Florida. The talent difference and Rupp pulled us through Ga St and WKU.


There have been no improvements in their toughness. I don’t expect them to fan 20lbs of muscle overnight, but you can learn to accentuate contact on offense to draw the foul. You can scheme on defense. Use more zone or change up defenses regularly to get them off tempo. You can teach rebounding.

 

[WeWant9]

Pope has given us some good highs already. The intro press conference, three top 10 wins and beat ul. I do think we’re going experience some lows now in league play, but so will every other SEC team- look at Tenn last night.

Our current team has shown they can play with any team in the country, but they can also lose to any team with a physical style, and we’re going see that in just about every game. Last night brought me back down some, and that’s okay as long as Pope and staff continue to build for the future.

 

[blackcat714]

It is like anything else. The person at the top is held accountable. Yes he had very little time to assemble a team. However, we at nearly 50% of the way through the season. This is a trend that he has not made an adjustment to fix. We were soft against WKU, Ga St, Clemson, OSU, Florida and now Ga. We got lucky and shot the lights out against Florida. The talent difference and Rupp pulled us through Ga St and WKU.


There have been no improvements in their toughness. I don’t expect them to fan 20lbs of muscle overnight, but you can learn to accentuate contact on offense to draw the foul. You can scheme on defense. Use more zone or change up defenses regularly to get them off tempo. You can teach rebounding.

Maybe coach Pope could teach the flop defense like Georgia used.

 

[hoggwildcat]

Coach Pope is not to blame. He had very little time to assemble a team when he arrived here. It's remarkable what he's done so far. Give him time to get in more talent and he will win big here (even on the road)! Golf analogy: Pope is playing on the PGA tour with only 5 clubs. Once he is able to have a full bag, he'll win.

The team comes out slow, not because he doesn't prepare correctly, but because we have some very soft players. You can coach a guy up all you want, but if he doesn't have the heart to compete and fight, there is nothing more a coach can do. Especially when he doesn't have others he's able to replace him with. Do those of you old enough remember Pope as a player? He wasn't soft.

I still love this team and my coach. Most of all because they have me caring about UK Basketball again. I'll take this over anything Cal would have given us this year.

Pope received credit for his big victories. He should get criticized for losses when the reason for the losses are the same. Effort and physicality.

 

[LTDukeFan]

A bad game doesn’t make a bad season. Not a UK fan, obvious by my handle, but I do respect Coach Pope. The guy is the real deal.

Is the loss his fault? Sure. All coaches take the responsibility for the L and give credit to the players for the W.

 

[king of cali]

Pope received credit for his big victories. He should get criticized for losses when the reason for the losses are the same. Effort and physicality.

It really is a simple concept.

 

[CBBCrazy]

Mark Pope is my coach, I will put that out there first. However, we have a couple of guys that play lazy. Rebounding takes effort,
all of our guys fail to fight for the rebound. We have one starter that puts forth a halfazzed effort on both ends and starts every game. That player may need to get his feelings hurt and ride the pine for a bit. No names but most of you know. I'm done.

 

[ImTheVillageIdiot]

Pope didn’t put together the SEC which is murder’s row this year. Pope didn’t choose the stripes, who called the game like they were getting an hourly wage. I don’t usually like blaming refs but that game was an outlier. On to Miss St.

 

[jwphelps]

Coach Pope is not to blame. He had very little time to assemble a team when he arrived here. It's remarkable what he's done so far. Give him time to get in more talent and he will win big here (even on the road)! Golf analogy: Pope is playing on the PGA tour with only 5 clubs. Once he is able to have a full bag, he'll win.

The team comes out slow, not because he doesn't prepare correctly, but because we have some very soft players. You can coach a guy up all you want, but if he doesn't have the heart to compete and fight, there is nothing more a coach can do. Especially when he doesn't have others he's able to replace him with. Do those of you old enough remember Pope as a player? He wasn't soft.

I still love this team and my coach. Most of all because they have me caring about UK Basketball again. I'll take this over anything Cal would have given us this year.

Pope would disagree with you, unlike Cal, Pope takes responsibility and I don't blame Pope, UT just got spanked by UF, if he can get thru the SEC with at least a 4th place or better I am happy.

 

[sk73]

Coach Pope is not to blame. He had very little time to assemble a team when he arrived here. It's remarkable what he's done so far. Give him time to get in more talent and he will win big here (even on the road)! Golf analogy: Pope is playing on the PGA tour with only 5 clubs. Once he is able to have a full bag, he'll win.

The team comes out slow, not because he doesn't prepare correctly, but because we have some very soft players. You can coach a guy up all you want, but if he doesn't have the heart to compete and fight, there is nothing more a coach can do. Especially when he doesn't have others he's able to replace him with. Do those of you old enough remember Pope as a player? He wasn't soft.

I still love this team and my coach. Most of all because they have me caring about UK Basketball again. I'll take this over anything Cal would have given us this year.

I agree that Pope had very little time to assemble this team. Guess what, so did many, many college teams. The team that played last night did not display the level of effort needed to compete in the SEC. Saturday we will see another game that I think we should win but that is only if we display total effort during the game. If not, it will be ugly. I am not going to give Pope a pass because of the time frame he had to build this team. We have all praised him for the job he has done thus far. The team has been ranked in the top 5. He put together a great group of guys. Pope has to have them focused each and every game. That didn't happen last night.

 

[kennyskywalker34]

Good Post OP. But you should have just gone with 867-5309 for a screen name.

 

[NerlensCat]

I agree that Pope had very little time to assemble this team. Guess what, so did many, many college teams. The team that played last night did not display the level of effort needed to compete in the SEC. Saturday we will see another game that I think we should win but that is only if we display total effort during the game. If not, it will be ugly. I am not going to give Pope a pass because of the time frame he had to build this team. We have all praised him for the job he has done thus far. The team has been ranked in the top 5. He put together a great group of guys. Pope has to have them focused each and every game. That didn't happen last night.

Not sure why we give coaches a pass on things like effort/physicality. That can be coached. If we were getting better since the WKU game but aren’t all the way there, I would be satisfied it was being addressed. But we are not getting better. That to me is when a coach needs to be held accountable. The next 2 teams are very physical. I don’t want a 1 game bump in the road to turn into a 3 game losing streak.

 

[billoliver40]

Coaches get plenty of credit for the wins. The grief from the losses is part of the deal. I'm not real sure what the sub pattern the staff is using...too many pro style metrics about minutes played/maximum output and the like for me to figure. Also how different guys blend on the court. Coach Pope has a lot of mad scientist in him. When it works it's COY. When it doesn't, well...not COY.

Just part of it.

 

[precipitance]

5347984336788444736873378&23-139900

Sometimes it just comes down to the numbers.

 

[UK90]

5347984336788444736873378&23-139900

Good Post OP. But you should have just gone with 867-5309 for a screen name.

Why are you mocking the OP’s screen name. ….do you guys not recognize the obvious significance of those numbers?

 

[ManitouDan]

Why are you mocking the OP’s screen name. ….do you guys not recognize the obvious significance of those numbers?

in the 0.13287457 nanoseconds I studied it , it bypassed my feeble brain.

 

[NociHTTP]

The kids are the ones who refuse to put out effort on either end of the court. I blame the coaching staff for not lighting a fire under these kid's butts, and benching them for prolonged periods when they refuse to give effort.

 

[yoshukai]

Pope has given us some good highs already. The intro press conference, three top 10 wins and beat ul. I do think we’re going experience some lows now in league play, but so will every other SEC team- look at Tenn last night.

Our current team has shown they can play with any team in the country, but they can also lose to any team with a physical style, and we’re going see that in just about every game. Last night brought me back down some, and that’s okay as long as Pope and staff continue to build for the future.

Sensible post. A rarity these days.

 

[Blueaz]

Coach Pope is not to blame. He had very little time to assemble a team when he arrived here. It's remarkable what he's done so far. Give him time to get in more talent and he will win big here (even on the road)! Golf analogy: Pope is playing on the PGA tour with only 5 clubs. Once he is able to have a full bag, he'll win.

The team comes out slow, not because he doesn't prepare correctly, but because we have some very soft players. You can coach a guy up all you want, but if he doesn't have the heart to compete and fight, there is nothing more a coach can do. Especially when he doesn't have others he's able to replace him with. Do those of you old enough remember Pope as a player? He wasn't soft.

I still love this team and my coach. Most of all because they have me caring about UK Basketball again. I'll take this over anything Cal would have given us this year.

I tend to agree... this season should not even be close to his final grade (three years). Having said that, the rotations do seem to be inconsistent and sometimes odd. Hopefully, he is not a Cal, and is not so stubborn to not change (or change to late)

 

[Zuma75]

Pope would disagree with you, unlike Cal, Pope takes responsibility and I don't blame Pope, UT just got spanked by UF, if he can get thru the SEC with at least a 4th place or better I am happy.

2024-2025 SEC predicted order of finish (according to one pre-season source, I forget which one):
1. Alabama
2. Auburn
3. Tennessee
4. Arkansas
5. Texas A&M
6. Florida
7. Texas
8. Kentucky
...

Given the strength of the league this year, and where we were at after Cal bailed and took the whole team with him, 4th or better would have to be considered a win.

That said, the huge variance in the team's performance - both game-to-game and even within a single game - is puzzling. I still think some part of that is due to a 100% new roster and new coach. Instability is to be expected, and to some extent should improve. In this view, I can see why Coach would want a longer season! There might simply not be enough time to get everything in place and stabilized with this bunch.

 

[NerlensCat]

2024-2025 SEC predicted order of finish (according to one pre-season source, I forget which one):
1. Alabama
2. Auburn
3. Tennessee
4. Arkansas
5. Texas A&M
6. Florida
7. Texas
8. Kentucky
...

Given the strength of the league this year, and where we were at after Cal bailed and took the whole team with him, 4th or better would have to be considered a win.

We have to win a few on the road and hold serve at home to get to 4th. That is not going to be simple when we pissed away a good opportunity for a road win last night.

 

[jwphelps]

2024-2025 SEC predicted order of finish (according to one pre-season source, I forget which one):
1. Alabama
2. Auburn
3. Tennessee
4. Arkansas
5. Texas A&M
6. Florida
7. Texas
8. Kentucky
...

Given the strength of the league this year, and where we were at after Cal bailed and took the whole team with him, 4th or better would have to be considered a win.

That said, the huge variance in the team's performance - both game-to-game and even within a single game - is puzzling. I still think some part of that is due to a 100% new roster and new coach. Instability is to be expected, and to some extent should improve. In this view, I can see why Coach would want a longer season! There might simply not be enough time to get everything in place and stabilized with this bunch.

I think UK can pull it off, but they need to steal a game on the road.