With the big wins and the final result (first S16 in half a decade), Pope's methods really can't be questioned yet. Not saying this because I worship him (I didn't even want him as coach to start) but because we need to see what is actually a trend before we can make any assessment.
How many times do we keep forgetting that most of these guys were 4th-6th year guys who were incapable of developing NBA or even SEC-level athleticism and strength and thus were still stuck in college? Many of them were smart, skilled, and fun to watch basketball players, but that all goes out the window when you are banging against the guy who has muscles and genetics you will never have for 30 min+. Carr, Jackson, and Amari were definitely out of their league from a strength and hops perspective. Noah, Perry, Almonor, and Kriisa weren't in the conversation to begin with. Chandler and Garrison are the ones who could develop it throughout their careers but it remains to be seen and wasn't there yet and they still need to do a lot of mental growing as well.
Oweh and Butler belong on this stage from an athletic perspective and it generally showed (when peoples arms weren't falling off), they carried us in many key games.
By the end of the year we had lost 2 of our top 7, Butler was playing his ass off hurt, and Carr and Williams both had bad backs. When competition ratcheted up, you really couldn't count on our sub crew to give us anything either.
Pope knows all of this, he probably knows all of this way better than us, and he knows how some of his already physically disadvantaged guys play when they are tired. That probably has a lot to do with it. Sure you can try to play Williams 35 minutes, but it doesn't mean you will be happy with the result.
If we get a fully remade, younger, and more athletic squad next year and still see the same issues with sub patterns, random turnovers, and inability to rebound in key moments, then the criticism is fair. But none of these things are things I am losing sleep over now.
Coaching matters, in fact if it didn't we wouldn't have been able to beat Duke, Gonzaga, UF, or UT to name a few. But the pieces you are working with matter a lot too. If you take away the name UT and the fact that we beat them twice at the beginning of the year, against a team of that caliber, them being fully healthy, would you really be giving us a real shot at winning that game with the broken down state of our squad by year's end? UT is the kind of team that if they get up 10, you probably aren't coming back given the way they play. They came out hot, we didn't and our window for being competitive with a really bad hand of injuries and lack of talent meant the odds were pretty dire from about 10 minutes in.
Doesn't change the fact that a love this coach, the players we had no matter their limitations, and feel we were a FF/E8 team without all the injuries. On to next year.
