Grade for OOC
- Thread starter WeWant9
- Start date
Amen.
50 years following here hasn't lessened the passion in my heart and soul for Kentucky Basketball. Only made it deeper and more meaningful.
I'm still sitting here like I was in the preseason, thinking Kentucky and Coach pope may have really struck gold and who were the other 22 or 23 years better than than these guys out there playing ?
I said they'd be a solid 3 seed by seasons end, sure as hell not #23 and not a 8 or 9 seed in the SEC tournament. Bank that. Still think Kentucky absolutely has a great schedule and shot to actually slay them all in the SEC.
I'd give them a solid A - the OSU loss was disappointing, but I think it reset and re-tooled alot of things for this team to learn moving forward. They could be GREAT by season's end. I look at how they bobbled in the week's latest poll to TEN, but seriously. Duke is 4?! Well. whatever. Put UK #5, I'd say they're looking top 5 to my eye test.
UT, Auburn, Iowa State, sure. Even put undefeated Florida there. They're next. UK looks as solid as they come. Thank goodness we got Coach Pope !
Oweh is ALL AMERICAN guard caliber this year, for Kentucky , in my book. And Butler, well, he's ALL SEC defensive bulldog guard in the conference. Bar none. I don't know a better pair of guards on the floor for any other team in the country. And there are a lot of other great guards for other teams.
I'm really happy for us this year. Eat it Hoosier Joe. Lose on Zipp.
Go Big Blue !
People are so short sighted and have recency bias. Preseason not a person would have been mad if they were told we’d be 11-2 and beat Duke and Gonzaga regardless of who the 2 losses were to. Anyone would have been thrilled with that outcome and most would have given us no chance for that to happen.
Then we do beat Duke and Gonzaga and suddenly people sharply change their expectations. People forget Pope inherited a team with literally no players and only a month to make a team. What he has been able to do to this point is remarkable and above and beyond what anyone expected. So for anyone to rate it lower than an A is unrealistic. Not one person expected more than what we’ve accomplished thus far going into the season and anyone rating in otherwise is only due to them allowing their expectations to rise above reality based off emotional highs.
We’ve overachieved to this point and I have high hopes for the potential. Give Pope 2-3 years to actually develop his system and build a team and I think UK basketball is back where we rightfully belong.
Then we do beat Duke and Gonzaga and suddenly people sharply change their expectations. People forget Pope inherited a team with literally no players and only a month to make a team. What he has been able to do to this point is remarkable and above and beyond what anyone expected. So for anyone to rate it lower than an A is unrealistic. Not one person expected more than what we’ve accomplished thus far going into the season and anyone rating in otherwise is only due to them allowing their expectations to rise above reality based off emotional highs.
We’ve overachieved to this point and I have high hopes for the potential. Give Pope 2-3 years to actually develop his system and build a team and I think UK basketball is back where we rightfully belong.
A. For a roster assembled starting in mid-April after losing every scholarship player, win 11 games and 2 of them vs DOOK & Gonzaga that Cal would have lost. OOC gets an A. To have only one blemish vs Ohio State with a new coach and new roster, I will take it. The Clemson loss by 4 on the road to a team in the Elite 8 last year will not kill Kentucky.
Given where we were and what offseason expectations were, you can't give this anything other than an A. We're ranked #10 and have two marquee wins.
A
Wins over Duke and Gonzaga, beat Louisville again, a few tight games here and there but OSU was the only true clunker so far.
Wins over Duke and Gonzaga, beat Louisville again, a few tight games here and there but OSU was the only true clunker so far.
Out-of-conference = A (includes the off-season team building/culture change)
12-6 in the SEC or better will get another A from me
10-8 or better =B
8-10 = C
6-12 =D
5-11 or worse = F
Just so we know the grading scale going in. Seems like a lot of people are waiting for this team to lose a few so they can say "I told you so", while pretending they know something the rest of us don't. We all know anything .500 or better in the SEC this year will be good.
12-6 in the SEC or better will get another A from me
10-8 or better =B
8-10 = C
6-12 =D
5-11 or worse = F
Just so we know the grading scale going in. Seems like a lot of people are waiting for this team to lose a few so they can say "I told you so", while pretending they know something the rest of us don't. We all know anything .500 or better in the SEC this year will be good.
Agreed. The 2022 Kansas team got obliterated at home by a team that lost to a 2015 seed. Sometimes those sweeping “this doesn’t happen” cliches are simply false.
A
Beat Duke and Gonzaga in comeback fashion put the College Basketball world on notice KY is BACK!!!
Beat Duke and Gonzaga in comeback fashion put the College Basketball world on notice KY is BACK!!!
If going 13-0 was 100%, I'd only drop the score 2 points for the road loss to Clemson. Competitive game on the road against a decent team, in a hostile environment. The Ohio State game, I'm dropping us at least 10 points, as a 20 point loss on a neutral floor is plain bad. I'll add in a few bonus points for beating Duke and Gonzaga, however (5). 100-12+5=93. A- or B+, both sound about right.
I give them an A.
Big wins against Duke and Gonzaga.
No bad losses. Even OSU was a neutral court loss to a power conference team.
This team is playing above their potential, IMHO.
The SEC is going to be the real test.
To use a teacher analogy, it’s like taking an average HS kid who is working hard and making A’s in regular classes and moving them to honors/college level classes. I’ve seen that scenario several times in my teaching career and more times than not, the kid struggles with the heavier workload. I think UK is going to be a C student in the Honors (SEC) classes based on what I have seen.
Good news is the average SEC team is still a top 25 level team. No shame going 10-8 or 9-9 in the SEC this year.
Big wins against Duke and Gonzaga.
No bad losses. Even OSU was a neutral court loss to a power conference team.
This team is playing above their potential, IMHO.
The SEC is going to be the real test.
To use a teacher analogy, it’s like taking an average HS kid who is working hard and making A’s in regular classes and moving them to honors/college level classes. I’ve seen that scenario several times in my teaching career and more times than not, the kid struggles with the heavier workload. I think UK is going to be a C student in the Honors (SEC) classes based on what I have seen.
Good news is the average SEC team is still a top 25 level team. No shame going 10-8 or 9-9 in the SEC this year.
It's an "A" all day. A brand new coach who had to put together an entire roster in a matter of weeks. Not one player returned from last season and Pope and UK went 11-2. We would have at least 2 more losses with the other guy.
Before the season started if anyone told us we would be Top 10 in the country with an 11-2 record you would have gladly taken it thinking the 2 losses would be to Duke and Gonzaga. We won 2 games we never expected to and lost 2 games that we all thought before the season could have been losses anyway. So IMO it's a very solid A.
