GYERO

[Crystalglass]

I love Pope, but that man is allergic to answering a question concisely.

“What were you thinking when Oweh stole the ball?”

“It all started in the first half and we were being incredibly generous with one another…” 😂

 

[TCPUKChamps]

No game for a week

 

[TCPUKChamps]

Kentucky’s keys are in the hands of a coach unlike any other

At 37, with four kids and his wife's blessing, Mark Pope dropped out of med school and took an assistant coaching job.

www.nytimes.com

 

[TCPUKChamps]

This man is a psycho

 

[IsRichieGonnaStart]

6:00 am wake up feels really good this morning.

 

[bradyjames]

It gives me great joy knowing Cal watched that game curled up with Skippy in Fayetteville , Arkansas.

 

[Hank Camacho]

Kentucky basketball is about winning with toughness and pride, even if the other bastard has more talent. That's the lineage of Adolph Rupp, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith, and pre-Phil Spector John Calipari.

We back. I know I'm not the only one to wipe a tear or two of joy from my eye last night. I feel like Andy Dufrense when Red has finally made it to Zihuatanejo.

 

[ukalumni00]

It gives me great joy knowing Cal watched that game curled up with Skippy in Fayetteville , Arkansas.

Didn’t watch it. He was already in bed…

That is a very good Duke team. What a win

 

[Irish Beck]

Hard to be upset if you're either fanbase. Kentucky had a few guys provide absolutely nothing, our defense was awful (well, the officiating was, anyway) in the first half and our guys really looked lost in the last 10 minutes of the 1st half.

Duke only shot 17% from 3, Kneuppel was 5-20 and pretty much everyone not named Cooper Flagg played a mid game.

You can attribute both of those factors to the opposition playing well on defense, but it also says something about the way Scheyer and Pope coach. Saw a lot of online chatter from Duke fans that they can't keep running three freshman 35+ minutes a night and be considered a top tier team because these guys are going to burn out.

There was also a lot of familiar noise about letting Flagg play hero ball late that irked Duke fans and, in retrospect, I can see why. Duke ran some great action when their guys had legs, but really got away from it because everyone looked gassed.

Can Duke win the championship? No doubt about it. Can Kentucky? I think that's the biggest takeaway for me is that we absolutely can and have all of the pieces in place (most importantly, coach) to do so.

The balls to throw that OOB pass down court was something else.

 

[TriangleUKCat]

It was strange watching a Duke game where the biggest asshole was on our team.

What a win.

 

[MaxPowerrr]

It gives me great joy knowing Cal watched that game curled up with Skippy in Fayetteville , Arkansas.

By Skippy I assume meant to put “a jar of” in front of that.

 

[bradyjames]

By Skippy I assume meant to put “a jar of” in front of that.

That could work. Was referring to the dog that gets carried around in a baby stroller.

 

[PTI (pti)]

Fagg’s late game TOs = LAMARs Q4 fumble


Just a joy to watch that meltdown.

 

[cricket3]

Flagg is the 6'9 version of thousands of kids you see walking around Kentucky high schools every day. Most unassuming superstar ever.

Will be interesting to see how he handles big stages in the future as a 17 year old.

 

[Kooky Kats]

The obligatory. Wore my barstool Coach K collapse t shirt to gym this am.

Flagg is good… looks just like Scheyer
The Kon Konipple looks like Rocky Dennis . Eff that guy.

When #9 went out, their defense had to sag in, and we actually competed on the boards and drove the lane a bit as they still tried to take away our 3s. That’s what won the game. Ohweh (NJ), Carr, and Garrison went to work.

Just glad we didn’t see circle, V, horn, floppy, go offense in late game

 

[wcc31]

Not sure about anyone else but that’s the calmest I’ve been in a big game in forever. Cal had turned me into a raging lunatic as my friends here can attest to. Nice having faith your coach is actually going to help you win.

- Oweh and Butler can straight take away the opponent’s backcourt.

- Brea showed some toughness in the second half.

- Garrison may have the most upside of anyone on the team.

- Of all our guys thought Carr had showed the least preseason/early season. Great to see him star.

- Kriisa is our spark. Every team needs that guy.

- Chandler isn’t ready yet.

- Robinson- yuck. Get it out of your system bro.

- Team full of leaders. Got to love it.

- So nice not being on the moral victory “this team will be there come March tho” side. Eat that plate of shit, Duke.

- Scheyer, like damn near every other K protege, is a fraud.

- Flagg is damn good but “generational” is nonsense. Unless you’re LeBron or Zion, you better be an elite shooter to be a generational forward today.

 

[Irish Beck]

There was a lot of "go make a play" from Scheyer and Duke late in the game yesterday. Exhilarating to see that from the other side.

Scheyer can get the horses but I doubt we see him win a championship at Duke unless he radically changes approach.

 

[IB4UK]

Eat it Flagg, Nipple, Jon and the rest of the Dukies. Lest I forget Bilas and Schuman and the espn cameraman following Flagg every where he went last night. Both announcers were insufferable with their fawning over Flagg and Nipple. “Oh my, he was falling down and threw a pass to his teammate. That’s a big time play!”

 

[Hank Camacho]

- Kriisa is our spark. Every team needs that guy.

 

[SWFLwildcat06]

Oweh is a dude. Biggest surprise of all the guys Pope brought in. He’s a complete gamer, physical defender and can get to the rim off the bounce. This staff did an amazing job constructing this team.

 

[anthonys735]

*Strokin Update**

I'm feeling more petty and needing to make condescending statements than ever.

 

[Hank Camacho]

Oweh is a dude. Biggest surprise of all the guys Pope brought in. He’s a complete gamer, physical defender and can get to the rim off the bounce. This staff did an amazing job constructing this team.

His d on Flagg and then grabbing a rebound against Malauch on the same play was grown ass man NBA shooting guard stuff.

For me, he's easily our best player right now. What an absolute dude.

 

[TriangleUKCat]

Knueppel looks like a 42 year old superintendent at an aluminum plant. Shot like it too.

 

[Strokin_Bandit]

My quick thoughts while on my planning:

- That's a very good Duke team. Their STAR LINEBACKER point guard thought he was a badass until Williams jarred his teeth loose on that screen that sent him out of the game. Bilas was fawning all over him last night.

- Speaking of that BS, the "guys in the truck" for that broadcast - and subsequently, the Sportscenter producers directly after the game - already had their script and edited highlights ready before the final outcome. I haven't seen that much slurping of a player in a while. They tried to crown that kid last night.

- And Cooper Flagg is the real deal. To me, he looked like a 6'10 Dalton Knecht. Crafty game and knows how to get to his spots on the floor. Middies, 3 point range, good FT shooter that knows how to get to the line, has back to basket moves. Solid player and seems like a level-headed kid. Naturally, I hate him.

- While we're serving plates of feces, Bilas can put his in a Prairie Farms wafer cone. He was running the Duke propaganda machine last night. "WHAT A LEFT HANDED LAYUP BY KUH-NIPPLE! HAVE YOU EVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THAT?!?!" Time for him to fade into obscurity.

- Duke is really, really good. That's the most physical Duke team I've seen in a while. Their big boy might be their most important piece in March. He's their Klingan or whatever that UCONN kid's name was.

- I was being very tongue-in-cheek with my Cal comments yesterday. Trust me when I say that it is in a coach's nature to see what their former program is doing after they leave. He watched that game (after his 7:00 nap) and he's reading the X (formerly Twitter) posts. It's eating at him. And it is very satisfying.

- How about Oweh's hands? Quick and strong. Mark Stoops would probably go on a 2 day fast from Ruby's to have that dude in the slot.

- Carr seems to be our steady hand. What he did on defense last night was just as impressive. When their Manute Bol went out of the game, he took over.

- Butler and Kriisa together might be too much DAWG. I would love to see them on the road just torturing the other team's guards while the crowd is hissing venom at them from as close as security will allow.

 

[Strokin_Bandit]

There was a lot of "go make a play" from Scheyer and Duke late in the game yesterday. Exhilarating to see that from the other side.

Scheyer can get the horses but I doubt we see him win a championship at Duke unless he radically changes approach.

I think Duke ran some great stuff and set really good screens in the 1st half. When the big man out, it changed everything.

 

[KingLlama]

- Before I get to the CATS....it's ridiculous that Michigan State is still in this event. Replace them with UConn and make it a true blueblood DH.

- We will never be outcoached. Maybe in individual moments, but never for a whole game. I feel 100 percent confident in stating this. And it's not just Pope. Fueger is clearly a savant. Hart is a guard whisperer. Brooks learned from Drew, one of the best. And you know Fox is having a huge role in scouting, etc. It's just an unbelievable staff, with a guy at the top that uses analytics and can pull the levers.

- I can't hate on Flagg. One, as noted, he seems like a decent kid and he's the real deal. Two, I'm hoping he ends up as part of MY BLAZERS once their tanking (hopefully) lands them in the top spot.

- Having watched a lot of Wake basketball because my kid goes there, I've always liked Carr. He definitely has a ceiling, and we probably saw it last night. But he's a heady player and isn't scared of any situation. He won't outright win games for you, but you can know that he won't outright lose them, either. He knows his role.

- The bigs will be fine.

- If anything, last night was good for Jaxson. He'd probably heard the talk about him having to be the go-to guy for Kentucky to be any good. Last night he was hot dog water, and they still won. Now he can relax and just go ball. The staff will find ways to get him back on track and put him in situations to succeed. Not worried about a Justin Edwards-esque situation with that kid.

- Waiting for UK Basketball video department's cinematic recap of that game. I *need* it.

 

[Irish Beck]

I think Duke ran some great stuff and set really good screens in the 1st half. When the big man out, it changed everything.

That and the legs on their young guys started to go in that second half because Scheyer wasn't willing to spell them for whatever reason.

That's what I'm referring to and appears to be a common gripe with Duke fans. It's fine to run only 8 guys if it's a good mix of veterans and your top 2 guys aren't freshman that are prone to mistakes when tired.

We just threw waves at them until they had to relent (that and the refs realized they were too involved in the first half for both teams).

 

[SWFLwildcat06]

Wonder if Bilas spit out or swallowed all of Kon’s juice after the game last night. I think Jay must have splooged in his pants when that kid dove on the floor for a loose ball. It was insufferable, quite frankly.

Yea replace MSU with UConn for the Champions Classic and that CBS thing needs an overhaul too. Kick out Ohio St and UCLA and bring in Arizona and Nova.

 

[UnfrozenCatfanLawyer]

(Looks around before saying this) I think Duke might have played their best ball after Flagg had to sit with 2 fouls in the first half.

 

[creeksman]

So much for that "you need a guy who can go get a bucket" narrative. They have it and wore it out. Congrats to Flagg on being generational, though.

The Kneuppel slurping was reminiscent of Wojo. There are a lot of things about these Cats that remind me of '98, too. Balanced roster with no stars, Butler/Turner, Oweh/Edwards/Heshimu, Brea/Mills, Carr/Padgett, Garrison/Magloire, first year coach replacing a HOFer.

 

[cricket3]

The rest of the Champions Classic teams shot 18% while we shot 40% on a night where it didn't seem like we were getting great shots.

 

[SWFLwildcat06]

Can’t f’ing wait to run that bum ass UL squad off the Rupp floor. 😂

 

[Ron Mehico]

Still processing that win, we absolutely had the less talented team on the floor. Don’t really think I’ve seen us win a game like that in well over a DECADE. Almost more satisfying than winning with the best players.

 

[PTI (pti)]

Knueppel is scary looking. Reminds me of those completely indoctrinated FLDS kids.

 

[Crystalglass]

Knueppel is scary looking. Reminds me of those completely indoctrinated FLDS kids.

 

[krazykats]

It feels pretty damn good being way out in front on Pope!

Already my 3rd favorite UK coach of all time!

 

[Kooky Kats]

 

[ukwizard]

The halftime adjustments, especially defensively, were breathtaking. After giving up 46 in the first half, we held them to 26 in the second. After our early first half burst (5-5 from 3) it felt like we were just holding on for dear life. Partially because of the fouls being called but mostly Duke was just defending us really well. The team came out of halftime looking like there was no way that they were going to get punked by these young ones. The whole second half I kept thinking just keep within striking distance and pounce in crunch time.

 

[Irish Beck]

Yeah, the hyperbole was a bit much. Look how quick knpoophole gets to the ground! Then the replay shows our massive center beat him there and snag the ball.

I'll be honest, kneuppel was billed as Reed 2.0 and he kind of wilted and didn't offer much in regards to making his team better. I agree that Duke was more formidable without flagg. It's almost like they can play more freely.

I'm just glad we aren't in that situation anymore.

 

[m080470]

There was a moment late in the first half when we were not getting a friendly whistle and the calls were REALLY lopsided in Duke's favor (10-4 maybe) and Pope looked like he was having a reasoned, but passionate, discussion with a ref at the timeout. And then in the next minute or two Duke was called for 3 fouls and the calls stayed pretty even after that. Nice to see after years of having a coach that refs seemed to hate.