Exactly my point in other threads. Excellent post.
Agreed. I'm as down about it as anyone. Everytime I let myself start to think maybe we can make a title run, I get hit with reality. I don't think our defense can get there, and our frontcourt is nowhere near strong enough. We have enough to overperform in a normal season, but with the SEC being so strong, I suspect we will finish in the middle of the field.
Agree with everything except the young coach part. Pope is in his 50s.
This is his 10th season as a head coach. Not exactly seasoned yet.
Plus, even veteran guys might be shell shocked as UK coach at first. Look what the job did to Eddie Sutton & BCG. It’s different here.
9 yrs experience isn’t seasoned? People were and are right to question the hire. Pope and staff have done an AMAZING job initially, and benefited from some major luck and fortune with wins against Gonzaga and dUKe. I think those two wins at least showed what the team is capable of. Unfortunately so did Clemson, Ga St, and tOSU.
Agreed on every point, except Pope ain’t young. He’s been a head coach for 10 yrs. He’s 50 yrs old. He’s not some green newbie. I still think he and his staff have done a good job given the situation.
Excellent post, this team has already accomplished more than I expected the whole season. I expected losses to Duke, Zags and many others and no chance to make the NCAA tournament and even struggle for the NIT. With the brutal SEC this year, I expect a rough go and will not be surprised with a losing record. Pope assembled a team with portal leftovers and has done a great job making it work. Last night was rough, I think they may have believed the hype and overconfident coming in at #4 and playing a mediocre Ohio State team. Hopefully it's a good lesson learned and a reality check.
Make your mind up bro. You say the sky isn't falling here but in another thread we're the worst team in the SEC. Did you miss your meds again Sybil?
It is possible that in a very good - historically good - SEC, this team will struggle mightily on the road and get crushed by a few teams at home. When you look over the schedule, how many games do you feel we will be favored in? Especially if Florida blows us out to begin conference play?
If anybody consistently plays the worst game, yes they’re not gonna be worth the crap
This is pretty much how I see it as well. Considering CMP had a very short window to actually assemble this team, and considering that we knew going into the season we didn't have an elite type of roster, I was expecting a season much like Pitino's first team , a .500 type of year, and it may very well end up like that.
Yeah, this performance just took the air out of my sails. We had no answer for anything and our offense was completely neutralized by a bad team.
I agree with everything you said except for the fact that Pope is not a young coach. Tony Bennett retired a couple of months ago, he was only 3 years or so older than Pope. Pope is in his fifties. The team that Pope put together this year is a good one. I think the team has some very good pieces. The team that Diebler put together in his first year at Ohio State is obviously very capable as well. The point is, every coach, especially new coaches, had major rebuilding jobs to do. Pope is not an outlier in that regard.
This is true. My only issue is the way we have played the last 5 games. With the exception being the second half at Gonzaga, they look tired. Slow on defense...no sharp cutting...outside shots aren't falling. There isn't a killer instinct with this group.
This team has to play as a unit. We do not have the athletes that can take a game over themselves. Way too much individual play last night. This team needs to be running hard for 40 minutes. I said in another thread, but they looked like the left Lexington with the W already penciled in. I hope behind closed doors Pope ripped them a new one, this is the time to channel that inner Pitino.
I have only heard way over the top negativity from you. Literally, you’re a one-note poster. With regards to your lineup you keep going on and on about, your proposal barely improves our offense, while making the defense (our largest issue) significantly worse. I love Carr, but he is already getting terrorized defensively at the four and that would only be magnified at the five. You then move Robinson, who shies away from physicality, from the three to the four? That isn’t going to prepare you for SEC play. That’s how to get served on a dish night in and night out in the conference. Every metric tells us the starting five Pope has is the best lineup he can put out, regardless of how limited it is. We gotta try to somehow get to a three seed imo. Go with one of those small ball lineups in this SEC with physicality at a premium and you can kiss that goodbye
Excellent post (thanks for your proper use of the word "too" as well).
No judging, but evaluating can be done. Honestly though, with this team, my worry isn’t as much with Pope as it is the level of talent.
Common sense doesn’t often make an appearance on this board
