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Is it okay to admit we have things to work on now?

Love where we are and think the ceiling is incredibly high when they get clicking but definitely got some warts to clean up.

I think he really needs to sit down with Amari and reign him in. Quit trying to be Magic Johnson. I feel like his lackadaisical and nonchalant turnovers/attitude really throw off the rythm. He certainly isn't the only/main issue but that is a very frustrating point for me.
 
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I'm having doubts about fixes that aren't of the half-time variety.

- lazy play by Amari
- Carr refusing to shoot wide open shots, but wants to dribble-dribble-dribble down low
- everyone standing around waiting for a pass instead of the running TO the pass

These have been going on for awhile now, and there doesn't seem to be anyone on staff taking notice.
 
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I'm having doubts about fixes that aren't of the half-time variety.

- lazy play by Amari
- Carr refusing to shoot wide open shots, but wants to dribble-dribble-dribble down low
- everyone standing around waiting for a pass instead of the running TO the pass

These have been going on for awhile now, and there doesn't seem to be anyone on staff taking notice.
I'll give you Amari. He's somewhere 500 miles from here lately.

Carr hasn't hit a shot all night. Wide open ones. His jumper looks broken.

Guys look like a team of role players mashed together at the last minute due to a last minute controversial coaching change in the off season

Things have indeed been going on for a while now. Hoping this is one off and not a trend. I'm conflicted.
 
We only have 2 people, that can create a shot once the system breaks down.. The lack of being able to dribble with confidence, really hampers our shooters. Brea and Robinson just can't break people down... Carr when backing down... Dribbles 2-3 feet away from his body.. Like he almost forgets to take the ball with him. Butler can get to the rim but has trouble finishing.. And Oweh... Is hit and miss. Robinson missing that dunk because he did not jump high enough is a microcosm of his lazy play.
 
Wrong the non conference is when you work on stuff. It's SEC time and we still don't have a offensive set or a rim protector or a bucket getter. This team is probably gonna get punked on the road and have to protect home court.
 
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We have a ton to work on absolutely
Pope knows it. You can see how frustrated he is
I don’t think the season is over by any means.
It’s not, we just need to get back to the things that made us a good team. We aren’t world beaters individually. We are a team that is greater than the sum of its parts. Time to earn that money coaches and players. Maybe this wakes them up. We can’t start every game in a 12 point hole. I don’t know what happened the last 3 minutes but we kept trying to get back in and it’s like we quit. First time all year I can say that. I hope it was just a one off type game.
 
We only have 2 people, that can create a shot once the system breaks down.. The lack of being able to dribble with confidence, really hampers our shooters. Brea and Robinson just can't break people down... Carr when backing down... Dribbles 2-3 feet away from his body.. Like he almost forgets to take the ball with him. Butler can get to the rim but has trouble finishing.. And Oweh... Is hit and miss. Robinson missing that dunk because he did not jump high enough is a microcosm of his lazy play.
Missing out on Chaz Lanier or prioritizing Robinson over him is the difference between us being elite and us being what we are.
 
Hopefully next season Pope will have some higher level talent on the roster. We need guys that are 1st round nba picks and preferable at least 1 top lotto pick each season.

All of caliparis final fours teams had that, tubby 98 team had it, all of pitinos final fours team had it, and same with halls.

You need the mix of experience and high level talent to win at UK.
 
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Florida is gonna beat the dogshit out of this team. We haven’t played great in a month. Just been doing enough to squeak out wins.
Florida, Tennessee, Oklahoma, etc. we will struggle to beat LSU or South Carolina on the road. If we play like this we are in the bottom 20% of the SEC. So we better figure it out quick.
 
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I'd like to see switching defenses and trapping become stables of our defending. It's frustrating as hell when I feel like I have to pray for a miss every possession. Having more ways to end a possession and create transition opportunities would be nice.
 
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Never seen older guys back away from pressure D like we do, Carr & Robinson can’t get rid of the ball fast enough when they do. We don’t have freshmen doing this, we have old guys playing scared out there. What do they think is going to happen at miss st or tenn or ole miss??? The book is out, pressure them in their face and watch us retreat.
 
The segment of our fanbase that ignores our teams shortcomings every year drives me insane. A lot needs to be fixed before the Florida game.

Defense, effort, etc….
The segment of our fanbase that ignores our teams shortcomings every year drives me insane. A lot needs to be fixed before the Florida game.

Defense, effort, etc….
This should drop us out of the top 10 and give the players a wake up call. I’ve been enjoying the start to the season and avoiding negativity as the Cats kept finding ways to win, but that little voice kept saying if you keep playing from a hole you’ll eventually run into an opponent with the depth, coaching, etc. to stop you from digging out of it
 
The segment of our fanbase that ignores our teams shortcomings every year drives me insane. A lot needs to be fixed before the Florida game.

Defense, effort, etc….
Sure .. I don’t know why the racehorse offense has slowed to up a crawl .
And we have a hard nose tough PG and 2 charmin specials in J Rob and Brea .. those guys are beyond finesse . Neither can defend . Those are real problems .
We go small without Williams who isn’t very skilled we can’t rebound . So yeah we got some weak spots — but tonight doesn’t totally cancel the Duke and Gonzaga wins .
Everyone is going to lose some , well most everyone
 
Wrong the non conference is when you work on stuff. It's SEC time and we still don't have a offensive set or a rim protector or a bucket getter. This team is probably gonna get punked on the road and have to protect home court.
We do have an offensive set. We were running them up to until the UCONN game I think, and then there were short stints of it in that game and the Gonzaga game. For some strange reason guys have resorted to hero ball, have gone away with moving without the ball. You can't just keep running to the guy with the ball, and having it handed off. The passer needs to be passing to spots that the receiver gets to. There's an offense there, they brought aboard a guy who noted for this stuff.
 
We have things to work on. I don’t think it is an effort issue. I think OSU was well prepared for us. I also think SEC teams will use that as a template against us. The good news is that we have a coach that sees that and will have answers.
 
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This game really reset my expectations for the year. If we make it to the 2nd weekend that will be an achievement.

Pope has not been able to motivate/prepare these guys to come ready to play starting with the Georgia state game. We got lucky against Gonzaga when they laid an egg in the 2nd half.

Our rebounding and defense leave a lot to be desired. It’s eerily similar to last year where if our offense isn’t clicking we are in trouble.

Our SEC schedule will put this team through the fire, and I’m afraid we won’t like what comes out the other side. I hope they can find some heart and fight. If they don’t we could very well be in the bottom half of the league.
 
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