Is Popes biggest weakness the Refs?

[Louis_Skunt]

Every home game we get an incredible amount of bad calls that we usually only get on the road. And the games on the road nearly look fixed.

I don’t like blaming refs, but I’ve never seen UK on the wrong side of so many whistles.

I wonder if Popes kindness impacts the decisions on the way the game is called. It’s nowhere near of what we’re accustomed to.

 

[jmw23712]

I wouldn’t say it’s his biggest issue. Defense is his biggest issue right now. But getting ran over by a pack of zebras every game certainly isn’t helping. My top concern is if he’s tough enough for that job. Only time will tell.

 

[AirRaid08]

Remember when we all thought him being nicer than Cal would be a strength?

I mean I did anyway. Boy was I wrong.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

Not even a consideration.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Have to ask ourselves why does one of the nicest coaches in the game need to even get "on" the officials to get proper officiating. Thats not how it should work and maybe we need to think about this at a higher level, addressing things with the SEC and NCAAT.

I would also like to take matters into our own hands: put the students on the sidelines and let them rattle the other team and the officials. Just like they do at AFH and Cameron. It's no mistake why those programs always seem to get some home cooking.

 

[UK90]

Last year the theory was that our coach being such a dick to the refs was the problem. Now we’re blaming it on our coach being too nice. LOL

 

[BlueWorldOrder74]

No one can convince me that we haven’t been completely screwed in numerous games. Refs have been worse than ever before. Terrible. Awful. Completely ridiculous.

 

[exemjr]

It's the name on the jersey. Doesn't matter who the coach is. Outside of our fanbase, other people hate our program. It's as simple as that.

 

[Boisgreat]

The refs screwed us

 

[Cold Stout Beer]

Boy the refs really did a number on Pope against Duke, Gonzaga, Florida, UT twice, Louisville, Miss St............

 

[Louis_Skunt]

Last year the theory was that our coach being such a dick to the refs was the problem. Now we’re blaming it on our coach being too nice. LOL

You telling me you see no difference between this year and others?

 

[ukfan1622]

Every home game we get an incredible amount of bad calls that we usually only get on the road. And the games on the road nearly look fixed.

I don’t like blaming refs, but I’ve never seen UK on the wrong side of so many whistles.

I wonder if Popes kindness impacts the decisions on the way the game is called. It’s nowhere near of what we’re accustomed to.

We all know the bias is real and now we know it had nothing to do with Calipari. It's an anti-Kentucky bias. Since the refs are completely unaccountable it's something we just have to live with and keep pointing it out until everybody knows it's happening. It wouldn't bother me if Duke and North Carolina got the same treatment but they actually get the bias in their favor.

 

[BlueWorldOrder74]

Boy the refs really did a number on Pope against Duke, Gonzaga, Florida, UT twice, Louisville, Miss St............

Can’t blame the refs for all losses. But if you watched every game we have played this season and you still tell me that we haven’t been completely screwed in a few of those games, you are either not very smart or you don’t understand basketball. I would say you’re not an actual Kentucky fan, but you’ll go on a rant about how you are and tell me to prove it and check your post history and blah blah blah. I have nothing against you, this is about what has actually happened in a few of our losses.

 

[jwphelps]

Every home game we get an incredible amount of bad calls that we usually only get on the road. And the games on the road nearly look fixed.

I don’t like blaming refs, but I’ve never seen UK on the wrong side of so many whistles.

I wonder if Popes kindness impacts the decisions on the way the game is called. It’s nowhere near of what we’re accustomed to.

I still say poppy cock, Cal used to yell all game long, and we rarely got a call because of it, yelling or not those refs come in with a disposition based on their personalities and their biases.

 

[Blue_2_the_bone]

The greatest factor for a home whistle I’ve seen is the fan aspect. We get a few boos at the refs from Rupp but it’s tame compared to other places I’ve been. Coaches always yell at the refs and it never helps. Very few coaches get that command and respect of officials and it’s usually guys who have been at it for decades. If Pope wants to do something, he should speak out and take a fine. Make it known in the media. That’s what these refs don’t like. It will help in the regular season games but may get you blackballed in postseason when they can send you home.

 

[know1]

Last year the theory was that our coach being such a dick to the refs was the problem. Now we’re blaming it on our coach being too nice. LOL

I was going to say this as well. It's just proof that some fans are way too fixated on the refs and in thinking they are all out to screw us.

 

[fastpaste101]

nope. defense and being able to scheme against a switching man to man.

 

[MSUCatfan82]

Refs clearly have no respect for him. Its absolutely not the reason we have lost most of these games. However, it has been a pretty large contributing factor. The lack of consistency in fouls is what kills me. I hear Matt Jones talk all the time about how the team "avoids contact." While there are for sure a couple of guys, most of them do not. Oweh and Williams in particular get beat up and get an absolutely terrible whistle compared to the other bigger name SEC guys.
He's got to get a T or something fairly soon to show he doesnt take their crap.

 

[DraftCat]

Have to ask ourselves why does one of the nicest coaches in the game need to even get "on" the officials to get proper officiating. Thats not how it should work and maybe we need to think about this at a higher level, addressing things with the SEC and NCAAT.

I would also like to take matters into our own hands: put the students on the sidelines and let them rattle the other team and the officials. Just like they do at AFH and Cameron. It's no mistake why those programs always seem to get some home cooking.

I agree the Refs need to feel the pressure from the stands. If they make a wrong call in the very back of their mind I hope they are wondering if they will make it home that night.

Pope is fine.. it's not like Cal got any calls yelling at them either. I think it's a UK problem not a coach problem.

 

[St.PatterSoN-54-]

UK ABSOLUTELY needs to move the students to courtside. It would mean a HUGE swing in crowd intensity.

 

[TucsonCat]

No

 

[katwest]

The refs absolutely would feel the heat from the crowd if the students were on the floor. At Duke they can almost touch the players on the court, you can't tell me that wouldn't sway some calls the home teams way. We see it every road game and it's not much different at home. It will never happen at Rupp though because corporate Kentucky rules the lower arena, one of the not so good advantages of having an off-campus arena. Rupp can be intimidating at times but ask any of the former players and they will tell you that Alligator alley, Stokely athletic center and other road venues in the SEC were the toughest places to play and win games. Former players from other teams say Kentucky was nearly unbeatable in Memorial Coliseum. I do think some coaches did intimidate some refs like Bobby Knight, Dean Smith* and coach Krybaby, Knight because of his temper and the other two because of their stature. Pope is coaching at basketballs biggest stage now, it will be a while before we can tell if his demeanor plays a part in whether he has influence on calls we may or may not get when games are on the line.

 

[know1]

I don't even understand the question. Pope can't control the refs.

 

[zwynn10]

Every home game we get an incredible amount of bad calls that we usually only get on the road. And the games on the road nearly look fixed.

I don’t like blaming refs, but I’ve never seen UK on the wrong side of so many whistles.

I wonder if Popes kindness impacts the decisions on the way the game is called. It’s nowhere near of what we’re accustomed to.

I think there is some merit to Pope not being "highly respected" by the officials because of his gentle demeanor but more than that, I think it is more of an AD and Administration issue. Until Mike Slive tells the officials to knock off the biased whistles and call the games straight up or they will not be calling SEC games, it will continue to happen.

The only way to get Slive to do that is to have an AD and a University President who let Slive know this stuff is unacceptable and they will be organizing other conference members to come after his job unless the officiating gets straightened out quickly. The problem with that solution is that our AD is a pushover whom no one in the conference respects and our University President is a kind person that won't get mixed up in conference politics.

By contrast, does anyone think that the Nick Saban/AL AD/AL President or Kirby Smart/GA AD/GA President would tolerate biased officiating against their teams in football. Slive would be in a choke hold so quick he would be begging for an early exit package. Knowing that, Slive makes sure that AL, GA and a few others get a straight up whistle.

That's the difference. The traditional SEC power schools in football, AL and GA, won't tolerate biased officiating for one second. Our genteel AD and Administration won't demand the same thing for the traditional SEC basketball power. Until we get a new AD that lets Slive know that we are not going to be trifled with in officiating, it will continue to happen.

 

[katwest]

I think there is some merit to Pope not being "highly respected" by the officials because of his gentle demeanor but more than that, I think it is more of an AD and Administration issue. Until Mike Slive tells the officials to knock off the biased whistles and call the games straight up or they will not be calling SEC games, it will continue to happen.

The only way to get Slive to do that is to have an AD and a University President who let Slive know this stuff is unacceptable and they will be organizing other conference members to come after his job unless the officiating gets straightened out quickly. The problem with that solution is that our AD is a pushover whom no one in the conference respects and our University President is a kind person that won't get mixed up in conference politics.

By contrast, does anyone think that the Nick Saban/AL AD/AL President or Kirby Smart/GA AD/GA President would tolerate biased officiating against their teams in football. Slive would be in a choke hold so quick he would be begging for an early exit package. Knowing that, Slive makes sure that AL, GA and a few others get a straight up whistle.

That's the difference. The traditional SEC power schools in football, AL and GA, won't tolerate biased officiating for one second. Our genteel AD and Administration won't demand the same thing for the traditional SEC basketball power. Until we get a new AD that lets Slive know that we are not going to be trifled with in officiating, it will continue to happen.

Mike Slive is dead, you mean Greg Sankey?

 

[ralphdaltonfan]

Get more athletic with the skill. It's a lot easier for a good offensive coach to teach a player how to shoot than it is to teach a statue how to run/move laterally and jump.

As for the officiating. Now we're in the Super Conference era--we're going to see this mentioned with every team and it's not wrong because officials want to be graded high by the coaches in the Conferences/get more assignments. That being said, I thought UK got a friendly whistle against Auburn in the 29 mins I watched before ESPN/ABC "Heidi'd" the telecast. Amari Williams initiates contact by lowering his shoulder into a defender every time he always goes left and he kept getting sent to the FT line. It felt like the officials were trying to keep the game in respectful reach while UK was outgunned. This easily could've been a 25-30+ pt loss this past weekend if Cats weren't getting to the FT line to not only score but do so with the clock stopped.

 

[oakhillcatman]

Get more athletic with the skill. It's a lot easier for a good offensive coach to teach a player how to shoot than it is to teach a statue how to run/move laterally and jump.

As for the officiating. Now we're in the Super Conference era--we're going to see this mentioned with every team and it's not wrong because officials want to be graded high by the coaches in the Conferences/get more assignments. That being said, I thought UK got a friendly whistle against Auburn in the 29 mins I watched before ESPN/ABC "Heidi'd" the telecast. Amari Williams initiates contact by lowering his shoulder into a defender every time he always goes left and he kept getting sent to the FT line. It felt like the officials were trying to keep the game in respectful reach while UK was outgunned. This easily could've been a 25-30+ pt loss this past weekend if Cats weren't getting to the FT line to not only score but do so with the clock stopped.

I was afraid it would be a blowout coaching aside they are much more talented and athletic

 

[UKWILDCAT2004]

Get more athletic with the skill. It's a lot easier for a good offensive coach to teach a player how to shoot than it is to teach a statue how to run/move laterally and jump.

As for the officiating. Now we're in the Super Conference era--we're going to see this mentioned with every team and it's not wrong because officials want to be graded high by the coaches in the Conferences/get more assignments. That being said, I thought UK got a friendly whistle against Auburn in the 29 mins I watched before ESPN/ABC "Heidi'd" the telecast. Amari Williams initiates contact by lowering his shoulder into a defender every time he always goes left and he kept getting sent to the FT line. It felt like the officials were trying to keep the game in respectful reach while UK was outgunned. This easily could've been a 25-30+ pt loss this past weekend if Cats weren't getting to the FT line to not only score but do so with the clock stopped.

You're not wrong but let me offer this to you.

1. The foul call on Carr on a 3 point shot. Totally missed call that gave Auburn 3 points.

2. The flagrant foul on Butler for simply driving to the basket. They got 4 points from that.

Those two calls happened back to back. Those calls completely took the wind out of our sails and essentially ended all momentum we had. We never recovered. Now you wipe away those 7 points when we cut it to 13. It's a 6 point ball game and things change. Those two calls were absolutely trash and changed the outcome of that game. Joe Lindsay and his crew are Division one officials and absolutely blew it on those calls. They need to be better period.

 

[JohnnyGreen1975]

Every home game we get an incredible amount of bad calls that we usually only get on the road. And the games on the road nearly look fixed.

I don’t like blaming refs, but I’ve never seen UK on the wrong side of so many whistles.

I wonder if Popes kindness impacts the decisions on the way the game is called. It’s nowhere near of what we’re accustomed to.

The Refs hate us and always have. I wish they would do forensics on their bank accounts. No one will be surprised if they are getting dark money to make calls against us.

 

[ralphdaltonfan]

You're not wrong but let me offer this to you.

1. The foul call on Carr on a 3 point shot. Totally missed call that gave Auburn 3 points.

2. The flagrant foul on Butler for simply driving to the basket. They got 4 points from that.

Those two calls happened back to back. Those calls completely took the wind out of our sails and essentially ended all momentum we had. We never recovered. Now you wipe away those 7 points when we cut it to 13. It's a 6 point ball game and things change. Those two calls were absolutely trash and changed the outcome of that game. Joe Lindsay and his crew are Division one officials and absolutely blew it on those calls. They need to be better period.

And how many bad calls were called against their frontline when UK would not get a rebound and Auburn was going to get possession and sent UK to the FT line. This season-and injuries play a factor-these 2 teams aren't at the same level at this time of year. Nothing about the matchup said it would be close and it wasn't.

If you want to point out missed calls, you have to go through the entire game and be balanced and talk of what they missed in favor of UK as well. Amari Williams turning into Nikola Jokic in terms of being sent to the FT line in the 1st Half was certainly an eye opening thing. Amari has 0 counter moves--always lowers his shoulder into the defender and invades the defender's space by initiating contact and throws his shot up and hopes. Not saying he wasn't fouled, but the amount they called was a home whistle IMO.

To me it's as simple as currently this is a horrible matchup for Kentucky due to the lack of athleticism/inability to disrupt them on the perimeter. At any level of basketball, when you put out a guy who can't defend and the opponent knows it-they attack. In the OU game-whomever Perry was guarding--Moser attacked. Auburn was going at anyone UK had on the perimeter and knew it was their advantage. Now let's say Kelly scores half of the 30.....do we assume Broome will be equally as bad as he was in the game Saturday? I'm just glad this game was in Rupp so it wasn't a complete blowout and don't want to see them in Nashville either. It's not currently a good matchup at all for UK.

 

[ukfan1622]

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 100% of basketball referees are basketball fans. Anybody ever met a basketball fan who did not have teams he liked and teams he disliked? Right, you have not met one like that so it's stupid to even argue that the refs aren't biased; the only debate is whether or not the refs allow their biases to influence how they call games. It's pretty much clear to me that many of them ARE allowing their biases to influence the outcome of games. If anybody thinks that is okay then stay silent; if you think it's wrong you should probably at least say something.

 

[UKWILDCAT2004]

And how many bad calls were called against their frontline when UK would not get a rebound and Auburn was going to get possession and sent UK to the FT line. This season-and injuries play a factor-these 2 teams aren't at the same level at this time of year. Nothing about the matchup said it would be close and it wasn't.

If you want to point out missed calls, you have to go through the entire game and be balanced and talk of what they missed in favor of UK as well. Amari Williams turning into Nikola Jokic in terms of being sent to the FT line in the 1st Half was certainly an eye opening thing. Amari has 0 counter moves--always lowers his shoulder into the defender and invades the defender's space by initiating contact and throws his shot up and hopes. Not saying he wasn't fouled, but the amount they called was a home whistle IMO.

To me it's as simple as currently this is a horrible matchup for Kentucky due to the lack of athleticism/inability to disrupt them on the perimeter. At any level of basketball, when you put out a guy who can't defend and the opponent knows it-they attack. In the OU game-whomever Perry was guarding--Moser attacked. Auburn was going at anyone UK had on the perimeter and knew it was their advantage. Now let's say Kelly scores half of the 30.....do we assume Broome will be equally as bad as he was in the game Saturday? I'm just glad this game was in Rupp so it wasn't a complete blowout and don't want to see them in Nashville either. It's not currently a good matchup at all for UK.

No you aren't wrong. Amari did get a friendly whistle but I l'd say he probably deserved it after some of the beatings he's taking this year. But also let me just say I don't think poor officiating is exclusively a Kentucky problem. It's much more than that. It's a conference problem and the officials they contract. I personally think it's an epidemic. But your also right it was a horrible match up for us. Also like I've heard a million times growing up playing sports you don't play the game close enough to where a few calls makes or breaks you. You play good enough that your margin of error can handle that. With that said between a conference full of poor officiating and our athleticism not where it needs to be our margin of error is extremely thin and doesn't take much to cost us a few points or possessions which can come back to haunt us.