He sure as shit better not say something like "I mean, what can you do when a team goes off like that?".
Kentucky at Ole Miss Game Thread
- Thread starter onearmedjesus
- Start date
He simply needs to get better players and not waste scholarships on players like Perry and Noah. Mark is a coach, not a miracle worker.
I still hope he can turn the program around but adjustments have to be made. The SEC is a man’s league now it’s better than it’s ever been. Need the right people around him to help him recruit.
This is the harsh reality. You have to get players you need, which is a mixture of tenure and talent. He needs to find a better way to titer that.
However, in the spirit of accountability, also on him that we aren't succeeding on the court. Where is the breakfast club with this team? Do they work as hard as the 2012 cats did?
I got some good news and some bad news
The good news is the off eff moved up to 2
The bad news is the def eff dropped to 111
The good news is the off eff moved up to 2
The bad news is the def eff dropped to 111
Did not see any of the game. Just now reading here. Was out cold with Nyquil. Feeling rough. Anyway, If Amari is your best player along with Oweh then you will not win the game. Gotta have Jaxson every game be 100%. Not sure why Almonor had not stats at all, what happened there? Good is Oweh bounces back good from that fall, took a few day. Bad news as has been for a while, Butler out, Carr not 100% and of course Kerr. Not enough fire power to win the tough games. I am guessing the ball stuck in the had of Amari some. But again not sure since I did not watch.
Are you guys ever happy? Did this board not just spend ten years complaining about how our team didn't have guys like Perry and Noah? Guys who would stick around and develop? Good lord.
Trying to play with a back injury is not easy. He probably should not be playing but is trying to push through it.
LOL, nobody ever said we needed more players like Perry and Noah playing important minutes their freshman seasons.
Yes, most UK fans want to see Kentucky kids on the roster, but Darius Miller and Dominique Hawkins were not being asked to man up to 2025 SEC level competition.
Give Perry and Noah a couple years and they will be ready.
They were saying he is getting injections now and it's really helping.
Actually, it was Carr that said it.
The comment I replied to literally said Pope shouldn't "waste scholarships" on guys like Perry and Noah. That implies they don't want them on the team at all. And Perry and Noah would not be getting important minutes if we didn't have so many injuries. They're being played out of necessity.
I agree and he should have said they shouldn't have to be counted on until they are developed. It's foolish to think guys like DeAaron Fox and MKG are going to come to UK and sit the bench and develop.
Perry and Noah are exactly the type of developmental pieces you want developing on your bench. They aren't good enough to be contributors right now, but they're good enough to eventually play big minutes for UK down the road.
But the guys that wanted KY kids on the roster definitely didn't mean they wanted them playing important minutes right away.
I had that EXACT thought yesterday, wondering why there is no "breakfast club".
I see a first round exit all over again, while stand around defending with our hands in our pockets.
honestly, sure feels like it. Mark Pope may need more players or people who are healthy to actually step up. The challenge is that *every single person* on the roster is a one and done. NIL era made sure of this.
I don't know shit about coaching basketball. Do know a whole bunch on coaching other sports and managing companies and teams. Pope needs to take an assertive mindset to roster building, roster management, and roster accountability.
Please don't try to compare Perry and Noah to Miller and Hawkins. The difference is night and day.
A first-round exit with this team which is lucky to have a single NBA player on it isn't the same as the uber talented teams coached by Cal.
That is what I posted and exactly what I meant. Players like Perry and Noah should be walk-ons.
His teams did well in the tournament because they had NBA talent, not because he could coach. This team is very likely to do poorly in the tournament, not because it doesn't have NBA talent, but because the effort on defense is so poor, just like last year's team. That's what Mark was alluding to. Their effort has been unacceptable. Had they put forth effort in the first half, the outcome would have been very different.
With the portal available, you can pickup players like Perry and Noah who have demonstrated their development before you bring them to your team. Perry and Noah need to go somewhere to develop where they can get playing time which will give them a reasonable chance to get picked up by schools like Kentucky.
The effort on defense is poor because they don't have the lateral movement to guard a light pole. Give me the name of another team that has spent as much time in the top 12 as Kentucky with so little talent. You are fooling yourself if you don't think talent matters. Coaching can take team but so far. Pope has done a great job with this team considering what he has to work with. The difference in athleticism was clearly on display during the Arkansas game.
LOL, Pope has NOT done a great job. We've been over this before. The fundamentals are lacking defensively, and somewhat offensively, and that's on Pope and staff. You don't need talent to be a fundamentally strong player, so get that out of your head. What Pope has done a great job with is juggling the roster when guys can't go because of injuries. Yet his game-time substitutions and lack of awareness when we don't have the ball are noticeable. Every coach has weaknesses, and pointing them out isn't "trashing Pope" or anything. It sounds like he turned up the dial in the lockerroom on Saturday, recognzing that his back is against the wall. You simply can't have guys out and players exploiting the fact that are almost guaranteed playing time. He had to do something.
EDIT: you don't need talent OR ATHLETICISM to give effort and have strong fundamentals.
We will just have to disagree.
It is totally unreasonable to think this team which is so deficient in talent should be able to compete with some of the best teams in the SEC; however, we have done just that. Also, Kentucky beat the team who most consider the best team in college basketball and not because Duke had a bad game because it was anything but a bad game. Pope made adjustments at halftime that clearly was responsible for the victory even though Kentucky doesn't come close to having Duke's talent. A Cal coached team would have been smoked by 30.
I find it amazing that a few weeks ago there was no doubt by everyone but trolls that Pope is the man. After injuries robbed this team of confidence and their play clearly displayed it, some want to question the man's coaching ability. A season ago Hurley was considered the hottest coach in college basketball. Has he lost the ability to coach? Of course he hasn't forgotten how to coach, he simply doesn't have the talent of his previous team. Coaches can only do so much. Most of us realized early in the season that this team's road map to victory was to put up huge offensive numbers and that is exactly what it did until injuries robbed it of its earlier offensive abilities.
Last edited:
That's not the point I was trying to make. I'm saying we all want those KY kids, but even Miller and Hawkins weren't ready for this their freshman seasons.
I get this team isn't built out of ultra elite athletic dudes that can move like spider monkeys across the court, but it is easily athletic enough to cover most of the action thats being run by our opponents.
They go under screens, they don't anticipate, they ball watch and they go under screens.
Most of these guys leave shooters open, because they make mistakes, or commit too hard on help defense, or they go under screens.
The other thing is, we defend inside the 3 point line, look what everyone else is doing, they're guarding above the arch and taking the 3 ball away, then they collapse on the drive.
Either way, we have to stop giving wide open looks from 3, at least make the opponent work for a 2 point bucket instead of a wide open 3.
They go under screens, they don't anticipate, they ball watch and they go under screens.
Most of these guys leave shooters open, because they make mistakes, or commit too hard on help defense, or they go under screens.
The other thing is, we defend inside the 3 point line, look what everyone else is doing, they're guarding above the arch and taking the 3 ball away, then they collapse on the drive.
Either way, we have to stop giving wide open looks from 3, at least make the opponent work for a 2 point bucket instead of a wide open 3.
Do you recall a player name Zack Edey?? I guess not! If you are talking about this season, Purdue has 1 maybe 2 fewer loses than Kentucky while playing in a weaker conference. Try harder because it will require that to achieve your agenda. Also, if your short memory is capable of remembering, Purdue's coach has been in place far longer than Pope which gave him a lot more time to develop relationships with the players he wanted/needed for his system. Pope had to pretty much with whatever he could get to assemble his team.
They never looked as lost as Perry and Noah. Because of their lack of foot speed, I am not sure they will ever be able to play at this level. Their only chance is to find someone who plays a matchup zone defense to assist them when they get beat off the dribble.
