My primary concern with Mark Pope

[Jmeeks54thebest]

Were you equally worried about our previous lack of defense or were you too excited by names with 5-stars to notice?

Everyone was concerned about our defense last year. Why are you trying to start a fight?

 

[UKPopeVIII]

Is not the X's and O's or the system he will run. It's his ability to get at least a few elite level players. I think we've seen you can win with far less talent that we've had the last 5-7 years if the coach is sharp and employs a successful system.
One would think the name "Kentucky" alone should make it easier to get at least a top 10 class, right?
The reason I say all of this is that when you look around college basketball, most championship teams have at minimum two or three very high level players surrounded by role players. Usually weighted toward older guys with experience and physical maturity. Especially at the guard spots.
Of course I want Mark Pope to succeed. Heck, I wanted Calipari to succeed. Same for BCG, OTS and all that came before. I'm just not sure Pope can win big with guys that just want to play for UK. That's great and a welcome change but, you have to have some talent. I remain cautiously optimistic.

Guys, really really need to calm down. Our coach is brilliant, one of the smartest coaches in the country if not THE smartest. He’s a real man too unlike guys like Calipari who are glorified sports agents pretending to be college basketball coaches. Just enjoy the fact that we’re getting back to this thing being about Kentucky in an era where few coaches can. It’s an amazing time.

This is the NIL era and Kentucky has some of the most money to throw around. It will attract players regardless. Yes money matters, yes programs matter, yes coaches matter. We have all of that.

This is going to take a second to clear out once the dust has settled which it hasn’t yet. Pope has an enormous amount of support all the way from
The admin to the fans to everyone else. But he’s not going to bring guys in here that fit the Calipari mold, we’re simply not going to allow our name to be pimped out anymore. Might as well get used to it.

What I’m doing is this. I’ve never been more proud of a coach in my life. This guy deserves all the time he needs. I’m still emphatically excited that not only did we move on from Calipari, but we did it with class all the way around. This guy loves us like no other and he will get players that are going to the wall for Kentucky.

I don’t care how long it takes. And you know what? THIS is now the time you ENJOY THE PROCESS. I sleep just fine knowing UK has the money, the conference power, and the right guy making moves for us now. If you can’t feel that we now have parted from evil, I can’t help you. We’ve reclaimed our name and our family and we need to reflect on that right now instead of anything else. Let Pope, a guy who would throw himself into fire for this university, figure out how to do it.

 

[TankedCat]

After his first season, Pope is going to be able to land 3-4 key guys thru recruiting or more likely transfer portal. There is no doubt that UK is going to put in NIL money.

Cal's system was broke. The fact is no one *wants* to recreate what he is doing. The risk/reward ratio is way off and it only benefits the players he recruits

I think under Pope , starting in 2026, we'll have good balanced teams and probably 1 out of every 4 years we'll have a really good team , but we're never going to have the lows we had with Cal.

 

[Blueworld_3.0]

Were you equally worried about our previous lack of defense or were you too excited by names with 5-stars to notice?

You're joking, right?
You'd be hard pressed to find someone on this board who has been more vocal about our poor defense. Not just this year but, most of last season as well.
Lose the condescending attitude pal.

 

[Seth_C]

As long as Pope has money bags to offers to kids he wants, he will get them. That’s how it works now.

 

[FutureCity]

Championship teams are developed. They're not picked out of a lineup.

Cal ball proved that.

Pope will perform reconstructive surgery on the Kentucky basketball program. Stop worrying, sit back and watch. It's going to be fun to see.

 

[rnfoster]

Is not the X's and O's or the system he will run. It's his ability to get at least a few elite level players. I think we've seen you can win with far less talent that we've had the last 5-7 years if the coach is sharp and employs a successful system.
One would think the name "Kentucky" alone should make it easier to get at least a top 10 class, right?
The reason I say all of this is that when you look around college basketball, most championship teams have at minimum two or three very high level players surrounded by role players. Usually weighted toward older guys with experience and physical maturity. Especially at the guard spots.
Of course I want Mark Pope to succeed. Heck, I wanted Calipari to succeed. Same for BCG, OTS and all that came before. I'm just not sure Pope can win big with guys that just want to play for UK. That's great and a welcome change but, you have to have some talent. I remain cautiously optimistic.

Good concern. In my thinking, this could be a problem the first year, but not in the future. Pope is coming in with a great challenge of putting a new team together quickly that can somewhat compete in year one. I think he can do it, but it is helpful to have a couple players on your roster who are elite in talent.