One Pope weakness I see

[the nail at the foul line]

I think Pope is great. But:

How in the hell do you watch Andrew Carr get bulldozed down and not lose your freaking mind?!! How do you watch your best player bleeding profusely and get called for a foul?!!

He has to get meaner. He has to. Too nice isn't working.

We were pretty much in the game until Carr got bulldozed. After that they went flat. Now I know there will be trolls saying that I'm saying we lost because of the referees and I'm not saying that. However, if your little brain can process this, two things can be correct at once. UK played really bad in the second half. And the referees were absolute s***.

 

[Smashcat]

It’s not like he was passive.

 

[Greatestalltime]

He said”bullship”. I’m pretty sure.

 

[Digger-Cat]

I think Pope is great. But:

How in the hell do you watch Andrew Carr get bulldozed down and not lose your freaking mind?!! How do you watch your best player bleeding profusely and get called for a foul?!!

He has to get meaner. He has to. Too nice isn't working.

We were pretty much in the game until Carr got bulldozed. After that they went flat. Now I know there will be trolls saying that I'm saying we lost because of the referees and I'm not saying that. However, if your little brain can process this, two things can be correct at once. UK played really bad in the second half. And the referees were absolute s***.

You know, I got trashed for saying Pope was too nice back in November and December, so I let it go.
But I'll say this, throughout the season, Pope changed a little. I think he did get more aggressive with the refs and I think he will continue to evolve.
He probably won't every become a Danny Hurley, but I think he will eventually become a guy that respectfully goes at the refs much harder than he is now.
He's great, but he is learning on the job. This year has been a hell of an education for him.

 

[sefleming]

At the first of game when Nelson ran over carr and carr called for blocking foul. Downhill after that

 

[UKAlum84]

If your used to Cal, yeah he goes nuts over a player just dribbling the ball....

Pope is fine, he keeps his cool when he should.

 

[FitchandMurray29]

At the first of game when Nelson ran over carr and carr called for blocking foul. Downhill after that

It was a blowout but the two Carr situations I thought were the biggest of the game. He was a mismatch problem for them as they switched.

That should’ve been a charge and he was fouled/not called going out of bounds when they thought he called timeout. We were teetering at that point and after that we kind’ve lost any hold of the rope in maintaining it a game

 

[BCD]

Last night as the game was obviously out of reach he should have EARNED a technical. Draw attention to the abhorrent whistles. Just my $.02

 

[catlogic15]

Pope is 54. I doubt he changes his demeanor much. But I would like to see him take up for his players more. Players appreciate that and it motivates them.

 

[doc4UK]

Still don’t understand why he keeps trying to have Perry and OO and Chandler go over the top of a screen when clearly they cannot . Why not go under the screen and at least cut off penetration to the basket which was the key for both Oklahoma and Alabama

 

[BluestBlood]

He probably won't ever become a Danny Hurley, but I think he will eventually become a guy that respectfully goes at the refs much harder than he is now.

I surely hope he never does, what an arrogant narcissistic person Hurley is. He causes me to she second level embarrassment for him.

 

[WallMashKyBall]

I just posted on another post about this: Chandler was the first sub in the game and Perry had just missed a shot and made a stupid turnover. I was all for pulling his butt. But nice guy Pope didn't want to send a message to Perry that he was being pulled for bad play so he freaking pulled Oweh who had just made a poster dunk. So First sub of the game was Chandler for Oweh and Pope went with two freshman backcourt, I think, just so as to not make Perry feel bad. Nate oats pulled a player in a second after a turnover mistake. Meaner ain't bad in moments like that. Send the message that stupid passes and bad play is not accepted.

 

[FitchandMurray29]

I just posted on another post about this: Chandler was the first sub in the game and Perry had just missed a shot and made a stupid turnover. I was all for pulling his butt. But nice guy Pope didn't want to send a message to Perry that he was being pulled for bad play so he freaking pulled Oweh who had just made a poster dunk. So First sub of the game was Chandler for Oweh and Pope went with two freshman backcourt, I think, just so as to not make Perry feel bad. Nate oats pulled a player in a second after a turnover mistake. Meaner ain't bad in moments like that. Send the message that stupid passes and bad play is not accepted.

Pope was trying to rest Oweh around the TV timeout as he expected to play him heavy minutes. He’s done that throughout the year.

Yes it did lead to Perry and Chandler both being out there which was dumb.

 

[TriCountyCat]

The only problem with Pope is he doesn’t have a team that can beat these really athletic teams. He has done great with what he has had but all three Guards from Alabama or Auburn or Florida would have started over any of our guys. Pope has to show BBN that he can get some stud guards. That has yet to be seen. Lewis might be close.

 

[Cats192]

Some of ya'll just NEED something to complain over.

This is the new "thing."

Pope broke a chair and cut his hand. Pope has been seen on tv saying "That's bullshit" at the refs twice now. Pope loses his mind on tv on rare occasions.

But still some of ya'll "He's just too nice. He needs to be mean." We lost by 30. We didn't have any of our top 3 PG's. Alabama is more athletic and just a better team than us. Pope's demeanor wouldn't have changed it.

 

[mdlUK.1]

The only problem with Pope is he doesn’t have a team that can beat these really athletic teams. He has done great with what he has had but all three Guards from Alabama or Auburn or Florida would have started over any of our guys. Pope has to show BBN that he can get some stud guards. That has yet to be seen. Lewis might be close.

Well, to be fair, he was without 3 guards that would have played before anyone else on the team. As hot as bama got the 2nd half, might not have mattered.

 

[Digger-Cat]

If your used to Cal, yeah he goes nuts over a player just dribbling the ball....

Pope is fine, he keeps his cool when he should.

I wouldn't say it's fine. These officials grease the squeaky wheel. The coaches that go after them, get the calls. It shouldn't be that way, but it is.

 

[mdlUK.1]

Some of ya'll just NEED something to complain over.

This is the new "thing."

Pope broke a chair and cut his hand. Pope has been seen on tv saying "That's bullshit" at the refs twice now. Pope loses his mind on tv on rare occasions.

But still some of ya'll "He's just too nice. He needs to be mean." We lost by 30. We didn't have any of our top 3 PG's. Alabama is more athletic and just a better team than us. Pope's demeanor wouldn't have changed it.

Yeah, all we heard the last 4-5 years was all cal did was scream at the refs. And that they hated him for doing it. Some on here want it both ways.

 

[Digger-Cat]

I just posted on another post about this: Chandler was the first sub in the game and Perry had just missed a shot and made a stupid turnover. I was all for pulling his butt. But nice guy Pope didn't want to send a message to Perry that he was being pulled for bad play so he freaking pulled Oweh who had just made a poster dunk. So First sub of the game was Chandler for Oweh and Pope went with two freshman backcourt, I think, just so as to not make Perry feel bad. Nate oats pulled a player in a second after a turnover mistake. Meaner ain't bad in moments like that. Send the message that stupid passes and bad play is not accepted.

This kind of stuff baffles me. I don't know why Pope does this.
I could not believe he pulled Oweh instead of Perry there. It was 3 minutes into the game. Oweh hadn't even broken a sweat yet.
Out of all the things Pope needs to improve on, it's hulis terrible lineups that he continues to put out there.
He platooned at the 3 minute mark of the LSU game, LSU went on a run and they didn't even care about playing that game. Pope never went back to that lineup.
Then, at Missouri, he played his best possible lineups. I figured he learned his lesson, but after last night, I see he didn't. You can't play Perry, Noag, Garrison and Almonor together. He played Perry and Noah way too much.

 

[Midway Cat]

Pope is 54.

Mark Pope is 52.

 

[Aike]

I just posted on another post about this: Chandler was the first sub in the game and Perry had just missed a shot and made a stupid turnover. I was all for pulling his butt. But nice guy Pope didn't want to send a message to Perry that he was being pulled for bad play so he freaking pulled Oweh who had just made a poster dunk. So First sub of the game was Chandler for Oweh and Pope went with two freshman backcourt, I think, just so as to not make Perry feel bad. Nate oats pulled a player in a second after a turnover mistake. Meaner ain't bad in moments like that. Send the message that stupid passes and bad play is not accepted.

We hung in fine after that, and Perry hit some shots. Maybe it wasn’t actually a mistake?

 

[Digger-Cat]

Yeah, all we heard the last 4-5 years was all cal did was scream at the refs. And that they hated him for doing it. Some on here want it both ways.

I think there is a large amount of middle ground between Pope and Cal. I bet we would all love it if Pope landed somewhere in the middle on this.

 

[Midway Cat]

He played Perry and Noah way too much.

You're continuing to ignore that we had no other options.

 

[the nail at the foul line]

You know, I got trashed for saying Pope was too nice back in November and December, so I let it go.
But I'll say this, throughout the season, Pope changed a little. I think he did get more aggressive with the refs and I think he will continue to evolve.
He probably won't every become a Danny Hurley, but I think he will eventually become a guy that respectfully goes at the refs much harder than he is now.
He's great, but he is learning on the job. This year has been a hell of an education for him.

I think he is absolutely shocked at the whistle we get. I think he is like a lot of posters here that don't believe there's some kind of anti-uk bias.

 

[ImTheVillageIdiot]

I think he is absolutely shocked at the whistle we get. I think he is like a lot of posters here that doesn't believe there's some kind of anti-uk bias.

I think Pope is going to build a roster going forward that takes SEC play into greater consideration. The amount of holding and pushing that is allowed in the conference, particularly anything offball, can derail some of the things I think Pope wants to do. We will see if Pope adjusts to it but yes no doubt SEC is an adjustment

 

[ralphdaltonfan]

Think he takes up for the players just fine. He was furious over the bad calls. Thing is--Pope's actually PLAYED at the level he's coached and beyond. So when a player gets cut--he doesn't assume it was an intentional cheap shot. He actually will wait to see what happened. Does getting hit/cut suck? Sure. But that wasn't intentional on Philon's part.

You have to be who you are as a coach/person. The #1 weakness of anyone is to change their personality when adversity hits. People lose respect and it shakes up the team. So when the Cats won a game Thursday night when Pope is in the huddle telling everyone "We are going to win this game"---and everyone is celebrating his "confidence in his players" and how "calm" he was in the face of adversity.....they don't like it when he's got a MASH unit out there competing against a top 4 team in the country and getting beat--as was to be expected? Come on. If he didn't fight for his players...they'd have not produced 22 wins in the toughest league ever (the media consensus) beat Duke on a neutral court, Gonzaga in Washington, swept TN, beat UF, etc.....at some point it's okay to see the growth of what is going on and not blame a coach. There are things everyone can improve on but last night is more about the fans delusion in terms of thinking yelling would've changed an outcome that personnel wise, was the equivalent of going into a gun fight with a Macgruber piece of celery (for those that know-you know) and hoping you could distract them enough to stun them.

 

[cathouse]

I wouldn't say it's fine. These officials grease the squeaky wheel. The coaches that go after them, get the calls. It shouldn't be that way, but it is.

Nah....Doug Shows came out of the gate giving Alabama a crooked whistle. First play of the game. SMH.

 

[Digger-Cat]

You're continuing to ignore that we had no other options.

No, you continue to ignore that you can't play those guys together and when you do play them, it can't be for long stretches. Perry played 30 minutes.

We have Brea, Oweh, Williams, Carr Garrison and Chandler. Those 6 players have the most size, athletesism and ability to score. Those players sat too long.

It's fine to play Perry, Noah and Almonor, but against the likes of Alabama, you absolutely cannot play them together.

3 minutes into the game, he pulled Oweh after a nice dunk, put Chandler in and left Perry in. WTF was that? Why would you do that? That's not the best lineup you can put out there. You pull Perry there.

I will die on this hill, Perry and Noah are not ready for that kind of game. We were playing 8 on 3 when Pope did that.

 

[Digger-Cat]

Nah....Doug Shows came out of the gate giving Alabama a crooked whistle. First play of the game. SMH.

I won't disagree there.
I planned on staying calm all game, because I knew the odds were against us, but that plan went out the window on that block call.

 

[the nail at the foul line]

I think Pope is going to build a roster going forward that takes SEC play into greater consideration. The amount of holding and pushing that is allowed in the conference, particularly anything offball, can derail some of the things I think Pope wants to do. We will see if Pope adjusts to it but yes no doubt SEC is an adjustment

That's this year. Next year it may be totally different. How it is called.

 

[Digger-Cat]

I think Pope is going to build a roster going forward that takes SEC play into greater consideration. The amount of holding and pushing that is allowed in the conference, particularly anything offball, can derail some of the things I think Pope wants to do. We will see if Pope adjusts to it but yes no doubt SEC is an adjustment

No doubt.
I think Pope adjusted nicely. He greatly improved the defense on the fly against the best conference of all time. That's unbelievable to me.
But yeah, you better believe MP is going to go get some dogs out of that portal after what he has seen this season.

 

[ImTheVillageIdiot]

No, you continue to ignore that you can't play those guys together and when you do play them, it can't be for long stretches. Perry played 30 minutes.

We have Brea, Oweh, Williams, Carr Garrison and Chandler. Those 6 players have the most size, athletesism and ability to score. Those players sat too long.

It's fine to play Perry, Noah and Almonor, but against the likes of Alabama, you absolutely cannot play them together.

3 minutes into the game, he pulled Oweh after a nice dunk, put Chandler in and left Perry in. WTF was that? Why would you do that? That's not the best lineup you can put out there. You pull Perry there.

I will die on this hill, Perry and Noah are not ready for that kind of game. We were playing 8 on 3 when Pope did that.

Even I was surprised Perry got 30 minutes. I wonder if Oweh hadn’t got hurt if maybe he’d have played 5-10 minutes less. At least you now know for sure that Perry isn’t quite there. I think he’s probably not likely to be a major contributor next year either. I’ve really fought against this thought as I don’t like coming to that conclusion but Perry isn’t even close. Noah —- I disagree — he missed his shots but he was getting boards when others weren’t and I didn’t think he was bad defensively. I don’t expect Noah to be a major contributor next year but I could see him at the end of the rotation in that AA role. We will see. Sadly, we absolutely have to recruit over Perry in the portal until he develops

 

[ImTheVillageIdiot]

That's this year. Next year it may be totally different. How it is called.

Do you see the conference truly cracking down on all that stuff? It’s wish I believed it but it’s not gonna happen

 

[the nail at the foul line]

Do you see the conference truly cracking down on all that stuff? It’s wish I believed it but it’s not gonna happen

I don't know.

I lost my mojo.

I think I used it up when my wildcat friends tried to reverse jinx my reverse jinx.

 

[ukcatz12]

We hung in fine after that, and Perry hit some shots. Maybe it wasn’t actually a mistake?

I came here to say exactly this. That lineup held its own just fine and it was a tied game shortly after that.

Yes, those were minutes we stole with a shaky lineup, but the only chance we ever really had last night was to steal two or three minute stretches at a time with unconventional lineups and then play the horses down the stretch.

 

[Digger-Cat]

Even I was surprised Perry got 30 minutes. I wonder if Oweh hadn’t got hurt if maybe he’d have played 5-10 minutes less. At least you now know for sure that Perry isn’t quite there. I think he’s probably not likely to be a major contributor next year either. I’ve really fought against this thought as I don’t like coming to that conclusion but Perry isn’t even close. Noah —- I disagree — he missed his shots but he was getting boards when others weren’t and I didn’t think he was bad defensively. I don’t expect Noah to be a major contributor next year but I could see him at the end of the rotation in that AA role. We will see. Sadly, we absolutely have to recruit over Perry in the portal until he develops

Great post.

I don't want anyone to think I don't like Perry or Noah, that's just wrong, those two dudes are going to be great here and I love that we have 2 guys that are going to stay and develop in the program.

Noah is going to be a key guy next year, but we need to give Perry until year 3.

I know they have to play right now, you just can't play them together very long and you cannot run Perry at the point for more than 15mpg.

Perry is too limited with size and athletesism, Chandler is much closer to SEC caliber and should have gotten the bulk of the pg minutes last night.

 

[ImTheVillageIdiot]

I don't know.

I lost my mojo.

I think I used it up when my wildcat friends tried to reverse jinx my reverse jinx.

Good times, man. We will get our mojo back. I still see a Sweet 16 on the way if our guys can answer the bell. Hopefully, Pope shows them film from the Duke, Gonzaga, at Tennessee, Florida and at Missouri games. We are a good team and they should be reminded of it

 

[Wildcats1st]

Last night as the game was obviously out of reach he should have EARNED a technical. Draw attention to the abhorrent whistles. Just my $.02

You definitely get it. A tech and if that doesn’t change things get tossed. Yelling bs at the ref is like telling your dog nicely to stop pissing in the house. Your fans and players need to know you will go to war for them.

 

[the nail at the foul line]

Think he takes up for the players just fine. He was furious over the bad calls. Thing is--Pope's actually PLAYED at the level he's coached and beyond. So when a player gets cut--he doesn't assume it was an intentional cheap shot. He actually will wait to see what happened. Does getting hit/cut suck? Sure. But that wasn't intentional on Philon's part.

You have to be who you are as a coach/person. The #1 weakness of anyone is to change their personality when adversity hits. People lose respect and it shakes up the team. So when the Cats won a game Thursday night when Pope is in the huddle telling everyone "We are going to win this game"---and everyone is celebrating his "confidence in his players" and how "calm" he was in the face of adversity.....they don't like it when he's got a MASH unit out there competing against a top 4 team in the country and getting beat--as was to be expected? Come on. If he didn't fight for his players...they'd have not produced 22 wins in the toughest league ever (the media consensus) beat Duke on a neutral court, Gonzaga in Washington, swept TN, beat UF, etc.....at some point it's okay to see the growth of what is going on and not blame a coach. There are things everyone can improve on but last night is more about the fans delusion in terms of thinking yelling would've changed an outcome that personnel wise, was the equivalent of going into a gun fight with a Macgruber piece of celery (for those that know-you know) and hoping you could distract them enough to stun them.

The foul called on Oweh was complete BS. Should have been flagrant on them. Intent doesn't matter we are told. Unless it is us.

 

[Digger-Cat]

I don't know.

I lost my mojo.

I think I used it up when my wildcat friends tried to reverse jinx my reverse jinx.