Pope yelling and screaming at the refs won't change anything. It's not a weakness.
I agree with this.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.
I understand you wanted us to have other players available so we could match up differently and run better lineups, but we only had four guards available for last night's game. At least two had to be in there at all times, and we'd just played less than 24 hours ago.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.
(1) Perry had zero turnovers the first half.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.
I can’t disagreeI 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***.
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.
Last night I kept thinking we surely have someone else.Chandler is much better defensively, but he is really shaky with the ball. Difficult to have him playing heavy minutes at point against a team that can pressure you like Bama.
No great options, if we’re being fair.
I think officials that watch a guy get bulldozed in open court and call nothing deserve heat.Pope yelling and screaming at the refs won't change anything. It's not a weakness.
I agree with this. If anything, it might make things in some cases worse. I heard Matt Jones say a few weeks ago that college refs have some of the most fragile egos of any profession. Coaches who antagonize them could catch the return fire or ultimate pettiness. People generally do not like to be undermined in their field but that is amplified when they are publicly getting torn to shreds by coaches. They are sensitive and likely feel that outsiders do not understand how “hard their job is”, something that many people feel about their own profession right or wrong. I think Pope does a good job with the refs personally. I think personnel and familiarity have more to do with the differences we see in officiating compared to some others.Pope yelling and screaming at the refs won't change anything. It's not a weakness.
RD what’s your opinion on pope? Will he become a coach who has UK top 5-10 every year or are we looking at a great season every 3 or 4 years? Where would you rate him on the up and comer list?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.
Bad call that set the toneAt the first of game when Nelson ran over carr and carr called for blocking foul. Downhill after that
Perry had 11 points. 2 turnovers and more rebounds (4) than Garrison ( who had.zero). Noah, who I support 100%, had 4 points and only two boards.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
Look, I do agree with you that people go overboard. I’m very much a pro-Perry poster and always have been. Getting to see him in bigger minutes lets you see just how far away he is from being a dependable rotation player. Yes he did have 11 points and I expect he will one day be the offensive weapon many of us believe he can be. However, he may very well be the easiest defender to exploit in this conference as of now. People should consider that he is a freshman—-he has plenty of time to get stronger and work on his body. He doesn’t have to become Adou Thiero —- obviously he won’t —- but he can become at least a deterrent. Right now, anyone who drives in his direction has a bucket. That said, his perimeter defense has been much better. He’s moving better laterally than he was early in the year which tells me he’s processing defensive data faster and he’s contesting shots more often. I think Perry needs to be patient. I think fans need to be patient with him. I still believe in Travis Perry — it’s just not his time yet.Perry had 11 points. 2 turnovers and more rebounds (4) than Garrison ( who had.zero). Noah, who I support 100%, had 4 points and only two boards.
I agree that we’re at a disadvantage with Perry going against super athletic and potentially pro guards. However, some of the posters on this message board incessantly bad-mouth Perry.
So you're saying he shouldn't have gone full Bobby Knight and thrown a chair? We were spent, AlaSome 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.
Agree.So you're saying he shouldn't have gone full Bobby Knight and thrown a chair? We were spent, Ala
was on their game. We hung in for most of the game, (without 2 players who could have made some difference)
We got 0 calls in our favor and we were roughed up all night. All that being said we did probably as
good as can reasonably be expected under the circumstances
I've liked how he's put together a staff, roster on the fly, recruiting has exceeded what I expected this quickly, and some of the guys he wanted (Smith at St. John's and Lanier at TN) would've been massive additions this year. So tells me he/staff identify the Portal targets well. Throw in the wins against top tier teams in 1st yr--ability to adjust/adapt...love the future of the program. Really think he's got to get that NCAA win this upcoming week to eradicate that last pressure filled checkmark just to relax the less patient aspect of the fanbase.RD what’s your opinion on pope? Will he become a coach who has UK top 5-10 every year or are we looking at a great season every 3 or 4 years? Where would you rate him on the up and comer list?
I told my son, I would have been escorted out of the building! T-Time!!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
Not a big deal, but Pope will turn 53 in September, having been born on 09/11/72.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.
Yes, that was a curious substitution.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.
I've thought the same thing, especially when Cal was criticized so heavily for refusing to zone. To be fair, there is very little zone defense played by ANY teams, as best I can tell. As a general rule, teams just do not play zone defense. ????I’m still trying to figure out why he doesn’t run more zone defenses with this team, including when it’s really obvious we aren’t as athletic as our opponent.
I disagree on Cal.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.
Right, but when you're looking at Philon and Sears coming at you, I'm rolling with Chandler over Perry. You can't let those guys get downhill.Chandler is much better defensively, but he is really shaky with the ball. Difficult to have him playing heavy minutes at point against a team that can pressure you like Bama.
No great options, if we’re being fair.
Pope went with Perry from the tip, that was his gameplan.I understand you wanted us to have other players available so we could match up differently and run better lineups, but we only had four guards available for last night's game. At least two had to be in there at all times, and we'd just played less than 24 hours ago.
Brea played 33+ minutes.
Oweh had to leave the game for a significant period because he was injured and was less effective when he returned.
That leaves Perry and Chandler.
Chandler had three fouls and three turnovers in 17+ minutes.
We did not have other options.
You can ignore it or die on whatever hill you want. It doesn't matter. That was the reality last night.
Right, but when you're looking at Philon and Sears coming at you, I'm rolling with Chandler over Perry. You can't let those guys get downhill.
Pope went with Perry from the tip. Also, the fact that Perry was never in foul trouble, is very telling. It tells me he wasn't even getting in their way. He wasn't physical enough and he didn't provide a lick.of resistance.
Perry is going to be really good, but physically, he's not ready for that type of assignment, Chandler is.
Been saying this ..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***.
I just don't think you can play Perry against a team like that.I personally don’t think either was a great option, for different reasons.
Perry struggles to guard but honestly, so does Chandler at that level.
Chandler turned it over 3 times in 18 minutes despite not being the primary ball handler most of the night.
Start Chandler at the point, and you likely have a different kind of massacre, with turnovers galore and an Alabama track meet.
I’m guessing Pope went with the hope of taking care of the ball and running great offense, thinking maybe we could win a game in the 90s.
Well I appreciate that and yeah he has assembled a good staff. He may lose a couple in the off season though. Which brings me back to the initial question of pope as a coach? Sure he can run a program. He’s very organized all that’s great but at UK organized and staff management don’t cut it. It always has boiled down to the head coach. You kind of dodged the question on popes abilities. I guess we take that for granted but Barney hired Bcg who was disorganized and a total mess. So pope passes there. He’s the 5th highest paid coach. Is he the 5th best coach in the country? This is where I’m getting at. And I think the skeptic group expect more than winning a first round game. Most of my friends and family say s16 is where they rate a successful season. I think some people are all in on pope and think he can be something special while most need to see more.I've liked how he's put together a staff, roster on the fly, recruiting has exceeded what I expected this quickly, and some of the guys he wanted (Smith at St. John's and Lanier at TN) would've been massive additions this year. So tells me he/staff identify the Portal targets well. Throw in the wins against top tier teams in 1st yr--ability to adjust/adapt...love the future of the program. Really think he's got to get that NCAA win this upcoming week to eradicate that last pressure filled checkmark just to relax the less patient aspect of the fanbase.
I think it's a Top 5-10 Staff in making in terms of an approach that can sustain rather than throwing **** at a dartboard like Cal was doing at end. Loved what Cal was/brought to UK but the last 4 yrs were gross in terms of staff ('21 especially) and '22/'24 in terms of allowing the players to get their way and ruin the program.
Bama didn't need Doug Shows to help them beat our depleted team, but he did anyway.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.