Otega ansley and andrew talk mark pope

[jeffky]

WATCH: Ansley Almonor, Otega Oweh, and Andrew Carr talk Mark Pope, early practices

A trio of Kentucky players sat down with the media on Thursday to provide their thoughts on Mark Pope and the first few weeks of practice.

www.on3.com

 

[WallMashKyBall]

I had to go back and remind myself who Ansley Almonor was, (FDU xfer) but from all the practice clips and scrimmage against La Familia clips, I'm really liking him.

 

[IbnSaran]

Ansley is so comfortable on camera and so quick with his off the cuff answers. Maybe a future in broadcasting after his career.

 

[Fox2monk]

I had to go back and remind myself who Ansley Almonor was, (FDU xfer) but from all the practice clips and scrimmage against La Familia clips, I'm really liking him.

Me too, he seems to be a good dude and from clips I’ve watched he seems to really know how to defend in the post, the fact he can shoot is a big plus too. I hope he really exceeds expectations of a player from that level. As we all know many hidden gems are on those teams.

 

[MrHotDice]

Ansley is so comfortable on camera and so quick with his off the cuff answers. Maybe a future in broadcasting after his career.

Win a title and he gets an interview
Pretty good incentive

 

[L.O.D.]

I admit Pope had me concerned - not with the lack of hustle he clearly has all Hustle, fire, and appreciation to be here anyone could want. My concern is he's never really been successful in his 8 year career. His 4 years at Y were actually a regression from the 4 prior (all be it a small one). That concerns me ... I love what i keep hearing from him and others taking about him I just need to see it.

 

[anonymous_2011]

I'm excited for this season to start! Haven't felt this way about UK basketball in a long time.

 

[HerrosHeroes]

I'm excited for this season to start! Haven't felt this way about UK basketball in a long time.

Me either. I know whats in store.

 

[Wonky]

Dang I was hoping for some new interviews. That link is six weeks old

 

[ganner918]

I admit Pope had me concerned - not with the lack of hustle he clearly has all Hustle, fire, and appreciation to be here anyone could want. My concern is he's never really been successful in his 8 year career. His 4 years at Y were actually a regression from the 4 prior (all be it a small one). That concerns me ... I love what i keep hearing from him and others taking about him I just need to see it.

I have had the same concern, that he hasn't had great success before. He'll have better resources here, he'll have more talented rosters here - but it's yet to be seen if he can be a FF/championship level coach. I AM confident his teams will at least be good. He was good, not great, 3 out of 5 years at BYU (two 6 seeds, 2020 would have been a 5 or a 6) and, again, he's just going to have more talented rosters here. Can he turn those better rosters into title contenders? We can hope, but not a given. He's gonna work his tail off chasing it, he's going to play efficient basketball, so he definitely has a shot at it. But still has to do it.

Looking at BYU before/during his tenure, he definitely did NOT regress compared to his predecessor, David Rose. Pope's first 2 years had a better W/L record than Rose had in the previous 6 (I went back 6 because 2014/15 were two of Rose's better years in his later time there) and last year had a step up in SOS with a still good W/L record. Looking at computer rating of the teams over that span, Pope's teams were on the whole better than Rose's:

 

[UKSanders]

I have had the same concern, that he hasn't had great success before. He'll have better resources here, he'll have more talented rosters here - but it's yet to be seen if he can be a FF/championship level coach. I AM confident his teams will at least be good. He was good, not great, 3 out of 5 years at BYU (two 6 seeds, 2020 would have been a 5 or a 6) and, again, he's just going to have more talented rosters here. Can he turn those better rosters into title contenders? We can hope, but not a given. He's gonna work his tail off chasing it, he's going to play efficient basketball, so he definitely has a shot at it. But still has to do it.

Looking at BYU before/during his tenure, he definitely did NOT regress compared to his predecessor, David Rose. Pope's first 2 years had a better W/L record than Rose had in the previous 6 (I went back 6 because 2014/15 were two of Rose's better years in his later time there) and last year had a step up in SOS with a still good W/L record. Looking at computer rating of the teams over that span, Pope's teams were on the whole better than Rose's:

Nice work... maybe the most promising thing of all those stats is Pope had a slightly better win % with a harder strength of schedule. And, it's promising to me that when BYU jumped into the Big 12, their record remained about the same.

 

[G-PIP]

I admit Pope had me concerned - not with the lack of hustle he clearly has all Hustle, fire, and appreciation to be here anyone could want. My concern is he's never really been successful in his 8 year career. His 4 years at Y were actually a regression from the 4 prior (all be it a small one). That concerns me ... I love what i keep hearing from him and others taking about him I just need to see it.

Nothing unreasonable about that. I've wondered myself about the "Good Coach/Bad Coach" approach with his players, meaning is he comfortable really getting on guys and calling them out when needed? Pope is such an upbeat and positive person, and all-around good guy that I wonder if putting the proverbial "fear of God" in his players is in his repertoire. I think the old school approach of always yelling and cursing and seemingly never having a positive thing to say about your players is counterproductive and the way to lose a team today, but I would guess a little fear of authority could still be productive.