Pope is an ELITE Coach

[LineSkiCat14]

From 1930 to today, Kentucky has only had 2 coaches as Brilliant with X’s and O’s, adjustments, and one step ahead of everyone else…Coach Rupp and Rick Pitino…Those are the only two that could have won last night.

I really think Pope is making a name for himself as we speak. And I would agree, there's not many coaches who could have pulled that off. And it's not like Pope had some super star soon-to-be-NBA player that he could just say "go get me 20". Yes the players executed in the 2nd half, but none of this happens if not for Pope.

And just imagine the type of respect and admiration he will get BECAUSE he's not a raving lunatic like Hurley, or K, or even Cal. I'm sure he's gonna go on some tirades at officials, but he's got a very cool demeanor and that will go a LONG way.

 

[littlecreek]

Pope put on a coaching clinic in the second half. That 1-3-1 zone, changing to man to man in the same possession and then sometimes staying in 1-3-1 was a stroke of genius. Isn't there a coach whose teams regularly struggle against a 1-3-1 ? I wonder what defense Kentucky will use against a certain SEC team?

 

[Mulder14]

Guys , the thing that amazes me besides the adjustments and using long words I haven’t heard of😊 is how calm he is on the sidelines . That has to rub off on the players.

 

[catsfan325]

Pope is the guy that makes it go, but also worth shouting out the staff. His 3 lead assistants are all going to be head coaches in the very near future. They're smart, hungry and capable. Similar to the Pitino days when he had Billy D, Herb Sendek, Tubby, etc.

 

[FutureCity]

The opposition coaches are never going to be in a position where they can relax at halftime when playing against Pope. Even if they're up they're going to be wondering, "what's he going to throw at us in the second half?"

 

[DraftCat]

For those who had concerns with recruiting...

I think two marquee wins may have recruits and transfers looking our way.

 

[Cats192]

I have to eat my crow on the guy.

Even before Cal to Arkansas became a thing, there were threads about "We should hire Mark Pope after Cal." Hell no. He isn't ready. He hasn't earned it. It's a stupid idea. We're not going to give him the job out of pity just because he played here. Hasn't even won a tournament game. Don't even talk about it.

When Cal left, the talks grew louder. I laughed. I made a list. I had Pope as my 16th or 17th choice.
1. Hurley
2. Drew
3. Billy
4-15: Some guys the university board wouldn't approve and some guys we didn't even talk to.
Hell, I had Rick ahead of Pope.

Then we hired Pope. I'm mad as hell. We're about to go through 3 years of mediocrity and hire somebody else. I kind of make peace with it is what it is. I'm going to support him because he's the captain of the ship and I need the ship to sail.

He won me over at the press conference. I expected a top 15 season, maybe we're good enough to sneak into the Sweet 16.

When March rolls around, and the brackets are made: Gonzaga and Duke will be dangerous teams that no one wants to see. They will both be competing for 1 seeds. These were both Final Four caliber games.

This is Pope's 1st season. With a team he threw together in a couple of weeks. As a wise man once said, the ceiling is the roof.

 

[KENTUCKY_FLYER]

Popes gonna be the next coach K and as many titles as K did. Maybe more.

 

[KENTUCKY_FLYER]

I have to eat my crow on the guy.

Even before Cal to Arkansas became a thing, there were threads about "We should hire Mark Pope after Cal." Hell no. He isn't ready. He hasn't earned it. It's a stupid idea. We're not going to give him the job out of pity just because he played here. Hasn't even won a tournament game. Don't even talk about it.

When Cal left, the talks grew louder. I laughed. I made a list. I had Pope as my 16th or 17th choice.
1. Hurley
2. Drew
3. Billy
4-15: Some guys the university board wouldn't approve and some guys we didn't even talk to.
Hell, I had Rick ahead of Pope.

Then we hired Pope. I'm mad as hell. We're about to go through 3 years of mediocrity and hire somebody else. I kind of make peace with it is what it is. I'm going to support him because he's the captain of the ship and I need the ship to sail.

He won me over at the press conference. I expected a top 15 season, maybe we're good enough to sneak into the Sweet 16.

When March rolls around, and the brackets are made: Gonzaga and Duke will be dangerous teams that no one wants to see. They will both be competing for 1 seeds. These were both Final Four caliber games.

This is Pope's 1st season. With a team he threw together in a couple of weeks. As a wise man once said, the ceiling is the roof.

In my opinion WE are going to be competing for a 1 seed.

 

[TheDude73]

I watched some of Gonzaga’s post game and to me it looked like Few was blaming missed shots on their part and not giving much credit to the defensive changes. Said they missed shots they normally hit and that 1/3/1 oh we do that same thing from time to time. Just seemed dismissive of our Team.

He's not totally wrong. They did miss a few right at the basket and I was thinking "we may finally have luck on our side". But he should have also thrown in there some respect to Pope and the Cats for essentially shutting them down in the 2nd half. To your point, we came back because Pope adjusted the defense and we turned that into stops and scores on our end. It wasn't because they kept missing shots.

 

[Skyguyb27]

Might upset many but it’s just what I’m seeing. Duke and Gonzaga both appear to have better players BUT that should be expected. This is Mark Pope’s first year and he had to quickly assemble this team with a short notice and he did a heck of a job doing it!

My point being, can y’all imagine when he’s able to get exactly who he wants and actually has time to scout the whole playing field of recruiting?

Here’s to hoping we keep getting better and better and become prepared to make a run in March. Mark Pope deserves all the credit in the world and the sky will be the limit in his time here!

I feel ya, the only thing is, I’m thinking freshman make more mistakes and aren’t as poised as this team is. This team is mentally tough and solid in crunch time.

 

[Cats192]

In my opinion WE are going to be competing for a 1 seed.

Oh, 1000%.

We're a 1 seed as of right now. No one has two wins as good as we do. I mention Duke and Gonzaga competing for a 1 seed to highlight how their success bolsters our case.

BrackMarix.com is slow to update, but the individual bracketologists tweet out their brackets fairly often. Multiple guys have put out a bracket last night/this morning with Kentucky as a 1 seed. I'll post the Tweets at the bottom.

We're 4th in the NET. We have a neutral site win over #4. We have a "neutral" site win over #3.
We're 10th in Kenpom--Duke and Gonzaga are 3 and 4 there as well.

And just a cherry on top of the resume sundae: Clemson looks like a "good" loss. They're being projected as a 3 seed by Bracket Matrix guys. They are #12 in the NET. They are #16 in Kenpom.

 

[Cats192]

He's not totally wrong. They did miss a few right at the basket and I was thinking "we may finally have luck on our side". But he should have also thrown in there some respect to Pope and the Cats for essentially shutting them down in the 2nd half. To your point, we came back because Pope adjusted the defense and we turned that into stops and scores on our end. It wasn't because they kept missing shots.

The defense was the biggest factor.

But they also missed some shots they should have made. Some of that is regression to the mean. They were hitting everything in the 1st half. Some of that is because we weren't defending them worth a crap. But they were hitting everything. Ike couldn't miss that little 13 foot push shot. Ike hit a 3. Nembhard made some incredible step back shots. I think Gregg hit a long jumper or 2.

 

[electricat2]

Proof is in the pudding two come back wins vs. Duke and Gonzaga.

Eat it trolls and rival fans.

UK will always eat first

an elite school deserves an elite coach

 

[BigBlue1992]

I feel ya, the only thing is, I’m thinking freshman make more mistakes and aren’t as poised as this team is. This team is mentally tough and solid in crunch time.

For sure. And I probably worded that wrong. Pope will definitely continuing focusing on the portal. The best teams will be built through vs recruiting freshmen.

 

[MychalG]

Pope is the guy that makes it go, but also worth shouting out the staff. His 3 lead assistants are all going to be head coaches in the very near future. They're smart, hungry and capable. Similar to the Pitino days when he had Billy D, Herb Sendek, Tubby, etc.

Great Point!!

 

[rick64]

Actually utilizing his timeouts to make sure the players know what to do and what he wants. What a concept!!😱

 

[Zissou87]

Oh, 1000%.

We're a 1 seed as of right now. No one has two wins as good as we do. I mention Duke and Gonzaga competing for a 1 seed to highlight how their success bolsters our case.

BrackMarix.com is slow to update, but the individual bracketologists tweet out their brackets fairly often. Multiple guys have put out a bracket last night/this morning with Kentucky as a 1 seed. I'll post the Tweets at the bottom.

We're 4th in the NET. We have a neutral site win over #4. We have a "neutral" site win over #3.
We're 10th in Kenpom--Duke and Gonzaga are 3 and 4 there as well.

And just a cherry on top of the resume sundae: Clemson looks like a "good" loss. They're being projected as a 3 seed by Bracket Matrix guys. They are #12 in the NET. They are #16 in Kenpom.

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The SEC tournament has the potential to be tougher than the NCAA tournament. Who'da thunk?

 

[ganner918]

For sure. And I probably worded that wrong. Pope will definitely continuing focusing on the portal. The best teams will be built through vs recruiting freshmen.

Assuming nobody goes pro early or transfers, we should return 5 players and bring in 4 freshmen. Then we'll get 3 or 4 transfers. Should be a nice, balanced mix of young talent and experience and guys we're developing.

 

[runt#69]

How many of us fans, even LIFELONG fans of Kentucky basketball .... 50, 60, 70 freaking years long .... ever thought Mark Pope would come in as Kentucky basketball, straight on the heels of Calipari's era, talk about basketball on a " intellectually stratospheric level" as head coach. openly discuss his job as totally open and in depth as possible, but be frank with the positives and critical aspects of running a program .... and it's being done here at Kentucky, right now ?!?!?

I was NOT prepared to retool my own intellectual level of thinking about basketball, as opposed to sitting quietly and digesting what I was being served as a Kentucky fan. Or a basketball bennie.

NOW I can actually think about the sport and enjoy it again with a fresh perspective. Not having to watch the same old tired, failed philosophy dictate what happens year in year out.

And I am sure glad Mark Pope is our coach. Like, a REAL coach. I can respect a man like that. Not one that is there for a paycheck rolling his balls out, stuck with a dead end philosophy in a totally new era of basketball.

Coach Mark Pope is EXACTLY the kind of man we need to invest in LONG TERM for Kentucky. I'm already calling it out now. But then again, that's a no-brainer at this point.

The intellectual skills on display before, during, and after each game now, stand in TOTAL CONTRAST to how CCC prepared for the game, treated the game before during and afterwards. And it is most definitely an improvement for the better.

Look at the two coaches relative success this year for example.

'nuff said.

 

[YankeeCpt]

 

[littlecreek]

The defense was the biggest factor.

But they also missed some shots they should have made. Some of that is regression to the mean. They were hitting everything in the 1st half. Some of that is because we weren't defending them worth a crap. But they were hitting everything. Ike couldn't miss that little 13 foot push shot. Ike hit a 3. Nembhard made some incredible step back shots. I think Gregg hit a long jumper or 2.

Pope mentioned earlier in the season how that by playing a lot of guys, always moving on offense, and pressure defense will cause the other teams to tire in the second half which causes them to miss shots that they made in the first half. That's exactly what happened to Gonzaga.

 

[Snackbar1130]

There was a reason those shots were short or long. Them boys was tired.

 

[FutureCity]

Many top tier players will want to play for Pope just because of his personality and the type of atmosphere he's created at Kentucky. Every coach gives lip service to the idea that the fans are a part of the program. But it's genuine at Kentucky. Pope isn't just the Coach. He is, and always has been a member of the Big Blue Nation. He's one of its biggest fans as well as being the Coach. A lot of good players will want to be a part of a situation like that--and it only exists here.