Pope post game

[billoliver40]

I'm sure most of you have heard or seen the post game. Highly frustrated head coach. "Good enough to win for 36 minutes".

Gotta be in the moment and close it out.

Missing players doesn't matter. The team was good enough to win.

Sounds like coach doesn't want to hear any more about who isn't there ..it's who is.

Complimentary on battle shown by Perry and Noah.

Pope's way of saying this shouldn't have ended this way.


My view: lack of contribution from some we have depended on.

My take: whatever the physical limitations of some of these guys are, no excuses. No more 'we need so and so back' or 'fighting with injury'. We know all that. EVERYbody knows all that. We dance with what we have to dance with.

And that's pretty much life. You can whine and hope and wish and what if all you want, but it doesn't matter. This is a pretty good college basketball team. Gotta play up to that.

 

[BarefootBeach]

Pope is saying all the right things. I think from now on pope will make sure he has more depth in case this happens again

 

[cat tat2]

Losing is bad enough, the manner in which they lost is concerning. IMO

 

[Big BlueBeard]

Pope’s not gonna make any excuses. I don’t see him as a coach who will ever look for cop outs.

 

[NociHTTP]

Losing is bad enough, the manner in which they lost is concerning. IMO

I'm concerned about what looks like his "good enough to win" approach. Might explain why they don't push leads out. I was expecting more of a foot-on-their-neck approach.

 

[billoliver40]

Something that I have been "educated" on ( figured I may as well steal that):

These super seniors and older transfers not only bring more developed skills to your team, some of them have ingrained issues with their games that they really have trouble fixing: positioning on defense, simple things like two hands on rebounds, getting your hands up, getting psyched out when your go to shot isn't dropping, moving your feet on defense, and more.

Young guys like Perry and Noah seem to be more able to make those tweaks and changes to their games. Some of our older more established guys seem to fall back on bad habits at inopportune times.
Kinda a negative part of the portal. These guys are trying to improve their game to be more attractive to a pro scout (from some country) but those bad habits are always bouncing in.

 

[GoCats1991]

Last night was the closest I felt to watching a Calipari game of the last 5 years. It felt like a job watching as Kentucky felt on the verge of giving up the lead for 36 minutes until it finally collapsed.

 

[chroix]

I’d like to see him ride the hot hand more. Felt like he pulled Noah too soon to try to get Brea going. Let the kid cook! Same with Almonor.

 

[GoCats1991]

I’d like to see him ride the hot hand more. Felt like he pulled Noah too soon to try to get Brea going. Let the kid cook!

Noah was the defender on Johnson the last 4 minutes of the game when Texas made their run. Noah isn’t ready for the big time yet.

 

[chroix]

Noah was the defender on Johnson the last 4 minutes of the game when Texas made their run. Noah isn’t ready for the big time yet.

He also got pulled early and UT tied it up after we got a big lead.

 

[chroix]

Noah was the defender on Johnson the last 4 minutes of the game when Texas made their run. Noah isn’t ready for the big time yet.

And nobody could stop Johnson. Kid was sick.

 

[TTTblue24]

I like what pope said post game and you can sense the frustration in his voice, you know he’s as upset as we are with how we didn’t close the game out. I too would like to see him ride the hot hand longer but now vandy is for sure a must win with bama next Saturday.

 

[GoCats1991]

And nobody could stop Johnson. Kid was sick.

Butler could have slowed him down. 🙃

 

[Blue_2_the_bone]

Noah was the defender on Johnson the last 4 minutes of the game when Texas made their run. Noah isn’t ready for the big time yet.

Noah didn’t foul him on a 3 point shot while up 5 and change the momentum, that was Brea. The last 3 mins you’re talking about was because Pope actually subbed him in for defense and Brea back for offense because Trent had made him take (and make) tougher shots during the game. They made a run because we threw the ball away to give them a lead and wouldn’t blockout in free throws. He was the only guy with a positive +\- on the whole team.

 

[southvillecat]

Noah didn’t foul him on a 3 point shot while up 5 and change the momentum, that was Brea. The last 3 mins you’re talking about was because Pope actually subbed him in for defense and Brea back for offense because Trent had made him take (and make) tougher shots during the game. They made a run because we threw the ball away to give them a lead and wouldn’t blockout in free throws. He was the only guy with a positive +\- on the whole team.

Why even sub him in for offense? He was throwing up bricks all game. At least Noah hit a few shots and hustles. Brea is just flat out not contributing at the level he needs to be.

 

[Blue_2_the_bone]

Why even sub him in for offense? He was throwing up bricks all game. At least Noah hit a few shots and hustles. Brea is just flat out not contributing at the level he needs to be.

I agree 100%. Up until that point Noah had played very sparingly in the 2nd half for whatever reason too. What kills me is a guy like Noah or Almanor will make a couple and be open but Brea will catch and try to dribble and create a shot instead of swinging it quick to them while they’re open. Oweh will go head down to the bucket and never look for a kick out to open shooters. If Williams or Butler doesn’t make the pass we are forced to make a lot of tough/ contested jumpers.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Pope is saying all the right things. I think from now on pope will make sure he has more depth in case this happens again

The problem here is, who can you realistically have as your 3rd string unit? They can't be talented players, they would rather start or be 6th men somewhere else.

We need to acknowledge just how much of an aberration it is to have this bad of injuries. You can count on one hand the number of D1 teams that are without 3 of its top8 guys (with a 4th in and out). You really never see it.

So I agree, we do need some more depth.. but its easier said than done, and I think going forward you will regress to the mean in terms of injuries.

 

[ImTheVillageIdiot]

The problem here is, who can you realistically have as your 3rd string unit? They can't be talented players, they would rather start or be 6th men somewhere else.

We need to acknowledge just how much of an aberration it is to have this bad of injuries. You can count on one hand the number of D1 teams that are without 3 of its top8 guys (with a 4th in and out). You really never see it.

So I agree, we do need some more depth.. but its easier said than done, and I think going forward you will regress to the mean in terms of injuries.

It really is as simple as this. Pope isn’t going to go to the podium and say we lost due to injuries…coaches aren’t wired that way and it would be awful to lower the expectations for the guys you do have in there from a motivational standpoint. Frankly, we are now at 4th string PG and we have a PF who is still not close to fully healthy. It makes it very hard to win.

As far as the way the team fell apart at the end, it looked like a team that didn’t have a PG.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

The problem here is, who can you realistically have as your 3rd string unit? They can't be talented players, they would rather start or be 6th men somewhere else.

We need to acknowledge just how much of an aberration it is to have this bad of injuries. You can count on one hand the number of D1 teams that are without 3 of its top8 guys (with a 4th in and out). You really never see it.

So I agree, we do need some more depth.. but its easier said than done, and I think going forward you will regress to the mean in terms of injuries.

Yeah, we had 12 guys.

If it goes from 13 to 15 on a roster you aren't getting quality guys at positions 11 to 15 unless maybe some local guys that will stick around even if they never play. If not for crazy injuries the freshmen this year weren't playing much at all.

 

[Farsight]

It really weird right? There was moments where some players wanted to win in that game, but in critical moments of the game they just didn't. That could be caused by...

• I don't believe in my self, therefore stagnant, not cutting on offense (brea), not rebounding (almanor)
• I don't like being physical so I won't ( I simply don't want to )
• Its hard to adjust like that when you had 3-5 years of playing against no physical teams and not hard games
• The pressure is more than I can chew and therefore stagnant
• No one is producing so I must take the game on my shoulders (amari/oweh)
• I don't trust certain players because I am not used to playing with them (garrison/oweh/) Did not pass to a wide open Noah around the three line, around 3-4 times last night, instead of passing to Noah they turned the ball over. That includes the terrible Garrison pass across court to Brea when Perry was wide open near Garrison for the easy pass.

Amari is a big reason why the game was close, he tried and you can read his body language that he wanted to win. There were two crucial mistakes he played with 2 bad turnovers in a row that shifted momentum.

Notice when this team doesn't play the super athletic team they want to play and can execute. When we do, we typically shut down. Last night Texas wasn't a pure physical team, they had two guys who beat you. Those two guys had a will to win.

I would have loved to have Johnson from Texas on UK. That guy is a stud. Physical and fearless who can score and create his own shot.

 

[the nail at the foul line]

I felt like the freshmen were froze out when there were several opportunities for them to score. Maybe I'm wrong. Not sure if it's a lack of trust or what.

 

[YardCat]

I'm concerned about what looks like his "good enough to win" approach. Might explain why they don't push leads out. I was expecting more of a foot-on-their-neck approach.

Hard to put your foot on their necks when your Alpha is on the bench. Need that guard that can penetrate and draw the defense for our offense to work. We struggled yesterday and had to just clear out and let Williams go to work. Problem is everyone else just watched and didn’t try to get open.

 

[cat tat2]

It really weird right? There was moments where some players wanted to win in that game, but in critical moments of the game they just didn't. That could be caused by...

• I don't believe in my self, therefore stagnant, not cutting on offense (brea), not rebounding (almanor)
• I don't like being physical so I won't ( I simply don't want to )
• Its hard to adjust like that when you had 3-5 years of playing against no physical teams and not hard games
• The pressure is more than I can chew and therefore stagnant
• No one is producing so I must take the game on my shoulders (amari/oweh)
• I don't trust certain players because I am not used to playing with them (garrison/oweh/) Did not pass to a wide open Noah around the three line, around 3-4 times last night, instead of passing to Noah they turned the ball over. That includes the terrible Garrison pass across court to Brea when Perry was wide open near Garrison for the easy pass.

Amari is a big reason why the game was close, he tried and you can read his body language that he wanted to win. There were two crucial mistakes he played with 2 bad turnovers in a row that shifted momentum.

Notice when this team doesn't play the super athletic team they want to play and can execute. When we do, we typically shut down. Last night Texas wasn't a pure physical team, they had two guys who beat you. Those two guys had a will to win.

I would have loved to have Johnson from Texas on UK. That guy is a stud. Physical and fearless who can score and create his own shot.

The cross court pass intended for Brea, instead of going to Perry, was unbelievable. I completely blew my stack when it happened! Just can’t make that pass and not expect it to be picked off!

 

[Mike_Edwards]

Brea was a big disappointment yesterday. He struggles everywhere if his shot is not falling. He was really bad yesterday pretty much at every facet of the game when we needed him to be good. Had he played even good we win that game. Maybe that’s just who he is, don’t know. That’s for him to figure out and respond.

 

[BarefootBeach]

The problem here is, who can you realistically have as your 3rd string unit? They can't be talented players, they would rather start or be 6th men somewhere else.

We need to acknowledge just how much of an aberration it is to have this bad of injuries. You can count on one hand the number of D1 teams that are without 3 of its top8 guys (with a 4th in and out). You really never see it.

So I agree, we do need some more depth.. but its easier said than done, and I think going forward you will regress to the mean in terms of injuries.

I don't disagree with you. I want some solid 3 star guys that will grow and be physical. I want them as combo players, one big and another guard.

 

[Blue_2_the_bone]

I felt like the freshmen were froze out when there were several opportunities for them to score. Maybe I'm wrong. Not sure if it's a lack of trust or what.

I’m not sure what the deal is but there’s a couple guys who don’t want to swing it to them quick when they’re open. Almanor gets the same treatment sometimes. Butler & Williams are really the only willing passers. I’m not sure if Otega looks to pass to anyone.

 

[megablue]

I felt like the freshmen were froze out when there were several opportunities for them to score. Maybe I'm wrong. Not sure if it's a lack of trust or what.

I’ve noticed several times, especially recently. Perry and Noah are wide open on wings and in corners and passes do not find them.

 

[JohnnyGreen1975]

I'm sure most of you have heard or seen the post game. Highly frustrated head coach. "Good enough to win for 36 minutes".

Gotta be in the moment and close it out.

Missing players doesn't matter. The team was good enough to win.

Sounds like coach doesn't want to hear any more about who isn't there ..it's who is.

Complimentary on battle shown by Perry and Noah.

Pope's way of saying this shouldn't have ended this way.


My view: lack of contribution from some we have depended on.

My take: whatever the physical limitations of some of these guys are, no excuses. No more 'we need so and so back' or 'fighting with injury'. We know all that. EVERYbody knows all that. We dance with what we have to dance with.

And that's pretty much life. You can whine and hope and wish and what if all you want, but it doesn't matter. This is a pretty good college basketball team. Gotta play up to that.

Believe it or not. That was a sweet 16 team we lost to last night. They were no pushover. I agree with Pope. We were good enough to win but some of our guys haven’t played together that much due to injuries.

 

[Kuhldaddy]

The problem here is, who can you realistically have as your 3rd string unit? They can't be talented players, they would rather start or be 6th men somewhere else.

We need to acknowledge just how much of an aberration it is to have this bad of injuries. You can count on one hand the number of D1 teams that are without 3 of its top8 guys (with a 4th in and out). You really never see it.

So I agree, we do need some more depth.. but its easier said than done, and I think going forward you will regress to the mean in terms of injuries.

Definitely an aberration. No coach could have foreseen he needed 4 guys who could run the point.

 

[G-PIP]

Something that I have been "educated" on ( figured I may as well steal that):

These super seniors and older transfers not only bring more developed skills to your team, some of them have ingrained issues with their games that they really have trouble fixing: positioning on defense, simple things like two hands on rebounds, getting your hands up, getting psyched out when your go to shot isn't dropping, moving your feet on defense, and more.

Young guys like Perry and Noah seem to be more able to make those tweaks and changes to their games. Some of our older more established guys seem to fall back on bad habits at inopportune times.
Kinda a negative part of the portal. These guys are trying to improve their game to be more attractive to a pro scout (from some country) but those bad habits are always bouncing in.

Interesting take. May be part of why returning players are the most important group each season when looking at the teams that have the most success in March.

 

[the nail at the foul line]

Believe it or not. That was a sweet 16 team we lost to last night. They were no pushover. I agree with Pope. We were good enough to win but some of our guys haven’t played together that much due to injuries.

Stop being so obvious KWilt.

 

[G-PIP]

The problem here is, who can you realistically have as your 3rd string unit? They can't be talented players, they would rather start or be 6th men somewhere else.

We need to acknowledge just how much of an aberration it is to have this bad of injuries. You can count on one hand the number of D1 teams that are without 3 of its top8 guys (with a 4th in and out). You really never see it.

So I agree, we do need some more depth.. but its easier said than done, and I think going forward you will regress to the mean in terms of injuries.

Historically, what teams can anyone recall that lost four players to injury (I'm counting Carr because he doesn't look close to the same player), including 3 starters? And of those, was it as bad as losing the team's 1st, 2nd & 3rd string PG, and only real PF?

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Historically, what teams can anyone recall that lost four players to injury (I'm counting Carr because he doesn't look close to the same player), including 3 starters? And of those, was it as bad as losing the team's 1st, 2nd & 3rd string PG, and only real PF?

So when I said that, I actually meant to include something like "in the last 10 years" or "in modern basketball".. because i really don't think you've seen it often. And you certainly don't see a team with these type of injuries stay in the top25. And just as you said.. the injuries were concentrated to one position and it happens to be the most important position.

There are some D1 teams who will go YEARS without sustaining anything more than an ankle injury here or there that keeps a player out for a week or two.

It's pretty insane to see.

 

[fisherscatfan]

The problem here is, who can you realistically have as your 3rd string unit? They can't be talented players, they would rather start or be 6th men somewhere else.

We need to acknowledge just how much of an aberration it is to have this bad of injuries. You can count on one hand the number of D1 teams that are without 3 of its top8 guys (with a 4th in and out). You really never see it.

So I agree, we do need some more depth.. but its easier said than done, and I think going forward you will regress to the mean in terms of injuries.

Agree. I have pointed out things like Amari’s lack of basic efforts on the free throw box outs. I’m sure Pope sees it too. But even ignoring the fact he had no time to pull a team together the days of going 2-3 deep and using the bench as a motivation technique are likely gone, so what’s Pope going to do if Amari just won’t do it? Pope doesn’t really have another option as Garrison does similar things.

Kids want to play and having the quality depth to overcome the volume of injuries UK has had is going to be next to impossible. The kids will just transfer versus being depth.

Bruce Pearl talked about his approach. He wants and goes after guys that are “hungry” saying it is too hard to motivate the players that have a sense of entitlement. So going forward Pope given a full recruiting cycle, any coach really, won’t be able to afford misses with kids who aren’t hungry because they aren’t gonna be able to stockpile 4 stars to sub in.

 

[Blue wood]

I'm concerned about what looks like his "good enough to win" approach. Might explain why they don't push leads out. I was expecting more of a foot-on-their-neck approach.

Lol what? This is so dumb

 

[BlueInBrooklyn]

Something that I have been "educated" on ( figured I may as well steal that):

These super seniors and older transfers not only bring more developed skills to your team, some of them have ingrained issues with their games that they really have trouble fixing: positioning on defense, simple things like two hands on rebounds, getting your hands up, getting psyched out when your go to shot isn't dropping, moving your feet on defense, and more.

Young guys like Perry and Noah seem to be more able to make those tweaks and changes to their games. Some of our older more established guys seem to fall back on bad habits at inopportune times.
Kinda a negative part of the portal. These guys are trying to improve their game to be more attractive to a pro scout (from some country) but those bad habits are always bouncing in.

(A) this is probably the most reasoned and actually productive thread I’ve seen on this board in the modern basketball era (low bar)

(2) You can’t dismiss that however good a senior level transfer is, they are who they are to some degree as pointed out and if they had the ability to make the change to another gear beyond where they are they would be playing pro basketball somewhere, not a fifth year in the CAA or whatever. That doesn’t mean those aren’t your best transfer options, but when you’re looking at upperclassmen who aren’t transferring up because they’re dominating their previous league (Lanier, etc), you’re getting a guy with warts. Warts pop out sometimes when they ain’t supermodels. Doesn’t mean they ain’t good wife material.

(III) don’t dismiss the lack of cohesion of basically barely playing with Noah or Perry more than spot minutes until like two weeks ago. They’re not intentionally not swinging it to them, they’re not used to seeing them there AND seeing them as the right option. These are guys running second team in practice all season. This team already barely knew each other, now you’re recreating lineups in mid Feb.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

Stop being so obvious KWilt.

Omg Einhorn is finkle. Finkle is Einhorn.

And the only sweet 16 Texas is making this season is n the sec tourney.

 

[NociHTTP]

Believe it or not. That was a sweet 16 team we lost to last night. They were no pushover. I agree with Pope. We were good enough to win but some of our guys haven’t played together that much due to injuries.

Sweet Sixteen? What, NIT?

 

[JonathanW]

Pope is saying all the right things. I think from now on pope will make sure he has more depth in case this happens again

Pope had the depth. 12 guys, 9 guys who had averaged 15+ mpg last year (8 20+mpg). This was a historic rash of injuries, especially at one position.

In this era, you aren’t going to get good players to come in and be the 12th+ man

 

[bluecoon1]

Something that I have been "educated" on ( figured I may as well steal that):

These super seniors and older transfers not only bring more developed skills to your team, some of them have ingrained issues with their games that they really have trouble fixing: positioning on defense, simple things like two hands on rebounds, getting your hands up, getting psyched out when your go to shot isn't dropping, moving your feet on defense, and more.

Young guys like Perry and Noah seem to be more able to make those tweaks and changes to their games. Some of our older more established guys seem to fall back on bad habits at inopportune times.
Kinda a negative part of the portal. These guys are trying to improve their game to be more attractive to a pro scout (from some country) but those bad habits are always bouncing in.

I’ll add on that I’ve never see more turnovers from a UK team that I can remember by lazy or forced passes. We had several chances to extend the lead that were negated by unnecessary turnovers, has hurt us all year.