ADVERTISEMENT

Pope statement that Players not leaning on /trusting the system

etownblue25

Sophomore
Jul 30, 2008
1,571
1,956
113
This may be the heart of it. Players have not fully invested in the system and instead of making the next pass, screen, or cut they go try to get a bucket. Ive wondered why Robinson looks passive in the offense.....but it makes sense that he is the only one who has played this system before and is playing within the offense when others arent.
 
This may be the heart of it. Players have not fully invested in the system and instead of making the next pass, screen, or cut they go try to get a bucket. Ive wondered why Robinson looks passive in the offense.....but it makes sense that he is the only one who has played this system before and is playing within the offense when others arent.
IMHO, this is his way of professionally talking about all the dribble driving, especially from Williams/Garrison. When Clemson got up in our stuff, quite a few guys responded by trying to put it on the floor and dribble through the pressure. That's not Pope's system, at all.
 
I feel like some of this is just a massive overreaction.

We lost a road game by 2 possessions. Would the same thing be said had we won the game by 2 possessions? Did the players trust the system in the Duke game?

I get it. We lost. Everyone needs a reason. And Pope has to sit up there and say something.

But it could just be a simple "they played better than us".
 
Like even last night........some said we didn't give effort.

I was like huh? So the first road game of the season, only the second game vs a quality opponent all season long, and you think our players weren't trying or giving 100% effort. If that was remotely true........if you can't get up for that..........the season is already lost. But it's not true.

No. We just weren't making shots. That's all.
 
It looks like our Centers are the ones trying to do too much, especially Williams. There were several times last night when him, Carr and Garrison backed there man down, but didn’t throw it back out when the double team came.

Did not even look to do so. Everyone is playing hero ball & the wrong people getting the most shots.
 
I feel like some of this is just a massive overreaction.

We lost a road game by 2 possessions. Would the same thing be said had we won the game by 2 possessions? Did the players trust the system in the Duke game?

I get it. We lost. Everyone needs a reason. And Pope has to sit up there and say something.

But it could just be a simple "they played better than us".

We played awful & still almost won. That's a positive but the reactions to some of the problems last night are worthy to be noted.
 
Like even last night........some said we didn't give effort.

I was like huh? So the first road game of the season, only the second game vs a quality opponent all season long, and you think our players weren't trying or giving 100% effort. If that was remotely true........if you can't get up for that..........the season is already lost. But it's not true.

No. We just weren't making shots. That's all.
If we make any shots at all we win easily- missed a ton of open, really good shots
 
This may be the heart of it. Players have not fully invested in the system and instead of making the next pass, screen, or cut they go try to get a bucket. Ive wondered why Robinson looks passive in the offense.....but it makes sense that he is the only one who has played this system before and is playing within the offense when others arent.
I read that quote and do not fully-understand it. Does that mean we are not taking enough threes ??
 
When I’ve watched byu tape ive noticed we don’t run the offense nearly like they did. It’s gonna take some time. Main thing is keep getting better of defense
I do not pretend to know, but in your review of BYU games, do you think their opponents typically play the kind of aggressive defense that we can expect to see from SEC opponents, especially on the road ?? I know very little about BYU and realize Houston is a helluva defensive team, but what about their schedule overall ... do they play quick, tough and aggressive defensive teams ??
 
Last edited:
Carr seemed disjointed all night.
Didnt look comfortable.
I wonder if Carr is feeling the pressure of providing more than he may be capable of ?? Just a thought ... as he was perhaps and arguably the fourth best player on Wake Forest last season.
I really like him, but cannot help but think we may be expecting too much from him. ???
 
Last edited:
I do not pretend to know, but in your review of BYU games, do you think their opponents typically play the kind of aggressive defense that we can expect to see from SEC opponents, especially on the road ?? I know very little about BYU and realize Houston is a helluva defensive team, but what about their schedule overall ... to they play quick, tough and aggressive defensive teams ??
The teams didn’t appear to be as aggressive but i also only watched a couple different games/part of games. Just wanted to see how they played. They played more wreckless with the 3 ball for sure. They would run down and jack one up with no one there to rebound. Our fans, me included, would lose our shit if that’s something a Kentucky team did a few times a game.
 
  • Like
Reactions: megablue
The teams didn’t appear to be as aggressive but i also only watched a couple different games/part of games. Just wanted to see how they played. They played more wreckless with the 3 ball for sure. They would run down and jack one up with no one there to rebound. Our fans, me included, would lose our shit if that’s something a Kentucky team did a few times a game.
Thanks for the reply ... hurried threes and ones with no rebounding are GREAT, when they GO IN !!! Probably not something you want to regularly do against good teams ... recipe for disaster. Also, I think Pope may be seeing and learning that the SEC is much tougher and more balanced than back when he played here. Just like the players, he has a learning curve, too, of course.
 
Trust between players and with the system comes with practice and game experience. These guys have been together in 8 games that count. Let's see what they look like after 15, 20 games.
We know from experience, but it takes a new team awhile to gel. This is an entirely brand new team, it likely won’t be until February (as we’ve seen before), until we see the full version of what this team has to offer.

We’re going to lose more games, as long as we’re not being blown out during the progression, I’ll remain optimistic. It’s when all of your quality opponents blow you out that you should raise the white flag. That’s TBD. We’re about to find out a lot about these guys Saturday. A high quality opponent, in a hostile environment in a bounce back game from their first lose, 4 days later.

Character test incoming.
 
This may be the heart of it. Players have not fully invested in the system and instead of making the next pass, screen, or cut they go try to get a bucket. Ive wondered why Robinson looks passive in the offense.....but it makes sense that he is the only one who has played this system before and is playing within the offense when others arent.
This is very likely. The team runs the offense he expects against inferior defenses, but when challenged they tend to default back to what they knew before Pope and UK. It will take a few games against teams like last night, but I am confident Pope will get them humming along singing the same system song.
 
Old players, brand new team. Hopefully by tourney time it'll work out. But as has been well pointed out: hit one more 3 and a couple free throws and it's a different feeling.

Sky isn't falling. Long season and there's gonna be a lot of development on every team out there just hope it's running like a dream when tournament time rolls around. We see it every year. Alabama was crap until they were final 4.
Houston was the best until they dipped at the wrong time.

I need to listen to my own words and enjoy the ride wherever it takes us.
 
I feel like some of this is just a massive overreaction.

We lost a road game by 2 possessions. Would the same thing be said had we won the game by 2 possessions? Did the players trust the system in the Duke game?

I get it. We lost. Everyone needs a reason. And Pope has to sit up there and say something.

But it could just be a simple "they played better than us".
Agreed , believe it or not basketball isn’t rocket science . BYUs offense isn’t quantum physics . We had an off night , we had not experienced a hostile crowd with a terrible whistle … that’s the short version of why we lost .
 
It’s that thing Mike Tyson said. Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

We don’t have anyone who distrusts the system—we just have to be able to make our reflexes learn to trust the system when the bullets are flying. It will come. Games like this go a long way towards learning that and are invaluable early.

We’d all be happier right now if our guys could have learned that same lesson and also won. But frankly I think it’s never quite the same lesson when you learn it that way. Something we got reminded of in 2010 and 2015.
 
We lost a road game by 2 possessions. Would the same thing be said had we won the game by 2 possessions? Did the players trust the system in the Duke game?
We won the Duke game because Carr made a couple plays down the stretch and Malauch had to sit a huge portion of the second half.

I get it. We lost. Everyone needs a reason. And Pope has to sit up there and say something.
Clemson won't be a bad loss, but it won't be a good one either. They're a bubble team. I know, I know, they made an E8 run last year. They also caught lightning in a bottle last year. And this isn't last year. There was a reason. We shot poorly. We didn't execute all that well on offense. And we played soft and weak, especially in the first half.

But it could just be a simple "they played better than us".
They did, but there's a reason for it. When you stop looking for that reason and stop trying to fix it, you're pretty complacent. I don't think that's Pope at all.
 
I don't agree that Clemson is a bubble team. If they were a bubble team UK would have been favored in this game by more than what they were. They wouldn't have been an underdog in some computer models either.

24th in Kenpom
24th in BPI
32nd in Bart Tovik

Maybe they play worse than the ratings suggest the remaining of the season but they seem more to me like a fringe top 25 team than a bubble team.

The point with the Duke game tho drives the whole point home here. Both these games were close. One game we executed down the stretch. Carr made big shots. The other game, we did not execute down the stretch. Oweh missed a couple of threes that could have changed the outcome.

Neither game was drastically different than each other. It just seems to me like an overreaction because there's a 1 in the L column now.

Of course from Pope's standpoint you look for things to improve upon. And there was actual in game improvement IMO. The guy that was destroying us on the boards in the 1st half did not do the same in the 2nd half. It was clearly we were making adjustments as the game went on.

There just seems to be at least to me losses we need to make up some narratives as to why we lost and some of the time, those narratives are just false.
 
the system may create the open shot, but it is always good to have a jitterbug type that can create when needed
 
A lot of people are saying we just need a player who can create his own shot. But it sounds like Pope is saying the offense will always do that if they trust it.
If players do not “trust” the offense, why does he keep them in the game ??
 
We lost. First true road game. We couldn’t hit shots that we normally do hit. Refs didn’t help anything. Even with this officiating, I think if this were game 15+ into the season, we would’ve overcame the officials and won regardless.
My takeaway is great game for us to learn from. I would always rather have the win but losses will happen, no big deal. Gotta learn how to play and win those physical games where absolutely nothing is going right.
All we didn’t have going for us and just lost by 4. Our old teams with all that talent wouldn’t been a 10+ point loss. Maybe more.
I like where we are at.
Go Cats!
 
the system may create the open shot, but it is always good to have a jitterbug type that can create when needed
Happy George Michael GIF by Squirrel Monkey
 
A lot of people are saying we just need a player who can create his own shot. But it sounds like Pope is saying the offense will always do that if they trust it.


We generated plenty of WIDE OPEN 3 pointers all game - we just didn’t hit most of them
 
  • Like
Reactions: CatsFanIL
That is what I got out of Coach’s statement, they need to cut crisper and harder and set better picks when the defense gets tight. Make contact and make the officials make a call.
I kind of feel like this is a particular issue in regard to Kriisa and maybe why he seems a little lost. It doesn't appear to me that Kriisa makes cuts with the intent to score at the rim if not followed, and instead he's just perfunctorily going through the lane and on out to the corner. His career has been as a spot up shooter, and it feels like he's struggling not to want to revert to that. I notice he comes down and tries to get rid of the ball as quickly as possible and then heads straight for the 3pt. line on the side. That's not how Butler handles the PG duties. Maybe I'm off base, but I'm thinking Kriisa is one of the guys that has to learn to trust the system better and then his production may improve.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT