Standing and getting outhustled in big moments. Not getting on the floor. Standing straight up on Defense. Not to mention mind boggling lineups.
Popes team is lazy and soft !
- Thread starter Basil Cat
- Start date
Yep. Need to get on the floor for loose balls and play tougher.
Love how they all stand around and let the rebound bounce to them instead of going to get the ball. It is inexcusable.
Vandy just played harder and wanted the game more than our guys. Congrats to them. We need to improve our intensity big time or this coukd be a very rough 2nd half of the season. I really thought we woukd be hungry today and felt we woukd win so this is really disappointing. Not accepting no Carr as an excuse either, we were just plain out hustled.
Vandy wanted it more and was the first team to realize contact was encouraged
That’s a nice way of saying some of our players don’t care. Ever. That’s on Pope. He can motivate them to care or he can use the bench. This loss was on him and it’s time for him to own that.
Careless and lazy, starting to see a trend on the road and no hustle or fire. A little concerning, sometimes they need ripped a new one……it’s ok to get mad pope.
Agree. Pope needs to rip some ass
Am really pissed. How do we lose that game and why is Williams still on court? 7’ 2” and can’t do crap. Very frustrating to see us get out hustled and outplayed by Vandy.
A week off and this bs. I'd rather watch Noah play 40 mins.
You can't teach heart and hustle. This group isn't the collection of 5 stars they should be Johny hustle every min out there. We missed Carr and Robinson faded away.
He’s not going to.
I don’t know why people keep demanding this. He is not that type of coach or person.
The fact is we play exactly like his BYU teams and they were notoriously soft. They could shoot and pass and look pretty on O but they were always soft.
Pick your poison -- Garrison's bad passes or Williams' standing around. Gotta play one of them without Carr.
Garrison all day, every day.
Maybe with better talent they'll do better than his success at BYU, but I do wonder how long he'll be at UK if they don't.
Hustle comes from the heart. I am unrealistic to think wearing Kentucky on your front means hustle anymore. NIL has changed the way basketball used to be played. Trying to stop the one and done with money and just won’t make a difference. Agree with Barnes last week when he chimed in on Lanier recent play. You are paid to to play so you better damn well play. We could see that in Noah today and guarantee he isn’t getting 5 mil in NIL.
I’m shocked Pope tolerates the softness and lack of effort from this group
Mark Pope is an excellent X’s and O’s Coach. He really does have a great basketball mind. One that I respect immensely.
But you cannot run a program like Kentucky or Duke or any other blue blood on nostalgia and vibes.
We shall see how it plays out.
He also brought in an offense guru, so that's double awful if this team isn't running their offense like they were earlier in the season. TWO coaches who are excellent on X's and O's, and the team wants to play Cal ball?
Pope keeps saying there is so much left in this team. Starting to sound as ridiculous as built for March.
This is what happens when all you preach is Kumbaya all the time. It makes you soft and unreliable. Sometimes it takes tough in your face love to get this straighten out. It needs to be done.
Last years team would beat this one frankly.
They were bad defensively but they had athleticism and speed to go with an amazing offense. They were just young and lazy at times.
Now we are old and lazy and our coach seems incapable of bringing the hammer down or instilling toughness.
It is what it is. Jury’s still out but consider this season a wash and just enjoy the games for what they are.
I would start Noah- at least he hustles and seems to care- has proven he can also shoot the ball
Trent Noah had 1 less rebound in 12 minutes with 4 than Amari at 5 in 23 minutes. If Amari quit, I don’t think I would care.
Williams was not the problem:
Williams
6 points
23 minutes
2-4 shooting
4 rebounds
4 assists
1 turnover
+5 efficiency
Garrison
8 points
18 minutes
4-7 shooting
5 rebounds
0 assists
4 turnovers
-8 efficiency
Today, based on the stats, I thought Williams had a better day than Garrison
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What about going to full court press and playing AA, Noah more especially when Carr and Kerr are back and run and gun try to wear teams down or does this team not have the chops?
I turned the game on in the final 4 minutes only to see I think it was Hoggard drive for a layup with Amari on him all the way to the rim and he doesn't even go up and try and challenge the shot. Just gives up an easy layup. Man, that pissed me off. Downhill from there (Butler with a horrible turnover trying to force it to Amari at the top of the key, Oweh just dribbling the ball away to the other team with no pressure on him). What a horrible final 4 minutes. Reminded me why I try and avoid watching road games.
I don't know if you are referencing a specific play since it happens way too often, but I about lost it when one instance today Vandy took a shot and the rebound hit the floor in the lane and we had a player between the free throw line and the top of the key. (Either Oweh or Robinson I believe) He stood there waiting for the ball to come to him and a Vandy player almost came out and chased it down.
I down care what Amari's stats are, there are probably at least 4 or 5 rebounds that he could/should get that he simply doesn't put forth the effort. On top of that, every time he touches the ball I prepare myself for a careless turnover that I feel is going to happen.
I 100 percent expected a Pope team to out scrap and out hustle every team this year. Playing style is on the coach.
We never ever hustle to get a 50-50 ball! We just stand and wait for the ball to come to us instead of going to get it.
Because Pope is soft. “Oh my gosh” doesn’t cut it playing with the big boys.
Earlier in the season they actually DID out scrap and out hustle their opponents, and that has NOTHING to do with the caliber of the opponent. As you said, what we're seeing is Pope's responsibility. In his post-game today he did a whole lot of talking and didn't really say anything. Kept giving credit to Vanderbilt, talking about how tough the SEC is (it's now the go-to excuse used by most of the league), how there's fatigue on the court (no sheet). Sorry, Pope, that's not what we do here.
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If he keeps it up, the fan base will eventually set things straight.
Last game the +/- was the opposite. There’s no-appreciable difference in their stats today. Actually neither one was very good today.
Start Garrison. Let Williams keep the bench warm.
I would say this is Pope's team then ours. Not sure of the thought process. Every team for 42 years was Rupp's team, Hall's team and so forth. We do not know these guys like Pope does, we do not sweat and bleed with this team. I am a UK fan on here like most and do not call out most posts. But had to say this trying to figure out if I am backward thinking or if anger of a loss is clouding judgement.
Vandy won 2 games against the 2 teams that want to beat in Memorial more than any other. Congrats to them. UT played just as bad against Vandy, maybe Vandy is not a pushover in Memorial. Would not be the first Vandy teams that played above their station in Memorial. Plus Vandy has a better record than ours.
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