Reality Check
- Thread starter rnfoster
- Start date
Totally agree this is similar to Pitino’sfirst year. If he goes 500 in SEC imo he’s coach of the year.
Team is uber unathletic*, somebody made mention we are a really good mid major talent wise I agree.
I like all these kids they all seem like good young men they just are not real talented.
I am going to sit back and enjoy
Well, you'll never see me bashing our coach & players. It's ok to be honest & not live in fairytale land.
But what's not ok is when the honeymoon is over & UK hits adversity (probably not this year) & the fanbase starts turning on Pope & players. Some of the guys cheering the loudest right now will be leading coach & player ripping threads. I will still be right here supporting Pope & players. I've taken a lot of heat through the years staying behind our coaches & players going all the way back to Hall. So, while I can be honest about any of our teams...I'm not part of the crowd that will create a super toxic environment. That never helps the situation.
Sounds too simple but it's flat out true! That's a winning formula for this team!
Would ya hush already? We're all sick of it.
There's very few portal guys who panned out better than the players you mentioned. We couldn't afford Lanier at $1.8 million. Johnell Davis, Osobor, Storr and a bunch of other guys have not even performed as well as the guys you mentioned.
Answer this question: who else would you have added from the portal?
If this years team makes the final four it would be the first UK team to do so the last 50 years without at least one high end talented guy on the roster.
I guess if by real chance you mean more than 1% I'll buy it.
The problem with the thesis of this thread is that it treats UK's issues like they exist in a vacuum.
How many great teams are even out there? Two? Three?
UK's hopes are based on the fact that 95% of the other top 25 teams are not great either. There's a huge pack of teams that will cannibalize each other all season, and all the way through the tournament.
Some of you keep leaving out that part. It's funny, actually.
How many great teams are even out there? Two? Three?
UK's hopes are based on the fact that 95% of the other top 25 teams are not great either. There's a huge pack of teams that will cannibalize each other all season, and all the way through the tournament.
Some of you keep leaving out that part. It's funny, actually.
Compared to the last five years, I am pleased. He still has some work to do and face it, there will be few if any easy conference wins.
I don’t know if we are or not. I don’t know anything about the others.
We don’t look like what a top 10 team should look like to me.
But maybe there’s not 10 better either?
We beat 2 top 10 teams already.
This team has to grow into a unit. We will not overwhelm with individual talent.
I believe we will become much better as a team.
How that compares to the competition is yet to be seen.
We’re about a third of the way into the season.
We passed the first trimester with an A. 🏀
Exactly.
Who was the " big fish" that Pope didn't reel in?
Davis, Osobor, and Mahaney have all underperformed.
Wells was by far the best player in the portal and he stayed in the draft as he should have.
i agree with number 2 so much. When we pass the ball to the open guy we look amazing, it’s when guys go one on one or try to overpower defenders we look bad. Even today on a wide open run to the rim after a steal Chandler had an easy layup if he went straight up for a dunk but instead he went opposite side of the rim and got blocked. He looks to have no confidence right now and it’s like he has forgotten how to play high level ball. He looked so promising in scrimmages but he doesn’t have it right now.
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Oweh is an absolute badass and would be a solid contributor on any UK team over the last 7-8 years. He competes his butt off, backs down from nobody and makes big plays all over the court all game long. If we go to war, I want Oweh in my foxhole ... 'nuff said.
Yeah, and issue 1 pisses me off. I thought that would be one thing under Pope we wouldn't have to worry about, but here we are. Hopefully, it improves.
My concern is even the worst SEC team appears to be in the Clemson/Ohio St tier, which is to say we can lose on any given night. The Duke and Gonzaga wins mean we can win on any given night, but both were fairly unlikely when you consider the comebacks required. Can’t expect to do that every time (or even some of the time) we play a really good team.
Absolutely correct. We are not world beaters at this time, but who really expected we would be. We are however better than many thought we would be at this point. Cautiously optimistic describes my feelings right now.
Teams seemed to have figured out our offensive sets. I am hoping Pope makes adjustment there, but it is not a quick fix. New sets or, hate to say it "tweaked" sets take a little time to learn.
Lanier is the only one he pursued with great fervor that we did not get and he is the only one that has turned out to have been worth it. We would have had to be higher than Tenn’s NIL because he went into the portal as a Tenn. home state lean.
Explain why current product is " not impressive" We complete non conference schedule 12-2 with wins over Gonzaga who we had never beaten, and Duke who we hadn't beaten in years. Your out of your mind., that's damned impressive better than Cal did for Years, with alot more talent. How could anyone not be ecstatic with that start. Did anyone think we would be 14-0 right now really.
We’ve managed to beat a couple teams we thought we might struggle with but anyone with eyes should have concerns about the performances of late. The first several games we looked like we knew what we were doing offensively and since then it’s looked less sharp not more.
Dude, if you can’t see that we have some things to work on, you don’t know basketball. Some one above gave a great breakdown about those things we are currently struggling with. So, I am not going to list it again.
That doesn’t mean Pope hasn’t done a great job given the circumstances he was left with. He has. But, Ky. fans are perfectionists. We can find a gnats a$$ and beat the sh!t out of it!
Yes we are not perfect, but why can't our fans enjoy success without knit picking everything to death. We have only won the title 7 times, meaning we " failed" about 97 other seasons. This team probably isn't going to win it and they aren't the 96 Cats. Why can't we enjoy our accomp!is ments and record with out all the doom and gloom.but
I bet it really irks the hell out of you that CMP started the season 11-2. What was your name on here before you got kicked out in April? We know who you are. Cats are going to start kicking more butt in SEC.
Go Cats!!!
A 10-8 SEC team could make the final four this year. All about matchups and who gets hot at the right time. The SEC is a gauntlet this year. The SEC tournament may be more difficult to win than making the final four this year. Really is quite impressive.
You said we were going to get killed by Duke. I thought you learned your lesson after that but it's obvious you're now in troll company
I love our coach and I love this team
Realistically speaking though…while we are top 10 currently, I think that’s relative. College basketball as a whole isn’t as good as in years past. Are we top 10 compared to say…2015? Not at all. With NIL and the portal I think the days of super teams are past
Are we top ten compared to other ranked teams this year? Our resume compared to other teams has put us in the top 10 so it’s as legit as it’s going to be at this time.
That being said. I don’t think this team is a FF contender…I believe our ceiling is Sweet 16, elite 8 if we have just the right matchups and that is honestly okay
While we have exceeded expectations thus far…go back and look at pre-season threads if you don’t believe me…I still look at this team as the foundation for the future; the base on which CMP will build. We’re no longer a one and done factory so it will take time
Pope did a remarkable job, as most seem to agree, with the tools at his disposal. He assembled a fantastic coaching staff, and a team that is solid and can be fun to watch. The SEC will be brutal no doubt. We will lose games.
The team has some, shall we say, quirks that drive me crazy. But overall, given all circumstances, I think we’re pretty okay
I’m enjoying the ride…
Realistically speaking though…while we are top 10 currently, I think that’s relative. College basketball as a whole isn’t as good as in years past. Are we top 10 compared to say…2015? Not at all. With NIL and the portal I think the days of super teams are past
Are we top ten compared to other ranked teams this year? Our resume compared to other teams has put us in the top 10 so it’s as legit as it’s going to be at this time.
That being said. I don’t think this team is a FF contender…I believe our ceiling is Sweet 16, elite 8 if we have just the right matchups and that is honestly okay
While we have exceeded expectations thus far…go back and look at pre-season threads if you don’t believe me…I still look at this team as the foundation for the future; the base on which CMP will build. We’re no longer a one and done factory so it will take time
Pope did a remarkable job, as most seem to agree, with the tools at his disposal. He assembled a fantastic coaching staff, and a team that is solid and can be fun to watch. The SEC will be brutal no doubt. We will lose games.
The team has some, shall we say, quirks that drive me crazy. But overall, given all circumstances, I think we’re pretty okay
I’m enjoying the ride…
I suggest that the OSU loss was an anomaly. A closer game may have been more reason for concern than getting blown out. If we played them 10 times, we would probably win 7-8 times. We have consistently beaten other teams comparable to the way other top 10 teams have beaten those same teams. We beat Brown by 34, as Kansas also recently beat them. Other SEC teams, even those undefeated, have had very close games to less than elite teams. TN beat IL on a last second shot. FL narrowly beat UNC (who is just above .500). OK narrowly beat Providence, UL, MI. AU lost to a team we beat. No doubt we will lose games in conference. But, so will all the other teams. It's likely the conference winner will have 6-7 loses in conference. But we could as easily win the title as any other team. Teams now have tape on each others games, and are making adjustments. Good coaches are now developing strategies to counteract other teams adjustments. Fortunately, we have a coaching staff that is able to make necessary adjustments. We may not have the best 1 on 1 players, but basketball is a team sport; not a 1 on 1 sport. We have good coaching, depth, size, and experience. We've already shown the ability to win with key players out with injury. I anticipate we will likely win 22-25 games before the tournaments. That should give us a minimum of a 6 seed, and likely higher.
Thing is why is clowns like that allowed to continue to post here?
I've been told by numerous people here that if they go to a rival teams board they get banned immediately.
We will get that on day 1. Looking at our record right now I think anyone here would have taken 11-2, however if you look at a game by game view we are fortunate to be here. A 20 win season is still a crap shoot
All that being said Pope has done a wonderful job to get us here, for those of us old enough to remember he(Pope) is in much the same position as Joe Hall when he replaced Rupp. Yes, Hall had more returning players but replacing such a high profile figure isn't easy. The circumstances were a bit different, the fan base was fairly evenly divided on whether Rupp should go or stay, whereas it was probably 85/15 that Cal should go.
I'm really surprised at just how calm Noah is on both sides of the court. Gets right up in their face on defense. And a pure stroke from deep. To me he looks like the kind of player Duke would kill teams with.
Lol, Pope is not replacing anything near a Rupp. The coach we had here effectively killed the program.
Not comparing Rupp to Cal just the situation Pope and Hall stepped into. We were 20 -8 in Hall's first year and we lost 3 of our first four games. Some thought the game had passed Rupp by at that point in time, not unlike the feelings most had about Cal for the past few years. My post is is about 2 first year coaches at UK and the challenges for each of them. More similar than you might think I believe
Okay. I'm not sure I agree that people's feelings that they had for Cal the past few years, were limited to that timeframe. He was not a good coach, relied heavily upon being able to outmuscle or outdribble other teams. And that has been true for a very long time. In my mind he was just a placeholder until someone who actually cared about UK basketball and its fans came along. Fortunately we didn't have to worry about someone replacing Cal. Cal in all his infinite wisdom replaced himself, lol.
