The most amazing thing to me

[billoliver40]

Is that last night was the first time any of these guys had played together in an actual college game.

Coaching, maturity, buying in....whatever...it's really pretty unbelievable.

 

[BBNinSC]

Pope handpicked these guys to play together. What a great job

 

[Coach Marrow]

I’m sure they will get out athleted at times and have off shooting nights, but you can’t ask for much more than Pope has done so far.

It's especially impressive considering how late he was hired and that this group of players had never played a real game together before yesterday.

 

[HerrosHeroes]

Upperclassmen tend to gel quicker than Freshman because they have been thru the college battles numerous times.

 

[HerrosHeroes]

I’m sure they will get out athleted at times and have off shooting nights, but you can’t ask for much more than Pope has done so far.

It's especially impressive considering how late he was hired and that this group of players had never played a real game together before yesterday.

Dont be so sure.
We have too many makers for them all to be off on any given night.

Heck , I might even come off the bench and launch a few.

 

[megablue]

Upperclassmen tend to gel quicker than Freshman because they have been thru the college battles numerous times.

They understand the importance of each game … and especially Defense !!

 

[UKBB4Ever]

Pope is selecting guys that fit how he wants to play and to the position he wants them to play. Regardless of ranking or other's thoughts.

It's what Izzo has done for years. Except Pope is recruiting to style players actually want to play. Cal's approach was 180 from that. He wanted to recruit the best player regardless of position or fit then they to make them fit.

Cal was players first. Pope is program first. Pope would never not play Sharpe when he's sitting there and we need him. The other side of that is that Sharpe would not be sitting there for Pope to make that decision. But that's OK. We didn't get anything from him either way.

Pope is team building the old way. There's many so called experts saying it won't work today. I think they are wrong.

 

[Cleatortoises]

These are the good old days.

 

[kywildcatsfannumber1]

This is a new team with experienced players and a real coach on the bench. Completely different than what we've been accustomed to watching with a new team every year due to a mass exodus to the draft and a coach mailing it in. Pope assembled a team of players with experience that fit his system so it is definitely reasonable to expect they can outperform the teams we have been watching in recent years.

 

[Fox2monk]

Is that last night was the first time any of these guys had played together in an actual college game.

Coaching, maturity, buying in....whatever...it's really pretty unbelievable.

Yeah, it’s funny they didn’t need months to install anything isn’t it? Nobody was like we haven’t seen an inbound play, or we worked on offense a little and that’s it.

 

[FFWhite]

They not only get the importance of every game but every minute and every possession. Lack of turnovers is something I have enjoyed. Soft cross court passes leading to layups at the other end used to make my head spin. This team values the ball and hold themselves accountable on defense. Getting down 10 early last couple of years was a trademark along with giving up runs to begin the second half. Lack of maturity and focus lead to bad losses.

 

[Kuhldaddy]

Is that last night was the first time any of these guys had played together in an actual college game.

Coaching, maturity, buying in....whatever...it's really pretty unbelievable.

It really is. For Pope to put together this roster in such short time, and getting them to play cohesive is truly amazing

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Pope's team building exercises and talks are by far the most impressive of all his impressive skills imo. Man has it all except in demonstrated results.

Recruiting and winning big games were the concern. He covered recruiting by hiring the right assistants. Now just go win. Would love to keep him for decades.

 

[darkshadesofblue]

It’s nice to have a Well Oiled Machine, not a bunch of guys playing for individual stats.

 

[kennyskywalker34]

These are the good old days.

This is going to be a fun decade or more of UK basketball.
I definitely think Pope will win a title maybe even multiple titles in the next 10-15 years.