This guy is high on Pope's Cats

[cats2010]

Similar, except he has Kentucky written across it now. Teams play out of their minds against UK. Teams take a nap when playing BYU.

11-7 in the SEC is pretty close to where i'd put them, too.

Actually kelvin Sampson said popes teams were the most difficult to prepare for.

 

[wmarkedwards]

He can go .500 as long as he wins all the home games. Seriously, this was a tear down to the studs rebuild. I wonder if Mitch explained that going in??

I don’t remember Billy Clyde getting anything close to all-conference guys in his first year.

 

[Ron Mehico]

Actually kelvin Sampson said popes teams were the most difficult to prepare for.

I’ve heard this before but can’t find it - anyone have a link?

 

[un4getables]

I’ve heard this before but can’t find it - anyone have a link?I

I saw it .. It was on one of the many videos of POPE that were out there when he was hired.

 

[Creed Bratton]

I'm not angry, just being realistic. He was left a program without a player, it's a full rebuild. Thats why i predict a sort of bad season.

Pope is a good guy, i like him, but he lost a lot of games at BYU, a lot. Acting like he's going to be Roy Williams on year 1 isn't happening.

Over the last 5 years Cal lost a lot of games at UK, A LOT!

 

[know1]

If we don't have a more successful year than the last 4 or 5, I will be shocked.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

The B12 and SEC were comparable conferences last year, so SOS should be similar.
So you think the talent he had at (difficult to recruit to BYU, impossible without NIL) was comparable to what he has at UK this year?
Robinson for Robinson is about the only 1. I would take Butler, Oweh, Williams, and Carr over all 4 comparable BYU starters last year. And would easily take our bench over their's (minus Robinson).
Will we be "elite", very unlikely. But we should be better than mediocre.
But also keep in mind last year after the top 5 or so, the next 10 in the country all had about 8 losses.
I think us at 10 (+ or - 2) losses is about right, with how deep the SEC will be.
22-9, 11-7 going into SEC-T.

So you think we finish with 11 losses instead of 12? Odds of winning sec or ncaa tourney are low statistically.

I 100% agree with the point about parity though. I think over time with NIL we will see it more and more. People may have to temper their overall record and wins/loss expectations a bit most seasons.

 

[katwest]

Well, if we do lose 12 games and make the tournament, it will be just about as good as last year with a team full of All Americans. I'd be happy with that, having to hand pick your team late in the process with a new coach and still having a bull's eye on the program every game, I'll take it.

 

[cats2010]

Over the last 5 years Cal lost a lot of games at UK, A LOT!

Just 52 😂

 

[EliteBlue]

Except BYU is also crushing it in recruiting now. Everything is different except for the salty ones still salty. Maybe saltier.

BYU is in the running for some big names now largely bc they have a year under their belt on the B12 now. They aren’t viewed as a step down in competition level on the recruiting circuit. They are in, what previously was, arguably the top basketball conference and had a year to show they contended.

Point 2 of the boost in recruiting is that they are riding the wave of being associated with UK/Cal-Arkansas media cycle. They got a lot of free press and went and hired a big name NBA up and comer coach to try to rebrand theirselves as a “we have nba connects” 1nD get to the league route. Being included in the UK/Cal-Ark media frenzy also awakened some of the deep pocket boosters into the bidding war that recruiting fully turned into this offseason (and there are some biggggg money Morman boosters and BYu is the premier default Morman university similar to Notre Dame for Catholics). I doubt it continues to stay this way and last in the long run but it’s been a perfect storm for BYU the last 6-12 months with perfect timing to join the B12.

BYU is in a position now that they weren’t in 2+ years ago