Trying not to hit the PANIC button

[ukcatz12]

The overreactions on this board are hilarious. This is a top 10 team without injuries and Pope can't control injuries. Defensively we've never been great, but his defenses at BYU were usually somewhere between the 30th and 65th best in the country. That would be more than good enough for this team to make the Final Four.

We're coming off a stretch of games where we were missing Kriisa, Butler, and for all intents and purposes Carr. Butler and Carr might the two most important players on the team.

As recently as last week Pope was front runner for national coach of the year. If this team has just 50% more healthy over the last three or so weeks nobody is panicking.

 

[Rockfly78]

Yes, but BCG had no ties to UK. Penny and Pope were former players. That's what made me laugh. Nothing to do with the drunkard.

Pope had eclipsed Clyde within a month. There is zero comparison. However, Clyde’s teams played harder and they hated him. That concerns me

 

[bbncal02]

I agree, that was a pathetic effort tonight.

And why I'm trying NOT to panic.

The one damn thing I thought we wouldn't have to worry about transitioning from Cal was the lack of effort and passion. Pope KNOWS what it means to wear that jersey. I'm shocked that we've come back to square one on this.

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

The overreactions on this board are hilarious. This is a top 10 team without injuries and Pope can't control injuries. Defensively we've never been great, but his defenses at BYU were usually somewhere between the 30th and 65th best in the country. That would be more than good enough for this team to make the Final Four.

We're coming off a stretch of games where we were missing Kriisa, Butler, and for all intents and purposes Carr. Butler and Carr might the two most important players on the team.

As recently as last week Pope was front runner for national coach of the year. If this team has just 50% more healthy over the last three or so weeks nobody is panicking.

It’s not overreactions, Kentucky isn’t the only team who faces injuries. The defense is bad with butler so it’s the same

 

[CASblue]

We've now lost 3 games by FOURTY FIVE points. And I've been a fan since I could say the word basketball and a THIRD GENERATION UK fan. Kiss my fat butt.

Again, quote where I said he needs to go today? Good luck with that. Also, all those Q1 wins won't mean a giant RICHARD unless we can get into the tourney. We're looking at playing Wednesday in the SEC. WEDNESDAY.

Pope gets mostly a pass this season, but that doesn't mean he can't be criticized. If we can't do that, then we've just traded one cult leader for

We've now lost 3 games by FOURTY FIVE points. And I've been a fan since I could say the word basketball and a THIRD GENERATION UK fan. Kiss my fat butt.

Again, quote where I said he needs to go today? Good luck with that. Also, all those Q1 wins won't mean a giant RICHARD unless we can get into the tourney. We're looking at playing Wednesday in the SEC. WEDNESDAY.

Pope gets mostly a pass this season, but that doesn't mean he can't be criticized. If we can't do that, then we've just traded one cult leader for another.

Umm. Did I even quote you at all???? I was po

We've now lost 3 games by FOURTY FIVE points. And I've been a fan since I could say the word basketball and a THIRD GENERATION UK fan. Kiss my fat butt.

Again, quote where I said he needs to go today? Good luck with that. Also, all those Q1 wins won't mean a giant RICHARD unless we can get into the tourney. We're looking at playing Wednesday in the SEC. WEDNESDAY.

Pope gets mostly a pass this season, but that doesn't mean he can't be criticized. If we can't do that, then we've just traded one cult leader for another.

Ummm re-read my post. I did not directly quote you…but look at the gist of the thread some have alluded to a change while others have maintained support. Walk away from the edge and relax it is just a basketball game. Guess what? The we’ll wake up tomorrow and new day will begin….and we’ll still have be productive unless you’re on vacation…like I’ll be in two days! HAHA!!

 

[bbncal02]

The overreactions on this board are hilarious. This is a top 10 team without injuries and Pope can't control injuries. Defensively we've never been great, but his defenses at BYU were usually somewhere between the 30th and 65th best in the country. That would be more than good enough for this team to make the Final Four.

We're coming off a stretch of games where we were missing Kriisa, Butler, and for all intents and purposes Carr. Butler and Carr might the two most important players on the team.

As recently as last week Pope was front runner for national coach of the year. If this team has just 50% more healthy over the last three or so weeks nobody is panicking.

So Butler's injury alone caused a 20 point deficit at half? Nah, not buying that man. Even before Butler was hurt we were playing rough as hell at times. Yes, his injury hasn't helped, but that first half was inexcusable. Period.

Love yet another poster telling some of us how to fan. We've lost three games by nearly fifty points man. That's no bueno.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

We fired BCG after two years. And that worked out damn fine. Granted, there was way worse stuff going on.

This is Kentucky. Win or get out. And Pope of all people KNOWS this. No crying on the yacht here. We have standards.

He's gonna get time to build a team and see what he can do. But you can't go 19-13 every season here and be good.

BCG wanted out.


I would doubt Pope wants out.

What they both walked into is comparable.

BCG inherited a 12 loss team without its top 6 scorers.

Whatever one thought of BCG his teams played hard.

I don’t think that is how our current team is described.

 

[bbncal02]

Ummm re-read my post. I did not directly quote you…but look at the gist of the thread some have alluded to a change while others have maintained support. Walk away from the edge and relax it is just a basketball game. Guess what? The we’ll wake up tomorrow and new day will begin….and we’ll still have be productive unless you’re on vacation…like I’ll be in two days! HAHA!!

Just a basketball game. Ok man, you do you and I'll do me. Have a good one.

 

[Terrapin_Station]

So expect to suck next year too? Oh boy, I'm excited for that.

Yeah, IU irrelevancy is a real possibility. People keep saying to give him three years, but what do you do when year two is worse than year one? It’s a real possibility given the eight guys listed above being meshed with decent college players from the portal.

 

[jbne222]

It is not false, IU has 2 tourney wins, Kentucky has 1

Ah I guess you’re right, they had a win in the First Four that I forgot about. Regardless my point still stands. You found the stat that shows we do compare to Indiana though so I’ll give you credit for that haha. Do think it’s more fair to say “last 4 tournaments” than “last 6 years” though because we won 3 tournament games in 2018-19.

But IU has missed the tournament in 11 of the last 20 seasons, including 4 of the last 7. They’ve also only made it to the second weekend 3 times in 20 years.

The reason we’re NOT Indiana is that we ran our coach out of town because of arguably the worst 4 year run in our history of the tournament. And even STILL we had a better 4 year run than them, as I think it’s reasonable to say that the two years we lost as a 2 and 3 seed were awful ends to the season, but still wayyyyyyyy better than Indiana missing the tournament.

 

[KYFOSSIL]

Yep

Whatever is right.

Agree to disagree.

What are we disagreeing about. There is still alot of season to play this year and you are already giving a warning about next year. He is miseing both point guards. We dominated the second half, our point center had a triple doublecand this team did not just rollover and die. I get the first half was effing horrendous and unacceptable but I have some hope on how w they kept fighting. The cats played better D the second half bit Ole Miss keep making tough shots.

 

[ukcatz12]

It’s not overreactions, Kentucky isn’t the only team who faces injuries. The defense is bad with butler so it’s the same

No, we're not the only team to face injuries. But we had an extremely small margin of error for injuries given the roster, which Pope threw together from portal pieces in a few weeks.

And our injuries were back breakers. Butler is both our PG and best on ball defender. Teams might often lose one of those, but we lost both in the same player. Our backup plan was Kriisa and we lost him too. We'd still have issues if Kriisa was our starting PG, but at least we wouldn't need to rely on guys like Amari bringing the ball up the court.

And with a full roster we'd at least have the pieces for Pope to figure out the defense. He's never had a defense this bad at BYU. If this year's defense is just as good as his worst at BYU we'd be a Final Four contender and probably a 2 or 3 seed in the tournament without question.

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

Ah I guess you’re right, they had a win in the First Four that I forgot about. Regardless my point still stands. You found the stat that shows we do compare to Indiana though so I’ll give you credit for that haha. Do think it’s more fair to say “last 4 tournaments” than “last 6 years” though because we won 3 tournament games in 2018-19.

But IU has missed the tournament in 11 of the last 20 seasons, including 4 of the last 7. They’ve also only made it to the second weekend 3 times in 20 years.

The reason we’re NOT Indiana is that we ran our coach out of town because of arguably the worst 4 year run in our history of the tournament. And even STILL we had a better 4 year run than them, as I think it’s reasonable to say that the two years we lost as a 2 and 3 seed were awful ends to the season, but still wayyyyyyyy better than Indiana missing the tournament.

We aren’t IU, we ar everting closer, that’s my point. It would take another 3 years of this mid basketball to fully become them. But Kentucky is certainly inching closer year-year. Just making the tourney ain’t good enough here, and hoping we can get one win is sad.

 

[jbne222]

We aren’t IU, we ar everting closer, that’s my point. It would take another 3 years of this mid basketball to fully become them. But Kentucky is certainly inching closer year-year. Just making the tourney ain’t good enough here, and hoping we can get one win is sad.

That’s fair. I think if Pope doesn’t work out, we’d be one more coach not working away from really being in danger

 

[Terrapin_Station]

The overreactions on this board are hilarious. This is a top 10 team without injuries and Pope can't control injuries. Defensively we've never been great, but his defenses at BYU were usually somewhere between the 30th and 65th best in the country. That would be more than good enough for this team to make the Final Four.

We're coming off a stretch of games where we were missing Kriisa, Butler, and for all intents and purposes Carr. Butler and Carr might the two most important players on the team.

As recently as last week Pope was front runner for national coach of the year. If this team has just 50% more healthy over the last three or so weeks nobody is panicking.

It was never a top 10 team. It was a team that lucked into wins against Duke and Gonzaga and rode those for a long time. It’s a terrible defensive team that can win if they get hot from three and the other team misses wide open shots.

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

That’s fair. I think if Pope doesn’t work out, we’d be one more coach not working away from really being in danger

This whole offseason pope needs to reevaluate his brand and what works.

 

[bbncal02]

What are we disagreeing about. There is still alot of season to play this year and you are already giving a warning about next year. He is miseing both point guards. We dominated the second half, our point center had a triple doublecand this team did not just rollover and die. I get the first half was effing horrendous and unacceptable but I have some hope on how w they kept fighting. The cats played better D the second half bit Ole Miss keep making tough shots.

That's great and all. But I don't celebrate moral victories. And I'd feel better about it if it weren't the first time we've seen ourselves dig near insurmountable holes during those first halves.

I'm all for giving Pope time. But this lack of effort and want to? Nah, that's got to stop happening. This is the tradition of basketball that coined "Forty Minutes of Hell" for goodness sakes. Now we just roll over and the slightest glance. That culture has got to change. And that's where I'm most disappointed with Pope right now. He's too damn nice. I can appreciate being that way with fans- but with the dudes on the court? Be mean as a snake if you have to. Don't be an deranged Bob Knight, but if you have to be an asshole at times. Be an asshole. I just don't understand why seasoned players out there are soft as down feathers.

 

[jbne222]

This whole offseason pope needs to reevaluate his brand and what works.

Yeah. I’m giving him somewhat of a pass this year with it being his first year with limited time to build the roster especially with the injury luck (and him gaining some extra leeway with some of the early wins), but there’s no excuses next year after he’s had a full amount of time to build his roster

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

Yeah. I’m giving him somewhat of a pass this year with it being his first year with limited time to build the roster especially with the injury luck (and him gaining some extra leeway with some of the early wins), but there’s no excuses next year after he’s had a full amount of time to build his roster

Yes. He has to get a shot creator, physical players, and please get players who can defend

 

[Terrapin_Station]

That's great and all. But I don't celebrate moral victories. And I'd feel better about it if it weren't the first time we've seen ourselves dig near insurmountable holes during those first halves.

I'm all for giving Pope time. But this lack of effort and want to? Nah, that's got to stop happening. This is the tradition of basketball that coined "Forty Minutes of Hell" for goodness sakes. Now we just roll over and the slightest glance. That culture has got to change. And that's where I'm most disappointed with Pope right now. He's too damn nice. I can appreciate being that way with fans- but with the dudes on the court? Be mean as a snake if you have to. Don't be an deranged Bob Knight, but if you have to be an asshole at times. Be an asshole. I just don't understand why seasoned players out there are soft as down feathers.

There might be bigger issues at play. I’m just thinking about the mentality of young men who are being paid regardless of the outcome of games.

When you look at our roster, you’re looking at dudes who know they aren’t playing in the NBA. G league is probably all that Oweh, Brea and Jaxon can hope for.

So on the one hand, these guys aren’t all that talented, especially on the defensive end. And on the other hand, they really have no incentive to win. They’re just collecting paychecks before moving on to The G league or overseas to collect more paychecks.

It might just be time to stop watching and caring. 😕

 

[Pelosigalore]

No, we're not the only team to face injuries. But we had an extremely small margin of error for injuries given the roster, which Pope threw together from portal pieces in a few weeks.

And our injuries were back breakers. Butler is both our PG and best on ball defender. Teams might often lose one of those, but we lost both in the same player. Our backup plan was Kriisa and we lost him too. We'd still have issues if Kriisa was our starting PG, but at least we wouldn't need to rely on guys like Amari bringing the ball up the court.

And with a full roster we'd at least have the pieces for Pope to figure out the defense. He's never had a defense this bad at BYU. If this year's defense is just as good as his worst at BYU we'd be a Final Four contender and probably a 2 or 3 seed in the tournament without question.

His defenses at BYU didn’t face the meat grinder that is the SEC.

It’s almost like we have an BYU type roster playing in the SEC

Not entirely Popes fault since the roster was completely made from scratch

 

[ukcatz12]

His defenses at BYU didn’t face the meat grinder that is the SEC.

That's not relevant because efficiency stats are adjust for competition. Kenpom's defensive efficiency is a measure of how many points you would allow per 100 possessions against the dead average D1 team. It's not just a raw measure of points you're allowing.

 

[bbncal02]

Yeah. I’m giving him somewhat of a pass this year with it being his first year with limited time to build the roster especially with the injury luck (and him gaining some extra leeway with some of the early wins), but there’s no excuses next year after he’s had a full amount of time to build his roster

This. That's all I'm saying. This is Kentucky. You can't tell me we can't find talented guys to play here. We're the Alabama Football of CBB for goodness sakes. No excuses to EVER be bad minus one off year here and there. Now, of course, this year we've had a coaching change so, it is what it is. But the effort thing should NEVER be an issue.

 

[michaeluk26]

It's honestly not the roster. I'm sick and tired of how soft we are. We don't battle for loose balls, lackadaisical on defense, lack intensity especially on the road and just fundamentally unsound in way to many areas.

 

[Butters' Dad]

Yeah but Indiana is Indiana because of two decades of mediocrity. Also that stat is false

You could have at least googled it prior to calling someone else a liar. Now who looks like the idiot?

 

[jbne222]

You could have at least googled it prior to calling someone else a liar. Now who looks like the idiot?

Dude…. It ain’t that deep. No one was doing any name calling other than you lmao. I admitted I was wrong in the next post as I had forgotten about the First Four game (I did google it and just saw they made the 2nd round so I assumed that was 1 win), and then we had a non-hostile normal discussion in the following posts.

You’re the one coming in with the hostility here man hahahaha

 

[gbl97]

You could have at least googled it prior to calling someone else a liar. Now who looks like the idiot?

Six years ago was Feb. 4th, 2019. Since then, Kentucky has won 4 tournament games, Indiana has won 2.

Sounds like all three of you should have Googled it.

 

[BigRedMachineBigBlueNation]

Why are we letting posters with other mascots and states bash our coach?!

 

[Pelosigalore]

That's not relevant because efficiency stats are adjust for competition. Kenpom's defensive efficiency is a measure of how many points you would allow per 100 possessions against the dead average D1 team. It's not just a raw measure of points you're allowing.

Ok
Well whatever we’re doing now isn’t working

 

[king of cali]

Pope had eclipsed Clyde within a month. There is zero comparison. However, Clyde’s teams played harder and they hated him. That concerns me

Absolutely. Not getting your team to play hard on a night to night basis is a huge coaching issue.

 

[Soupbean]

We were having a hell of a season before both our point guards went out.

Yeah none of us were questioning philosophies and coaching after Duke and Gonzaga. But in fairness over time things come to light and there are some things I think Mark needs to address (physicality and aggressiveness) but we just can’t ignore the fact he lost his three most experienced and two of his most aggressive guys and it clearly disrupted our rhythm as a team. Add to that the guy pieces this group together in a month and he clearly gets plenty of time to show us what his teams will look like when fully cooked

 

[dnorman0301]

Quick question as I have not seen or heard … is there an update on when Butler might return or if Krissa will return on maybe take medical redshirt?

 

[TankedCat]

not even considering Pope failing at this point.

The teams needs Butler and Krissa. Never intended for Perry and Chandler and our center to be bringing the ball up

 

[Thecycle27]

I think regular season expectations probably need to be adjusted. The SEC is no longer a cake walk. UK isn’t going to out talent everyone. They are going to take 5-6 losses in a really good year. In a great year they will be like Auburn this year. Take an injury or two or just misevaluate players tough years will come.

The kicker is seeding no longer matters. For the most part teams aren’t that far apart. Can’t see it now but UK could go on a run in the NCAA Tournament. Get 4 games against either average defense or offense, bang they can get anyone.

Pope is fine he will adjust defensively. This group wasn’t great defensively which is why Brea and Robinson came off bench last year. There are elite shooters though. Perry and the other KY kid defensively aren’t good either. Then there is no length at that wings. Butler is key because he can control other team PG. No one else can.

Pope will be fine but UK dominance in SEC regular season is probably over.

 

[kywildcat41035]

Those that supported Cal the longest are the first to turn on Pope.

He needs two years and then we evaluate.

I haven't turned on Pope but I just don't know if he's the right fit. I definitely knew that Cal needed to go a long time ago.

 

[OmahaCats]

We fired BCG after two years. And that worked out damn fine. Granted, there was way worse stuff going on.

This is Kentucky. Win or get out. And Pope of all people KNOWS this. No crying on the yacht here. We have standards.

He's gonna get time to build a team and see what he can do. But you can't go 19-13 every season here and be good.

This year should be a complete pass.. we aren’t supposed to be good this year. He doesn’t even have a recruiting class of his own yetb

 

[UKBB4Ever]

This year should be a complete pass.. we aren’t supposed to be good this year. He doesn’t even have a recruiting class of his own yetb

I don’t think anyone is making an argument that we are not under staffed and under talented.

The problem is the effort and desire.

And the unwillingness to even try something different.

But maybe they are trying things different in practice and it’s worse?

I can give them the benefit of the doubt on that. They are professional coaches and know what that are doing.

Still comes down to all our effort. We did that for 10 minutes of the game last night. Would we have won playing that way all game? Maybe not? But it’s a different discussion.

I don’t know of a UK fan that wasn’t proud of Pitino’s first team that went 14-14. They weren’t proud of the record. They were proud of the effort given.

 

[BlueWorldOrder74]

That's great and all. But I don't celebrate moral victories. And I'd feel better about it if it weren't the first time we've seen ourselves dig near insurmountable holes during those first halves.

I'm all for giving Pope time. But this lack of effort and want to? Nah, that's got to stop happening. This is the tradition of basketball that coined "Forty Minutes of Hell" for goodness sakes. Now we just roll over and the slightest glance. That culture has got to change. And that's where I'm most disappointed with Pope right now. He's too damn nice. I can appreciate being that way with fans- but with the dudes on the court? Be mean as a snake if you have to. Don't be a deranged Bob Knight, but if you have to be an asshole at times. Be an asshole. I just don't understand why seasoned players out there are soft as down feathers.

Pretty sure “40 Minutes of Hell” is coined from Nolan Richardsons Arkansas teams. That isn’t a Kentucky thing.