W-L prediction from on3

[Son_Of_Saul]

You should know that Pope winning 23 games at BYU doesn’t translate to him winning the same or more at UK. If the roster was loaded then possibly, but it’s not.

The reason it doesn’t translate is because every single team we play will give 110% and their A game trying to beat us. Nobody gets up to play BYU. Not to mention our OOC schedule is way harder than theirs was.

Pope has better players at each and every position than he had at BYU. That alone will negate any "beer muscles" that our opponents might get when they face Kentucky.

You get that, right? You seem determined to think this UK team will suck, no matter what.

Plus, you're new to the board. Your incessance on UK sucking combined with your recent arrival combined to make you look massively annoying every time you post.

In fact, if UK does well next year, I bet you disappear just as easily as you showed up here.

 

[Stan the caddy]

20 wins would be a decent O/U number. So this isn’t far off.

 

[bbncal02]

We do need to be realistic. There will be a couple of games where we go, "Oh my goodness. What did we do?"

But overall I think Pope will do fine. This year may be a bit rough at times. Anyone demanding a title run this year needs to have their head examined.

 

[ukfan041]

23-8, at worst 22-9 regular season! 19-13 is comical🤷‍♂️

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

34 games last year, only 31 this year. Also, look at pre-conference schedule. Nothing like he will play at UK. So he will have to go 23-8 to win 23 game. For the record, I predicted 22-9 / 21-10, but lets not act like that will be easy to do, 23-8 I will consider a very good year. What do you predict ?

I predict anywhere between 22 to 26 wins. 22 is the floor. 26 is the ceiling. I don't think we have a Final Four team, but I do think this group wins a few tourney games and makes their opponent in the Sweet Sixteen or maybe even the Elite Eight fear for their tournament lives with about 5 minutes left in the 2nd half.

 

[ukfan041]

I don’t gamble, but if Vegas predicts 19 wins, I will actually bet the over!

 

[RunninRichie]

Why does it upset you that people aren't pumping final four and national titles? It's called being a realist.

It’s the same ones being pessimistic man.

 

[AJG-15]

Well, before we question the prediction on the number of losses, I would ask for honest answers on these two questions:

- before the start of 2024 NCAA tournament how many of us thought that Coach Pope should be the next Kentucky coach because of his resume?

- how many of the current roaster players you thought were Kentucky “material” and transferred them based on their 2024 season performances?

While , I like everything that Coach Pope did and said so far, I don’t have any expectations for the first two years because these are rebuild years.

By year three , I would expect to have enough talented players recruited and retained that are familiar with Coach Pope system to make a splash.

 

[AGEE11]

First year for our coach
Our players are in their first year here too
Rupp should be rocking though as the fan base is back engaged
They must come together
Youth is no longer a problem

Anyone can see Pope gets is
Not only the mission, but the fan base as well
Don't think he won't have these guys ready

Z, Wagner, Thiero and the others will be sorry they left
Everybody will be on the UK hype train by tourney time
Reed my even regret no returning
Oh boy, it's gonna be a fun season

 

[cats#1again]

In reality, who knows?

While Pope did a great job assembling this team from scratch, with many nice pieces, nobody has the slightest of ideas as to how this will all play out.

I personally have no idea how the team chemistry will be, and I have no idea how well Pope will be able to juggle all these transfers and available playing time...

This team is definitely more talented than last year's BYU team. We had a great staff I don't think there's any way hope and his team will let us be average

 

[cats#1again]

Well, before we question the prediction on the number of losses, I would ask for honest answers on these two questions:

- before the start of 2024 NCAA tournament how many of us thought that Coach Pope should be the next Kentucky coach because of his resume?

- how many of the current roaster players you thought were Kentucky “material” and transferred them based on their 2024 season performances?

While , I like everything that Coach Pope did and said so far, I don’t have any expectations for the first two years because these are rebuild years.

By year three , I would expect to have enough talented players recruited and retained that are familiar with Coach Pope system to make a splash.

His resume really is irrelevant now. He's never had this much talent on a team and he's never been at Kentucky.
I really believe several of our fans are going to be shocked and how this season goes

 

[BlueBomb]

If this is the Vegas line I'll put a few hundred bucks on it and thank them for the money.

This would be a 21-10 regular season record. If that's "easy money," then what are you expecting the record to be?

 

[CELTICAT]

30 wins on the nose and one of those bizarro elite eight games we talk about for 40 years.

 

[Creed Bratton]

Pushback: what does his first team lack that would justify so many predicted losses?

I think there are a couple of things. One thing being we have been trained to think we need 8-10 McDonalds AA to be able to win and the last few years couldn't win on an elite level even with that much talent. The second thing is the unknown of if Pope can win big at UK with his limited experience of doing it at this level.

 

[Elliott Tim]

He beat KU AT KU. You think they don't care? Please. Big12 cares about basketball. Big time.

People act like this will be Pope's first time coaching a team.

We'll know in a few months.
Hope we're pleasantly surprised .

 

[Mike-D]

Unknown roster, hard schedule, difficult SEC, no definite elite player = probably a pretty accurate prediction for now.

Disagree. Pope won 10 conference games at BYU last year. This will be a better roster. John Calipari is not walking through that door. You don't need a roster full of 5 stars to win games.

 

[Mike-D]

Pope went 23-11 last year while playing a hard schedule in the best conference in the country.

He brings his best player with him, and managed significant upgrades at every position.

And you guys don't think he can replicate a 23 win season?

Child, please.

I agree.

 

[Mike-D]

It’s the same ones being pessimistic man.

Some being pessimistic also defended Cal like they were in a cult.

 

[know1]

Pope is a guy who's been successful at numerous things he's done - college basketball, the pros, Rhodes Scholar, transition to coach, etc. He's also super smart. And we know he's very motivated - especially to be at UK.

Coming to UK has provided a successful, very smart and motivated person with top resources - ability to surround himself with a great staff, metrics, facilities, etc. That is a winning combination if ever there was one.

I'm not saying we're winning it all in year one by any stretch, but I just don't understand why people are so cautious or even somewhat pessimistic. It might not work out for whatever reason, but I like the combination of factors here.

 

[jclrascal]

24-7 regular season

2-1 SEC Tourney(lose in championship game)
2-1 NCAA record(lose in Sweet 16 game)

28-9 Overall Final Record

This is a middle of the road prediction…as a floor, I could see us at something like 24-11 worst case scenario. But I could also see the chemistry coming together quickly with a great balanced offense & defense to finish the regular season at 26-5, win the SEC Tourney and then make the Final Four.

That would be the ceiling for this team…although I don’t really expect that, we would finish with a 32-6 final record which would be close to as good as Sutton’s first season in 1985-86(32-4), Tubby’s first season in 1997-98(35-4) and Cal’s first season in 2000-10(35-3).

But I feel pretty good about predicting a 28-9 final record with a Sweet 16 loss.

 

[jbne222]

Many on here will LOL at that prediction. But a slightly-better-than .500 record will not surprise me. I'd put the over/under on regular season wins at 20.5.

Agreed. Also 21-10 with our schedule likely gets a 6 seed at worst and probably higher

 

[AJG-15]

His resume really is irrelevant now. He's never had this much talent on a team and he's never been at Kentucky.
I really believe several of our fans are going to be shocked and how this season goes

I hope we all get pleasantly surprised starting year one. I have my doubts as far year and two. Takes time to build anything great.

Just like I was not buying the hype during Calipari when he was bringing new freshmen every year and he was selling that he has the greatest team assembled ever, l also thought would not be fair to expect Coach Pope to win 30 games in his first year at Kentucky.

Yes , he did a great job putting together a roaster from nothing , awesome job with adding staff but realistically I think he put too much pressure on himself first of all talking about title in first year. I understand why he did that after how low the fan base was lately … realistically we don’t know how these 12 new guys will play together.

I don’t think Coach Pope knows either. He has high hopes, and so are some of us …. putting too much pressure could backfire.

So, I am willing to wait for the third year for a deep run in NCAA tournament so we can give Pope time to implement his philosophy.

 

[Chimaera717]

This would be a 21-10 regular season record. If that's "easy money," then what are you expecting the record to be?

Somewhere around 24-26 regular season wins. It's a top 10-12 roster in the country, and a far superior in-game coach and system than what we're used to.

 

[Mike-D]

I'm gonna go with 23-8.

 

[Rockfly78]

Pope went 23-11 last year while playing a hard schedule in the best conference in the country.

He brings his best player with him, and managed significant upgrades at every position.

And you guys don't think he can replicate a 23 win season?

Child, please.

You mean he didn't start his best player?

Oh boy

 

[jbne222]

Somewhere around 24-26 regular season wins. It's a top 10-12 roster in the country, and a far superior in-game coach and system than what we're used to.

I think that’s a tall task for his first year given how tough our schedule is and how strong the SEC will be. 24-26 wins would mean a 1 or 2 seed. Not impossible but I’d be (pleasantly) surprised

 

[Snarks0]

In reality, who knows?

While Pope did a great job assembling this team from scratch, with many nice pieces, nobody has the slightest of ideas as to how this will all play out.

I personally have no idea how the team chemistry will be, and I have no idea how well Pope will be able to juggle all these transfers and available playing time...

Prepare to be flamed. People on here get mad if you don’t think Pope will be the next John Wooden.

 

[TheBlueMist]

I predict that I will enjoy watching this team and the offensive sets more than I have in years regardless of the record.

It’s still a bridge year, by the way. I will wait and see what Pope can do with guys he had the opportunity to build a relationship with over time to get signatures before getting too reactive to wins and losses.

 

[Texcat59]

24-26 wins. Tough as hell team that is never out of it because we can score at every position. The D will surprise. Thing about the tournament is that you never know, will be hard to prepare for on a turnaround. Going to be an awesome ride! GBB!

 

[CaptainBoogerBuns]

Throwaway year. Anything better is icing

 

[Ky_Bred_Cat]

Multiple elite shooters - too numerous to be susceptible to 'off shooting nights'. Cutting edge offensive schemes. High-level defensive point gaurd and center(s). experienced, deep bench. I'll take the over and am very optimistic about this coming season. Throw in the passion of Pope and what promises to be an electric atmosphere and it's going to be great.

Having said that, I predict single digit losses and a team that will not go down without one hell of a fight. After what we've been through, what else could you ask for?

 

[MTsandfly]

It’s a tough call. I get the optimism and I also get the uncertainty. The raw material (players and coaches) are there and fuel the optimist in me. But…new coaches (here) and an entirely new roster that will have to learn a new system and come together quickly…plus a tough schedule worries the crap out of me. So far, all we know is who’s here. How they do remains to be seen.

 

[weatherbird]

Well, before we question the prediction on the number of losses, I would ask for honest answers on these two questions:

- before the start of 2024 NCAA tournament how many of us thought that Coach Pope should be the next Kentucky coach because of his resume?

- how many of the current roaster players you thought were Kentucky “material” and transferred them based on their 2024 season performances?

While , I like everything that Coach Pope did and said so far, I don’t have any expectations for the first two years because these are rebuild years.

By year three , I would expect to have enough talented players recruited and retained that are familiar with Coach Pope system to make a splash.

You obviously know what the answer to those questions would be from honest folks. All you have to do is take a look at the reaction when Pope was first hired.

However, how much of the fans mindset was formed by the previous coach? It seems that many people think the only way to win is to have the ultra high level players, the way Cal did it. But that isn't the only way to win. There are many ways to win, and we aren't conditioned at this stage to the other ways.

Pope is an unknown, and I have no problem with anybodies guess as to how the season will play out, as it isn't even an educated guess at this point. The one thing that I will say though, is in a period of about 6-7 weeks, Pope has almost completely changed the culture. UK has always been a super bowl for the teams they play. The difference in the last few years is the goal wasn't such that made players want to stick it to the other teams. But if you watch these arrival videos these players are doing, they all mention one thing, winning #9. That one aligned goal will push players to be better than they otherwise could be. It may all blow up, or it may go really well, only time will tell.

My prediction is that UK will challenge for a regular season SEC title. They may end up losing 10 games when it is all said and done, but they will end up as a top 4 seed in the tournament, and for a team that had a new coach and basically no players 6-7 weeks ago, that would be a great start to this era.

 

[DraftCat]

Pope shocks college basketball and goes 24-7 in his 1st season. Top 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

 

[ruppsrunt66]

"LEARNING" for seasoned players takes far less time than HS younguns who think they are better than they really are.

UK has 12 capable available coachable players---with coaches prepared for the battles ahead.

A huge surprise is on the horizon for college basketball this coming season.

rr

 

[know1]

Pope shocks college basketball and goes 24-7 in his 1st season. Top 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

That wouldn't shock me.

 

[catman15]

I'm cool with it. I don't think they'll be exactly right and i like Pope with the under more than the over here

 

[JAPierce_2]

20-11 would be my guess, probably a 7 seed, that if things go well, could sneak into the sweet 16 by the end of the season. I think they’ll start out a little slow while they get rotations worked out. By the end of the year be playing pretty good basketball and not somebody you want to draw in the NCAA tournament.

 

[rick64]

24-7 regular season
2-1 SECT
3-1 NCAAT

So 29-9 overall. Maybe a bit optimistic, but I'm running with it.

 

[Bleedin Blue in Ohio]

I think this roster is an upgrade vs last year in really every position.

Center - The 3 headed monster of Sophomore Ugo, Freshman Big Z, and Freshman Aaron Bradshaw
Power Forward - Senior Trey Mitchell and Sophomore Adou Therrio
Wing - Freshman Justin Edwards Freshman Jordan Burks
2 Guard - Senior Antonio Reeves, Freshman Rob Dillingham
Point Guard - Freshman DJ Wagner, Freshman Reed Sheppard

VS

Center - Senior Amari Williams, Sophomore Brandon Garrison
Power Forward - Senior Andrew Carr, Senior Ansley Almonor
Wing 0 Senior - Senior Jaxson Robinson, Senior Koby Brea
2 Guard - Junior Otega Oweh, Freshman - Collin Chandler
Point Guard - Senior LaMont Butler, Senior Kerr Kriisa

Center - 2024 is better.

Power Forward - About even

Wing - Big Advantage 2024.

2 Guard - 2023 because of Reeves

Point Guard - About even.


While 2023 had more explosive athletes the rebounding and scoring punch on the paint will be better in 2024. Strength in the post is a huge up grade. While both teams are good shooters the wings are much more consistent players than last year. Again, at point 2023 was more explosive but inconsistent and fell down in big games and could not guard my grandmother. The experience and defense will be huge improvement vs last year.