We have NO point guards right now. Take the top 2 PGs off any team and see how they do

[LineSkiCat14]

OH REALLY?

That hasnt been brought up a million times yet.

Serious question, what are we supposed to be talking about right now? Yes we all know we have injuries. That’s out of the way.

So where does this board go from there? It seems there’s many who just keep saying the same thing. I love Pope! I fully expect next year to be better. Happy now, cry baby? Never seen a bunch of grown men whine and cry when somebody says the team isn’t very good right now.

Give me a new topic please!

There probably isn't anywhere to go. In my eyes we just have to win a few games to make it into the tournament and hope that MAYBE we can get Butler back. We can't add anyone now (which is stupid to me, and I think a team with only 15 players should be able to make a change if they have a LOT of injuries), we're severely injured, and there really isn't any more you can ask of the team OR Pope.

I guess all that's left is ask the Basketball Gods what we did to deserve this and start thinking of human sacrifices.

 

[BigBlue1992]

I responded to your post about Butler's absence shouldn't have this big of an effect.

Get this, Mr. Genius:

This thread topic is about not having a point guard. If you don't want to discuss that--don't come into this thread. It's really that easy.

If you want to discuss a different topic, you go to the board and click on a topic that interests you.

You must not have read the "How to find a topic I want to talk about" manual

Well make that clear then. And no I’m not going to be convinced that the loss of Butler is the reason to get blown out by the worst team and most washed up coach in the conference on our home court. You’re too soft to see the truth. That’s your problem.

 

[BigBlue1992]

There probably isn't anywhere to go. In my eyes we just have to win a few games to make it into the tournament and hope that MAYBE we can get Butler back. We can't add anyone now (which is stupid to me, and I think a team with only 15 players should be able to make a change if they have a LOT of injuries), we're severely injured, and there really isn't any more you can ask of the team OR Pope.

I guess all that's left is ask the Basketball Gods what we did to deserve this and start thinking of human sacrifices.

That’s exactly my point. It is what it is. It’s not Mark Popes fault! But that doesn’t mean that the few games we haven’t sucked though.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

That’s exactly my point. It is what it is. It’s not Mark Popes fault! But that doesn’t mean that the few games we haven’t sucked though.

Yeah I just don't know how much better we could have played, realistically. So not only are we thin with injuries, on a team that already was playing well beyond themselves (imo), but we're without our most important position. Everyone's game takes a hit when the QB/PG isn't there.

It's probably not what people want to hear.. but we're trying to win games against top25 teams when we are a shell of what we were 3 weeks ago. I just don't see anyway that we aren't going to suck in these games.

 

[Cats192]

Well make that clear then. And no I’m not going to be convinced that the loss of Butler is the reason to get blown out by the worst team and most washed up coach in the conference on our home court. You’re too soft to see the truth. That’s your problem.

I know, I know.

Some of us are just too soft.

And some are just too stupid.

 

[BigBlue1992]

Yeah I just don't know how much better we could have played, realistically. So not only are we thin with injuries, on a team that already was playing well beyond themselves (imo), but we're without our most important position. Everyone's game takes a hit when the QB/PG isn't there.

It's probably not what people want to hear.. but we're trying to win games against top25 teams when we are a shell of what we were 3 weeks ago. I just don't see anyway that we aren't going to suck in these games.

If we can go to Knoxville and beat Tennessee then we should beat Arkansas and Ole Miss.

 

[BigBlue1992]

I know, I know.

Some of us are just too soft.

And some are just too stupid.

Yes you’re both.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

If we can go to Knoxville and beat Tennessee then we should beat Arkansas and Ole Miss.

It is crazy that this roster beat Tennessee.. but Tenn basically shot themselves out of that game. If you ask me, Tenn lost that game, we just happened to be the other team that won.

Arkansas played their superbowl. and Ole Miss is pretty much right there with Tennessee in my eyes.

You cant really get too hung up on "how did we beat this team, but not that team".

 

[Cats192]

Yes you’re both.

I love the fact you didn't get it was about you.

Proves all of my points. Have a great day.

 

[fastpaste101]

I think we all understand that losing butler was big. He is the only guy that could sort of stay in front of a driver. He was a good ball handler. You had to respect his drive or his shot so that helped spacing.

Now, teams can drive at will and there is no one to stop the ball. Also they are going to press/trap us like crazy after seeing the 10 sec call and other mess last night.

All of that said, I look to pope to (from now on) get the team ready to play. They are undermanned but so what. They need to adjust as best they can and more than anything come to play as hard as possible for 40 minutes every night, especially on defense. I will care if they care. If they don't care then why should we (aside from the fact it is a 40 year old habit)? Pope has to get their heads right and then winning can resume. I think he can.

 

[Cats192]

It is crazy that this roster beat Tennessee.. but Tenn basically shot themselves out of that game. If you ask me, Tenn lost that game, we just happened to be the other team that won.

Arkansas played their superbowl. and Ole Miss is pretty much right there with Tennessee in my eyes.

This is the problem with so much of the fan base thinking.

We had ZERO business beating that Tennessee team in Knoxville. They gifted us a Quad 1A win. We should realize the state of the team is incredibly poor and that win was such a gift.

Instead, that's the standard. No excuse to lose anywhere if you can beat UT in Knoxville.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

Kerr adds some swager to this group. He plays with an attitude, that the others do not. He also plays 100% that the others do not. Much rather have someone with less talent that gives their all, than someone with more talent that loafs

This! Man, he would’ve been perfect for this team from an energy standpoint. They other guys have even said that he’s their vocal leader. He brings a swagger and personality that nobody else on the team has. Losing Butler and the impact of that is self explanatory IMO.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

This is the problem with so much of the fan base thinking.

We had ZERO business beating that Tennessee team in Knoxville. They gifted us a Quad 1A win. We should realize the state of the team is incredibly poor and that win was such a gift.

Instead, that's the standard. No excuse to lose anywhere if you can beat UT in Knoxville.

Yeah I agree 100%. that game was Tenn just playing dumb, and it really wasn't indicative of how good we are with injuries.. What I will say about that performance, is we did pull some real fight out of our asses for that game. So I think we all can give UK a round of appluase for that.. but that performance just isn't gonna happen often against a top10 team with the injuries we have.

You could even make the argument that opponents are starting to figure out HOW to play us without Butler, and that is, expose our guard play.

 

[silentsaregolden2.0]

Regardless PG or No PG this team shows no fight and that's a problem!

That I agree with, but I don't put that on Pope. Some players just can't be motivated. If Pope knew that, he probably wouldn't have picked them outside the very unusual situation he was in.

 

[ImTheVillageIdiot]

There probably isn't anywhere to go. In my eyes we just have to win a few games to make it into the tournament and hope that MAYBE we can get Butler back. We can't add anyone now (which is stupid to me, and I think a team with only 15 players should be able to make a change if they have a LOT of injuries), we're severely injured, and there really isn't any more you can ask of the team OR Pope.

I guess all that's left is ask the Basketball Gods what we did to deserve this and start thinking of human sacrifices.

I don’t believe in kharma exactly but we did spend the last several months spewing toxic negativity and hatred about a coach and players that no longer belong to us, instead of enjoying every moment of a surprise season with a very promising new coach. While we won games that we never should have won, a loud segment of the fanbase nitpicked and tore down the players constantly. Most of BBN did nothing to deserve this but if such a thing as kharma exists, then the knuckleheads got us plenty of bad juju. Superstitious sports fan think here.

 

[NoDef]

We still have to field a much better roster next year. What's coming in and coming back means you have to hit a home run in the portal. Need a stretch five in this offense. Need at least two on the floor at a time that will require help side defense. Our bigs are not rim protectors. Garrison was good last year with 47 blocks, but only has 12 this year. If you can't guard and don't have bigs that can cover up for you it will make for a long night. We are trying to have to help from the wings too deep leaving teams with wide open threes. We don't have that luxury. Teams have figured us out.

 

[UKfanINcoach]

I'm shocked at the lack of basketball knowledge by so many UK fans! No coach in the history of the game could win with UK's currently available roster. Open your eyes people!!! No PG means big-time trouble in the SEC.

Pope had very little time to assemble a roster. Anyone who thinks what's going on with the team right now is an indicator of what is to come in the upcoming seasons is very shortsighted!!!

I can see why UK fans get such a bad wrap from the rest of the nation.

Yes I've said the same thing. Some fans are so dumb they don't realize a lot of coaches wouldn't want to coach here because of how obnoxious, entitled, and unrealistic the fans are. Apparently they didn't realize coaches weren't knocking the door down when Cal left to coach here.

We finally have a coach that truly cares about hanging banners, has class, is intelligent, had a lot of great wins before injuries and now some classless idiotic fans want to bash him. Why would anyone want to coach here?

 

[runt#69]

When you think about it, beating UT and Gonzaga on the road without Butler is pretty impressive.

This team has been up and down all season.

It’s almost as if the team was hastily constructed in just a month or two. LOL!

We really should have more downs than ups in our current situation sans a true PG.

Pope has done pretty well all things considered.

this ^^^^

 

[catfan220]

You are right it’s always a blow to lose your main PG…however…I would like to point out that Butler is a good veteran basketball player but he’s not John Wall like many are implying. He’s not good enough for us to be this bad by losing him.

And Kerr Kriisa just wasn’t very good at all. We’d be in trouble if he was the starting point guard anyway.

Appears to me something else has happened to this team.

A couple of points:

1. "He's not John Wall" -- this got me curious and I looked at their respective advanced stats. Believe it or not, he basically is John Wall. PER is an "all-in-one" stat that tries to boil down a player's impact into a single number, including offensive and defensive impact. Wall had a PER of 22.3 in his freshman year. Lamont this year has a PER of 22.1. They're not the same player but they've had a vey similar contribution. (Otega is 22.3 and Amari is 25.2, by the way, and they along with Butler form our top 3.)
2. Butler brings something to this team that we otherwise sorely lack -- on ball pressure. Jamming up the opposing team's PG, shortening their shot clock, making it hard to initiate the offense, made everything else easier on defense. Just look at how it affects us on offense when team's get right in Jaxson or Perry's grill trying to bring the ball up the court. We had to resort to our center bringing the ball up bc they didn't pressure him! For a team that clearly struggles on defense, Butler's ability to pressure was helping the rest of the team immensely.

And on Kerr-- he struggled a lot this year, but it was the worst season of his career statistically. I think if he were thrust into the starting lineup and played 28 mpg he would have stepped up significantly. That said his defense would never approximate Butler's.

 

[AzubuikeandFitch]

No, that’s all it is. The pg is the most impactful player on the team. Guys like Perry shouldn’t be touching the court unless we’re up a sizable amount. Hes killing us offensively and defensively. Not to mention guys like Noah and Chandler. They hurt us pretty bad as well

No offense but Chandler can't dribble left handed from one end to the other with someone guarding him.

 

[Blue_2_the_bone]

The PG situation is killing us in both ends of the floor right now. We’re struggling to start the offense in the correct spot and getting pushed way out into the floor. On the defensive end we’re a step slow and allowing the offense to start wherever they want without any real ball pressure. It completely changes the game. We just happened to play Tenn on a night their PG couldn’t throw it in the ocean and we made shots.

 

[R.O.T.Muckinfush]

I'm shocked at the lack of basketball knowledge by so many UK fans! No coach in the history of the game could win with UK's currently available roster. Open your eyes people!!! No PG means big-time trouble in the SEC.

Pope had very little time to assemble a roster. Anyone who thinks what's going on with the team right now is an indicator of what is to come in the upcoming seasons is very shortsighted!!!

I can see why UK fans get such a bad wrap from the rest of the nation.

THANKS FOR YELLING. I THINK EVERY SOB ON THIS BOARD SHOULD SEND THEIR MESSAGES BOLD AND IN ALL CAPS.

 

[K_TIME]

Butler played vs Vandy, UGA, Bama, Ohio st and we looked like ass in those games.

This ins't solely on losing PG....we play stretches of awful defense in each game.

Pope needs to not be Mr Cerebral so much and be like Mr Pitino alot more to push these guys harder and coach some basic fundamental schemes defensively.

 

[ImTheVillageIdiot]

I'm shocked at the lack of basketball knowledge by so many UK fans! No coach in the history of the game could win with UK's currently available roster. Open your eyes people!!! No PG means big-time trouble in the SEC.

Pope had very little time to assemble a roster. Anyone who thinks what's going on with the team right now is an indicator of what is to come in the upcoming seasons is very shortsighted!!!

I can see why UK fans get such a bad wrap from the rest of the nation.

THANKS FOR YELLING. I THINK EVERY SOB ON THIS BOARD SHOULD SEND THEIR MESSAGES BOLD AND IN ALL CAPS.

If you didn’t understand why the caps were appropriate on that, perhaps it is because you may be caught in the crossfire. Absolutely spot on summary by the man of many numbers.

 

[ArtLaibsGhost]

I'm shocked at the lack of basketball knowledge by so many UK fans! No coach in the history of the game could win with UK's currently available roster. Open your eyes people!!! No PG means big-time trouble in the SEC.

Pope had very little time to assemble a roster. Anyone who thinks what's going on with the team right now is an indicator of what is to come in the upcoming seasons is very shortsighted!!!

I can see why UK fans get such a bad wrap from the rest of the nation.

Your plea will fall on deaf ears as the last 3 weeks have shown me that we have a huge contingent of trolls and idiots on this board

 

[Hoskins91]

With a 100% Butler, maybe we’re winning some of these games. Kerr isn’t that level of difference maker.

 

[Cats192]

With a 100% Butler, maybe we’re winning some of these games. Kerr isn’t that level of difference maker.

Kerr isn't an elite PG.

But the difference in what we have available and Kerr is MASSIVE.

I think with a remotely capable PG, we're a lot better.

 

[BarefootBeach]

We saw what pope can do with a healthy roster, and it looks superb. I think we can all agree this is not an overly talented roster. With the pieces pope has left there are only so many levers he can pull. Pretend you are playing chess with a good opponent but you are forfeiting 3 of your pieces before you start the game. See how well things go. With 3 of your top 7 out you have to hope the rest are scoring and defending. When 1 or 2 don't in a particular game then you are sunk. I don't care if other teams have injuries. If you look at kentucky in a vacuum with so many people out or hurt their overall unit ability is drastically lower. I think pope is doing a great job and I can't wait to see how things go when he has a lot more talent on his side.

 

[Hoskins91]

Kerr isn't an elite PG.

But the difference in what we have available and Kerr is MASSIVE.

I think with a remotely capable PG, we're a lot better.

Disagree. We’d be even worse defensively and have another non-shooter on the floor. He’s fine as a reserve, but that’s what he is.

 

[Hoskins91]

The problem is this team isn’t super talented and the effort isn’t consistent. Pope either has to recruit better or figure out how to reach his players more effectively.

 

[Cats192]

Disagree. We’d be even worse defensively and have another non-shooter on the floor. He’s fine as a reserve, but that’s what he is.

You're probably right. We're better off with no point guard at all. What was I thinking?

 

[ArtLaibsGhost]

The problem is this team isn’t super talented and the effort isn’t consistent. Pope either has to recruit better or figure out how to reach his players more effectively.

Explain how Pope could have " recruited better" this year. Nearly everyone was committed before he even got here. As for lack effort what NONSENSE. If I'm quicker , faster and stronger than you I will beat you every time. To insult our players as lazy and unmotivated is pure BULLSHIT

 

[BigBlue1992]

You're probably right. We're better off with no point guard at all. What was I thinking?

Just stop while you’re behind.

Do you have any idea how stupid it sounds you claiming a guy averaging 4 points and shooting 20% from the field and the 3 is the answer to our problems? The defense would have zero reason to even guard him.

Get off fantasy island and see it for what it is.

 

[deep3]

I'm shocked at the lack of basketball knowledge by so many UK fans! No coach in the history of the game could win with UK's currently available roster. Open your eyes people!!! No PG means big-time trouble in the SEC.

Pope had very little time to assemble a roster. Anyone who thinks what's going on with the team right now is an indicator of what is to come in the upcoming seasons is very shortsighted!!!

I can see why UK fans get such a bad wrap from the rest of the nation.

Totally agree with you on everything , the only question I have is why do we not play zone and take our chances, jmo

 

[NociHTTP]

I responded to your post about Butler's absence shouldn't have this big of an effect.

Get this, Mr. Genius:

This thread topic is about not having a point guard. If you don't want to discuss that--don't come into this thread. It's really that easy.

If you want to discuss a different topic, you go to the board and click on a topic that interests you.

You must not have read the "How to find a topic I want to talk about" manual

That may be the thread topic, but it's still not quite accurate. The team is losing not because it doesn't have someone running the offense, but because the team is giving up way too many points. The effort is just really bad.

 

[NociHTTP]

Explain how Pope could have " recruited better" this year. Nearly everyone was committed before he even got here. As for lack effort what NONSENSE. If I'm quicker , faster and stronger than you I will beat you every time. To insult our players as lazy and unmotivated is pure BULLSHIT

The team lacks fundamentals on defense, that has zero to do with being quicker, faster or stronger.

 

[ArtLaibsGhost]

The team lacks fundamentals on defense, that has zero to do with being quicker, faster or stronger.

It has everything to do with what's happening to us defensively. You can be the most fundamentally sound player in the world and if I am quicker and faster than you I will beat you to the spot EVERY time.

 

[Cats192]

Totally agree with you on everything , the only question I have is why do we not play zone and take our chances, jmo

We were in zone multiple times last night

 

[Cats192]

I don't really understand how anyone can argue the PG injuries don't matter. It's not just missing the starter. We don't even have the number 2.

We don't have the guy that usually initiates the offense or brings the ball up the court. We don't have the other guy that does it off the bench.

We struggle with defensive ball pressure and turn the ball over more than we should. A PG would help that.
We don't get any good ball pressure on the other team. Ole Miss had like a 20 to 1 Assist to turnover ratio. A capable PG helps that.

Some of you keep acting like if they'd just try hard, we'd win every game.

I'm sorry, but this is just not a good enough team to do it consistently without a PG.

 

[The_Answer1313]

Disagree. We’d be even worse defensively and have another non-shooter on the floor. He’s fine as a reserve, but that’s what he is.

Would we be worse defensively tho?