What is your grade for Mark Pope in Year 1

[AJG-15]

Game preparation C.

Offense B ( initial scheme A , later season innovation and adjustments D)

Defense : D

Recruiting A

PR A

Goal setting / Priorities/ Achieving F- according to what he said when he presented himself

 

[65pacecar]

A+ No roster when he took the job, several huge wins, too many injuries ti deal with but still found ways to win, S16 and he doesn't act like a raving lunatic on the sideline.

 

[KY_BBN]

Yesterday I would’ve said A+, tonight I’d say A-, so we’ll settle with an A tomorrow. The good thing about threads like this are they help me populate my ignore list.

 

[JBHolmesfan]

B+ Solid season. Lot of injuries and had to build a roster on short notice. However, the problems that plagued us early plagued us all year. Lots of sloppy stretches and struggled with physicality. Too many losses to teams we were better than and too many clunkers like tonight to give it an A in my opinion. Excited to see what Pope can build this offseason.

 

[chasingwildcat]

I would give him an A as well tough year with injuries and having to scrap together a team pretty quickly. I think if anyone else is coaching this team with the circumstances our record is much worse. We overachieved in my eyes realistically. I'm excited for what's to come.

We have a bunch of B/B+ level players, no stars, so S16 already exceeds expectations

Pope is also learning to perform in this big platform, he will also be better in following years

 

[TFCats11]

A

 

[wildcat2243]

A-

 

[seccats04]

B.

Too many eggs laid in games we should have won

This.

12 losses, many to teams we were better than.
Blown out in SECT.
Blown out in NCAAT. No adjustments tonight at all and no emotion from the coaches or players. Disappointed.

 

[azurricat2010]

F for fantastic.

We beat Duke, UTx2, Gonzaga, and UF plus a number of other ranked wins.

Injuries hurt us big time and we'd likely make the F4 if healthy.

Love our freshman but our lack of depth really showed when they started to play. They'll be great next year and looking forward to Oweh leading us. Fingers crossed he's back.

 

[Roe07]

Solid A. Disappointing night but we got to the S16 with a mid-major roster that was plagued by injuries.

 

[screwduke1]

Anybody not giving him an A is nuts.

Sucked that the season is over but a Sweet Sixteen was my hope and we made it so...

 

[crestcat]

A

 

[billoliver40]

A.

 

[sosoblue]

A

 

[sam_o]

A

 

[Wildcat22Fan]

F. Title or bust!!!!!
Just teasing. I give him an A-. Exceptional year for all the adversity faced.

 

[yes_takeaside]

A

 

[KentuckyMildCats]

We have a bunch of B/B+ level players, no stars, so S16 already exceeds expectations

Pope is also learning to perform in this big platform, he will also be better in following years

Agreed, to be fair I had them exiting in the s16 as well. Pope had a rough introduction to the SEC with it being the best it's ever been too, but yeah I imagine he's learned what type of guys he needs to win in the SEC. He'll have time in the portal this time and we'll be good to go next year

 

[EliteBlue]

I would give A

The appropriate grade. Anything under an a- is revisionist history based on the bar pop set with a healthy team

 

[the nail at the foul line]

Final Four is in Indy next year.

Starting to loathe Indy for us.

 

[FitchandMurray29]

None of us predicted we could grab 3 seed preseason. All we thought is fringe top 25 at best, and win one game in tournament

I was much higher on the quality of the roster preseason than most. Thought we were firmly in the gluttony of solid teams ranked between like 10-40 due to the parity created through the portal. Preseason if you would’ve told me no Jax, no Kriisa, and other nagging injuries I would’ve never believer we did what we did.

 

[KyLegacy]

A

-Considering put together this team in a month. Was very good in the portal and freshman class is solid.
-Tied NCAA record for most Top 15 wins.
-Beat Duke, FL, TN (twice), UL

Future looks bright.

 

[white10]

With 5-6 weeks to assemble a staff and team together.
A team that hadn't played together, and had to learn Pope’s system.
Dealing with injury with key players. He had to make key coaching changes in his strategystrategies. Playing 3 true freshmen one that hadn't played in two years.

Hmmm 🤔. A plus

 

[StubbornPenny]

A. Bad injuries, sucks to play a SEC team thrice. Defense will improve with better athletes. Future is bright, but tonight was a turd.

 

[chasingwildcat]

I was much higher on the quality of the roster preseason than most. Thought we were firmly in the gluttony of solid teams ranked between like 10-40 due to the parity created through the portal. Preseason if you would’ve told me no Jax, no Kriisa, and other nagging injuries I would’ve never believer we did what we did.

Nevertheless, this season is successful.

 

[CrimsonCats]

Going strictly by on-court results, I’d say a B+. He did a lot with a roster mostly lacking truly elite talent, and that’s not even accounting for injuries. Several big wins in the regular season, and although the ending was disappointing, he did still break the drought in getting out of the first weekend of the tournament. I’m mostly deducting a little bit because there were a few inexplicable games where we seemed to get caught flat footed by teams that really weren’t anything special. He gets some grace for this year, but those can’t keep happening as often going forward.

I don’t blame anyone who wants to give him an A though. The intangibles he brought in resetting the focus to being about Kentucky and not draft night while reigniting the fanbase do mean something to the job overall. I’m feeling pretty optimistic about the future.

 

[sefleming]

A

 

[G0 B1G BLUE]

Final Four is in Indy next year.

Starting to loathe Indy for us.

It really looked like a crappy place to hoop in. But maybe it was just the broadcast tonight.

It’s an A for me on the season. The wins we’ve had. With everything that he and the team had to overcome. Losing sucks.

 

[NociHTTP]

GREAT
Comebacks (3)
Media & Fans (3)
Motivate to come back from injury (3)
Half-time adjustments (3)
Transfer Portal (3)
Team Offense (3)

OKAY
Substitutions (2)
Recruiting (2)
Team Defense (2)

NOT GOOD
Game preparation (1)
Fundamentals (1)

79%, but some of these will assuredly go up next year with better talent and he being able to use the bench as more of a motivator. In a lot of ways he's an "A", I look for him to win more games that he SHOULD win.

 

[VAWildcat15]

A. There was no team when we hired Pope. There was no staff when we hired Pope. He built everything from the ground up on the fly, battled adversity in the form of shepherding an injured roster (that was cobbled together in the first place) through the most difficult conference of all time. Got a three seed anyway thanks to big win after big win and made the Sweet 16.

What’s not to be happy about? We all viewed this season as more of a “proof of concept” than the fully baked Pope experience we expect to see 2-3 years down the line. There’s always something to be picked at but if you’re actually upset or underwhelmed I just don’t know what to tell you. You’re the kind of fan who gives the rest of us a bad reputation.

 

[blubo]

A+

 

[Big Foot 275]

C-

LMAO

 

[crawfords corner]

A++

S16 roster
+3 on Kansas
beat Duke
Revived the fanbase
Gentleman off the court
First NCAAT win since 2019

 

[Wildskatfan]

Solid B.
He would have had to have done a better job coaching that game tonight for me to even think about the A territory.

 

[BlueBloodKyFan]

I would give A

East A him and coaches with NOTHING returning

 

[crawfords corner]

C-

Bait

 

[ALL4UK]

Solid, solid A. He just gets it!

 

[Seckatz]

A-

 

[Blue_2_the_bone]

A - This year is graded on a curve. Started with nothing and just a few weeks to compile a team. Dealt with devastating injuries. Still managed a 3 seed & Sweet 16. If you had told me before the season or even after game 1 that we’d lose Krissa & Robinson for the year, Carr’s back would go down, and Butler would finish in a sling needing shoulder surgery that we would have the success we’ve had, I’d say you’re insane.

 

[kybloo92]