I think Pope is too nice and that could end up being a bad thing. Not having an intense coach can be bad for a team especially in the SEC. I think it shows this year because the team plays soft.
What's your biggest concern with Pope moving forward?
- Thread starter WildcatUKx
- Start date
There are a lot of folks on here complaining about our players not be athletic and rightfully so as we are not athletic which plays a lot into the defensive struggles.
Athleticism is truly a factor when two opponents are doing things the right way. I say that fundamentals are the reason we lost the game last night.
If you aren't a drunk you win a national title at UK. I expect Pope to do that.
I'd say if he hasn't made a final four by year 3 I'd be a little concerned as Cal, Tubby, Hall and Pitino all did by year 3. Pitino couldn't go to tourney his first 2 years so if you want to argue and say it was year 4 so be it.
I'd say if he hasn't made a final four by year 3 I'd be a little concerned as Cal, Tubby, Hall and Pitino all did by year 3. Pitino couldn't go to tourney his first 2 years so if you want to argue and say it was year 4 so be it.
Recruiting.
Obviously that gets a pass this year but you can be a great coach and just not have the talent to compete for national titles. There's plenty of coaches like that in D1.
Conversely, maybe you can get by with so so coaching if you have the talent.
Bottom line is either by recruiting HS kids or by getting guys in the portal, you need talent.
Obviously that gets a pass this year but you can be a great coach and just not have the talent to compete for national titles. There's plenty of coaches like that in D1.
Conversely, maybe you can get by with so so coaching if you have the talent.
Bottom line is either by recruiting HS kids or by getting guys in the portal, you need talent.
Today - I’m concerned that - like for Pope’s mentor, Pitino - beating J Calipari becomes a major problem.
Not going to get overly critical into an opening year where the program has shown consistently they can play with/beat top competition-something that wasn't happening enough the last 5 years. I still think this UK team will be a tough matchup in the NCAA Tournament for non SEC opponents. They need Butler back period. He's an experienced winner in NCAA Tournament and you can't consistently get stops if you can't defend the ball. Most teams aren't as offensively challenged at Tennessee (with or without Ziegler).
Long term my question and it's not a concern yet-it's a question and fit that in the topic as it it's topical is Coach Pope willing to adapt off his preferred method of playing? It's fine to want to play with bigs spaced out/facing up and running your halfcourt through them but having lived this scenario watching Georgetown run Princeton concepts (which is what Pope's doing) you need an elite player to play through--with Georgetown under JT3 it was Jeff Green. Once Green left, things went to Hell in terms of having any chance to win in Postseason as the value of guard play gets diminished and you get guards who can't defend far too often. Pope's in a conference that is closest to the NBA (always stated this too) in terms of size/athleticism traits of your opponents. For the overly sensitive fans from other conferences, I'm not saying the SEC is always the best conference or most skilled--but talking only about size/athleticism component of the competition. This type of style won't hold up over 18 games if you don't get an elite PF/C to play through and still have guards who can defend the opponent's guards who will be fast/athletic. JT3 never got a job after GTown firing and he dug in and refused to deviate from his system. Pope's going to have to make a decision and if you want to play the system-you need to win those Caleb Wilson, Nate Ament type of recruitments or get the best Portal fits every year-no misses but also realize you better have the guard talent to defend and go get baskets for themselves or teammates when a game is not going as preferred.
He's smart. I think he'll do it and it's why I'm giving him 2 more yrs after this to make an opinion about him/his future at UK because this year he's exceeded my expectations to this point and really nothing you can do about the oft injured players that seem to be making up CBB these days. I see more missed games from players Nationally now then combined in my other 4 decades watching the sport. Since they are paid.....and we have legalized gambling, I suspect we'll be getting Injury Report mandates from Conferences soon (if not already instated) and you will see NIL Deals where $ is dictated on games played, etc... moving forward as well.
The only side I'm questionable as to whether he's mean enough is forcing guys out that aren't working out. I respect he's a better person than someone like myself and many of us--so is he mean enough to tell someone they are being replaced/recruited over and it's best for them to leave? I mean I saw him lose an NCAA game last year forcing that fat Egyptian guy on his team in a game that guy was completely irrelevant to the game/hurting the team with his minutes. Much as I once watched JT3 blow a 20 pt lead against Davidson in the 2nd Rd of NCAA game because he forced Roy Hibbert in over a guy who was better suited to play in that specific game and was on the floor when the lead was extended from 5 to 20 (Vernon Macklin-a 6'9 mobile 5 man who defend the high ball screens/hedge recover). That type of stuff changes careers of programs/coaches by simply being too loyal to an individual over what's best for the team that game.
Long term my question and it's not a concern yet-it's a question and fit that in the topic as it it's topical is Coach Pope willing to adapt off his preferred method of playing? It's fine to want to play with bigs spaced out/facing up and running your halfcourt through them but having lived this scenario watching Georgetown run Princeton concepts (which is what Pope's doing) you need an elite player to play through--with Georgetown under JT3 it was Jeff Green. Once Green left, things went to Hell in terms of having any chance to win in Postseason as the value of guard play gets diminished and you get guards who can't defend far too often. Pope's in a conference that is closest to the NBA (always stated this too) in terms of size/athleticism traits of your opponents. For the overly sensitive fans from other conferences, I'm not saying the SEC is always the best conference or most skilled--but talking only about size/athleticism component of the competition. This type of style won't hold up over 18 games if you don't get an elite PF/C to play through and still have guards who can defend the opponent's guards who will be fast/athletic. JT3 never got a job after GTown firing and he dug in and refused to deviate from his system. Pope's going to have to make a decision and if you want to play the system-you need to win those Caleb Wilson, Nate Ament type of recruitments or get the best Portal fits every year-no misses but also realize you better have the guard talent to defend and go get baskets for themselves or teammates when a game is not going as preferred.
He's smart. I think he'll do it and it's why I'm giving him 2 more yrs after this to make an opinion about him/his future at UK because this year he's exceeded my expectations to this point and really nothing you can do about the oft injured players that seem to be making up CBB these days. I see more missed games from players Nationally now then combined in my other 4 decades watching the sport. Since they are paid.....and we have legalized gambling, I suspect we'll be getting Injury Report mandates from Conferences soon (if not already instated) and you will see NIL Deals where $ is dictated on games played, etc... moving forward as well.
The only side I'm questionable as to whether he's mean enough is forcing guys out that aren't working out. I respect he's a better person than someone like myself and many of us--so is he mean enough to tell someone they are being replaced/recruited over and it's best for them to leave? I mean I saw him lose an NCAA game last year forcing that fat Egyptian guy on his team in a game that guy was completely irrelevant to the game/hurting the team with his minutes. Much as I once watched JT3 blow a 20 pt lead against Davidson in the 2nd Rd of NCAA game because he forced Roy Hibbert in over a guy who was better suited to play in that specific game and was on the floor when the lead was extended from 5 to 20 (Vernon Macklin-a 6'9 mobile 5 man who defend the high ball screens/hedge recover). That type of stuff changes careers of programs/coaches by simply being too loyal to an individual over what's best for the team that game.
You have issues to write something this long
My biggest concern is our insane(love it) expectations and it just being a different era of college basketball without sustained dominance like the sport has historically always seen.
Heck look at UConn. An elite coach, hand picked highly rated transfers, highly regarded recruits, and multiple players for continuity on the roster. They’re the same as us, just a bit worse. Good offense, really bad defense 6 loss team.
There’s an insane amount of parity from the portal, 5th year guys, NIL, 3 point shooting emphasis, etc.
But in this difficult landscape he needs to win early to build his brand.
Heck look at UConn. An elite coach, hand picked highly rated transfers, highly regarded recruits, and multiple players for continuity on the roster. They’re the same as us, just a bit worse. Good offense, really bad defense 6 loss team.
There’s an insane amount of parity from the portal, 5th year guys, NIL, 3 point shooting emphasis, etc.
But in this difficult landscape he needs to win early to build his brand.
I don't deny having issues. LOL
Now I didn't know there's a limitation on basketball discussion. I'll make sure to appease you in the future. This long enough?
We have almost no chance on Ament
And possible selections of frontcourt players from next portal are very limited based on current stats
So we may perform worse than this year in next season except better guard talents.
Jasper, Acaden and Moreno all are not that good in athleticism and physically, so next year these fields may still be serious problems.
Should see how 2026 classes if Pope can actually get some top talents.
He's gotta be a little tougher. Getting on his players will help them correct mistakes, play defense, and set the tone for how things are done. Hes shown to be a little too nice.
This is problematic because it's something you can't really change. That's who you are as a person. So I'm really hoping we just haven't seen it yet or it's something that we haven't seen because this is his first year.
This is problematic because it's something you can't really change. That's who you are as a person. So I'm really hoping we just haven't seen it yet or it's something that we haven't seen because this is his first year.
Next year will not have "5th year senior"
Portal will be more limited
We may receive worse transfer players than this season
And we have to rely on three incoming freshmens?
Which is exactly the Cal formula, if you guys remember that from Cal’s last 10 years here. He always has one or two overachieving games in February. I remember a few years ago beating the pants of Tennessee only to lose to them in the SEC tournament.
If Pope would get his assistants to read Rafters 1 hour a night we could be dangerous come March. We have so many people here with great knowledge of the game I think it's going to waste. Hopefully he will read this and learn from it because here on rafters the answer lies.
Dude had 5 weeks to create an entire roster. Has 5 bigger wins than we’ve had in years and people are throwing in the towel. Sure we’ve lost some head scratchers but what did you expect with such little time to build a roster? I expected us to be much worse in Popes first season. He was left with a complete rebuild. Now if we continue to lose these type of games next season and seasons to follow there will be a reason to be concerned. Doing so in his first season after the highs he’s produced with a roster thrown together last second is asinine. Give the man a chance. That’s being said let’s go BBN! We’ve proven we
can beat anyone or lose to anyone so there’s always a punchers chance.
I love your posts dude, BUT, comparing Mark Pope, who is a practical GENIUS, to JT3 has to be one of your WORST takes EVER!!!
No offense, but Coach Pope KNOWS the expectations here and will get the type of players to run HIS system AND he WILL adapt to the SEC and college basketball overall when he gets MORE talented kids to UK.
My ONLY concern is will the fans give him the time he will need to take this program back to the top? He needs at least 3 seasons to get HIS players on a full roster.
I don’t know if it’s lack of adjustments. I think the players are just not able to stay in a guy’s grill without giving up the blow-by on defense. That’s why I don’t understand why they didn’t play zone 1-3-1 or 2-3 last night when it was apparent we couldn’t stop Wagner or Thiero from driving and we also couldn’t stop the open 3’s. People say a zone allows more open looks from 3, but not with this team. We just cannot guard the ball.
That our fanbase is going to treat him like Ryan Day by missing the forest for the trees.
I don’t have any concerns with Pope in charge.
He’s vastly over achieved with the roster he put together in about a month.
We have no NIL issues. You only hear we do from people that have no idea what they are talking about.
Pope is going to recruit to his style and recruit to fit.
He’s not going to recruit the best players regardless of need and fit and try to make it work.
He’s going to play an entertaining style. And he will do everything in his power to win games for UK.
Our basketball future is very bright and only getting better.
And whatever he does he will do it with high moral character to the players, the fans and the university.
I’m proud he’s our coach. 👍🏀
He’s vastly over achieved with the roster he put together in about a month.
We have no NIL issues. You only hear we do from people that have no idea what they are talking about.
Pope is going to recruit to his style and recruit to fit.
He’s not going to recruit the best players regardless of need and fit and try to make it work.
He’s going to play an entertaining style. And he will do everything in his power to win games for UK.
Our basketball future is very bright and only getting better.
And whatever he does he will do it with high moral character to the players, the fans and the university.
I’m proud he’s our coach. 👍🏀
Could be. Way too many careless passes and turnovers, and not having our very good point guard led to much of our problems last night.
Sub patterns make no sense.
Robinson on fire you take him out and put turnover machines Perry and Chandler in
Robinson on fire you take him out and put turnover machines Perry and Chandler in
We need a good mixture of both. We all saw CAL and his athletic freaks who couldn’t play a lick of basketball.
Defense but I wonder how much is due to lack of athletic ability. It’s too early to be over analyzing Pope.
Having big men as point guards will not win you games in March.
He has 2 mcD all Americans on his current roster that are staying and 1 more coming next season. In Moreno and both jasper johnson and acaden lewis were in the short list. We missed in Caleb but he’s at UNC who about to fire their coach. So apparently that was 100 percent a money thing
I see a lot of people commenting on popes positive reinforcement style. He’s already said he tried to be the mean Pitino style coach and his kids did not respond and he couldn’t win that way. So he stopped.
My wife is a club sports coach that has won multiple national titles as an athlete and a coach and I can tell you from watching her struggle the last 4 years that the kids are different now. They don’t respond to the older style hard cuss coaching anymore. That shit all changed after Covid. Every athlete is different but she had to completely change her approach and if you heard comments from calipari over the last week, apparently he has had to change his approach as well. I think Cauley stein even mentioned it on KSR that cal doesn’t get after his players anymore. That he’s soft on them.
My wife is a club sports coach that has won multiple national titles as an athlete and a coach and I can tell you from watching her struggle the last 4 years that the kids are different now. They don’t respond to the older style hard cuss coaching anymore. That shit all changed after Covid. Every athlete is different but she had to completely change her approach and if you heard comments from calipari over the last week, apparently he has had to change his approach as well. I think Cauley stein even mentioned it on KSR that cal doesn’t get after his players anymore. That he’s soft on them.
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Recruiting and defense. Rebounding also tbh. Also, motivating the players. We seem way too careless sometimes. Idk, could just be the players.
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