How far does UK basketball have to go in the NCAA Tournament to make you feel happy or content with that the Status of UK basketball.
BB: Minimum Results that will make you Happy or content
- Thread starter TheResistance
- Start date
F4. At least. Which is not happening so really nothing.
Elite Eight or Pope needs to be relieved of his duties. If you can't do that in 3 years at UK with our resources then you're never going to be good enough to be here long term.
To me the Elite Eight is always the goal. Then once there anything can happen.
For me personally, it’s not just about the tournament. If there’s another year like last year and they squeak into the tournament and somehow things fall into place and they sneak into an elite eight. I think he should be gone.
However, if they put together an outstanding regular season (not predicting this btw) but then get beat in the sweet sixteen, I’m not sure what to think.
However, if they put together an outstanding regular season (not predicting this btw) but then get beat in the sweet sixteen, I’m not sure what to think.
We can’t have stupid losses or lapses during the season and lose to teams we should beat, I know anyone can hot at home but the Nashville Gonzaga game can never happen again. I was there for that and completely embarrassed walking out of there but no more 10 loss seasons then no real shot to make atleast an EE. With the resources and $$$ available to pay people, no reason we shouldn’t be right there every season.
If Mark can’t make an EE in three seasons with the resources he was given, it’s apparent that he’s just not the guy.
I need to see us be able to compete for the SEC regular season title.
My benchmark may be a little too low, but I'm a realist in the NIL era. Too much turnover, too many kids playing for the money and not the university, the fans or their teammates. That said...
I expect, at a minimum:
An Elite 8, once every FOUR years
An SEC Regular Season Championship, once every FOUR years and Top Five in the SEC EVERY year
An SEC Tournament Championship, once every FOUR years and to make the weekend EVERY year
At least a 4 seed entering the NCAA tournament EVERY year
To land a consensus Top 10 HS player, once every TWO years
To land a consensus Top 20 Portal player EVERY off-season
I don't think a singular outlier means mash the "Burn it to the ground and start over" button if those goals aren't reached, but they create cause for concern. Start stacking them up together, for a couple seasons in a row, then the panic is warranted. Regardless of who the coach is, whether we are a one and done NBA farm club or a transfer portal payday stop or something in between, we have to be consistent. A mediocre program doesn't sell itself well to recruits regardless of the history if they can't win games year after year.
I expect, at a minimum:
An Elite 8, once every FOUR years
An SEC Regular Season Championship, once every FOUR years and Top Five in the SEC EVERY year
An SEC Tournament Championship, once every FOUR years and to make the weekend EVERY year
At least a 4 seed entering the NCAA tournament EVERY year
To land a consensus Top 10 HS player, once every TWO years
To land a consensus Top 20 Portal player EVERY off-season
I don't think a singular outlier means mash the "Burn it to the ground and start over" button if those goals aren't reached, but they create cause for concern. Start stacking them up together, for a couple seasons in a row, then the panic is warranted. Regardless of who the coach is, whether we are a one and done NBA farm club or a transfer portal payday stop or something in between, we have to be consistent. A mediocre program doesn't sell itself well to recruits regardless of the history if they can't win games year after year.
Elite 8. But that has to come with a good regular season as well.
I need an elite 8 bare minimum and less than 10 losses.
I’m tired of Mark Pope always having double figure losses! He had a handful of games where he completely got blown out that Nashville game was embarrassing.
I voted Elite 8, but the Sweet 16 if a minimum and if something crazy happens in that round, so be it.
But we better beat Louisville, , have a good showing against the other big schools, and not fall down/lose by 20 to anybody.
But we better beat Louisville, , have a good showing against the other big schools, and not fall down/lose by 20 to anybody.
I said Elite 8, but it has to be a good season overall. If we suck all year, even an elite 8 won't be enough. We need to look like legitimate contenders most of this season.
Elite eight at least. And a couple stud highschool commitments to go along with his portal class after the season.
He needs to win in the tournament and show he can attract real talent imo. An elite eight with zero recruits won't make me feel great.
He needs to win in the tournament and show he can attract real talent imo. An elite eight with zero recruits won't make me feel great.
I would just like to get back to watching enjoyable basketball. Something that hasn't occurred in several years. Basketball, college and pro, has been damn near unwatchable lately. Too many threes, poor defensive play and inconsistant officiating has really dragged basketball down.
Put me in the "it's more about the season than the tournament," crowd. Crazy things happen in the tournament. Gotta be good during the season and look like an SEC contender.
For this coming season I voted final 4.
Cal, tubby, hall, all went to final fours by year 3. Pitino was year 4 but really year 2 of opportunities to do so.
Point is, it shouldnt take long to show u got it at UK. All the coaches I mentioned did that. And pope is no Rupp before some Popettes talking about how Rupp didnt make his first final four until whatever year of uk coschinf career.
Cal, tubby, hall, all went to final fours by year 3. Pitino was year 4 but really year 2 of opportunities to do so.
Point is, it shouldnt take long to show u got it at UK. All the coaches I mentioned did that. And pope is no Rupp before some Popettes talking about how Rupp didnt make his first final four until whatever year of uk coschinf career.
It would be nice to see a team not quit in multiple games this year. That would be an improvement.
No more than three OOC losses. Double bye in the SECT. Three side or higher (prefer two). Elite Eight. That as generous as I can get.
I expect this will not be good enough for many on here but this seems pretty reasonable to me considering the current environment college sports is operating under.
The thing about an elite eight is that it’s short of the overall goals of the program. As a matter of fact, all of our title coaches made an elite eight their first year. Obvious pope can’t do that but he needs a run like Hubert davis. No way Hubert Davis hangs onto that job longer than he did without that showing in the title game.. and honestly for big Blue nation it would be awful for pope to have a flash in the pan type year. I mean that’s one of the things that really screwed Indiana was Mike Davis making that final remains to be seen with North Carolina but Mike Davis made that championship game against. I can’t remember who they played.. but that forced Indiana’s hand to keep that guy a lot longer than he needed to be, and then after that, it was just one giant turd after another. I mean Tom Crean is Probably about the same level of coach as Mark Pope. And they’re both strange. I just hope number one that we have an athletic Director and number two. I hope that he’s serious about making sure we win. Listen people I hate to say this I’ve been in UK football fan all my life 50 years plus. I’ll always be UK football fan. But UK football is going nowhere. I don’t think Stein can make it happen.. UK is a basketball school. Is the premier basketball school in the SEC Premier basketball school in the nation for college basketball. We need to get our Basketball house in Order. Let Stein do whatever he’s gonna do to the maximum that he can but UK basketball has to have a top five coach. Not top top five in po Pay, but the top five coach and really we should have the highest paid coach. If we want somebody if they’re legit, we have to throw the kitchen table at them all this money around for one year on a roster. It’s gonna turn over but the most important position on the roster the head coach. No way in college basketball should you have a player on the roster making more than the head coach? This is probably the lowest level of respect our Basketball program has had since Eddie Sutton left it tatters. At least cal had guys backing him up until the bitter end. Pope has no one backing him up. I think there are a lot of people ready to throw him under the bus not for just the failures while he’s head coach but also the failures for cal. Failures of Barney.. I have a feeling that Pope is gonna be the one to have all of that negativity, anger everything hope’s gonna have it all projected upon him and it will be the worst thing we’ve witnessed. I mean already people point out how weird pope is wait till everyone is off the wagon with him it’ll get real ugly fast or if Pope is smart, he’ll just quit
We need to be one of the 6 to 8 teams that can win a championship. Anything less and it’s time to move on.
We have more elite 8s then most of the sec has total wins. We should wipe our *** with elite 8s. Anything under final4 is meh. Anything under elite 8 is a disappointment.
Why is a win in January & February less fun than in March? The only difference is a win allows one more game in March. I enjoy a win in November as much as I do in March. A loss in Nov Dec, Jan, and Feb is much different than it is in March. That is why March wins are more important. I'd had to have a shvt regular system and then have a run in March. I want and enjoy ALL wins. To hell with only March Madness being important.
I know this sounds strange but I care more about the results in conference than I do about the tournament. Specifically I know of plenty of coaches who had one good run in the tournament and never went anywhere whereas plenty of successful coaches championship-winning were known as regular season kings before their routine choke job come tournament time. Guys like Self and Wright come to mind.
If Mark Pope can prove he can win the regular season SEC that tells me more than a fluke run in the NCAA tournament.
If Pope makes the Elite 8 with another 10-loss season and the proceeds to have another 10-loss season next year while getting blown out in the tournament, do you keep the guy for a 5th season?
I just want consistent results year in and year out. Win or compete for the top conference placement every year. Tournament results will come soon after as you continue to get high seeds and favorable match-ups.
If Mark Pope can prove he can win the regular season SEC that tells me more than a fluke run in the NCAA tournament.
If Pope makes the Elite 8 with another 10-loss season and the proceeds to have another 10-loss season next year while getting blown out in the tournament, do you keep the guy for a 5th season?
I just want consistent results year in and year out. Win or compete for the top conference placement every year. Tournament results will come soon after as you continue to get high seeds and favorable match-ups.
Talent is more dispersed with NIL, thus more parity and MUCH MUCH harder to dominate in basketball. Can't stack talent because of portal, more schools care about basketball, more schools have tons of money. 15 to 20 ears back there were maybe 10 schools that went all in on basketball. Today more than twice that number seem to have deep pockets to buy a team. Just in the SEC we are probably 3rd or 4th in basketball budget. To compare how long it takes to get to a final 4 is apples to oranges to 15/20 years ago.
So much parity when it’s just the same freaking teams in the top of the rankings every year and the same teams making deep runs in the tournament. Kentucky has the cash but they sure as heck don’t have the coach to be a top team.
Pope sucks dude. A good coach hire and UK would have already made the final four or would this coming season. Stfu with this bs.
My answer is always the same regardless of coach: Elite Eight.
I really believe Pope will have to make an Elite Eight or he is effectively cooked. I believe it’s possible Batt plays the long game for Oats, but if Pope doesn’t make an Elite Eight this season, your average rank-and-file fan will conclude it isn’t meant to be. I just can’t see another way, outside of a stellar regular season.
I believe a 1-seed level regular season that finished with an early loss I.e. the 2004 season, would make it more complex but an average season (i.e. 3-5 seed) and then a Sweet 16 will be enough to lose what confidence remains from the faithfuls.
I really believe Pope will have to make an Elite Eight or he is effectively cooked. I believe it’s possible Batt plays the long game for Oats, but if Pope doesn’t make an Elite Eight this season, your average rank-and-file fan will conclude it isn’t meant to be. I just can’t see another way, outside of a stellar regular season.
I believe a 1-seed level regular season that finished with an early loss I.e. the 2004 season, would make it more complex but an average season (i.e. 3-5 seed) and then a Sweet 16 will be enough to lose what confidence remains from the faithfuls.
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