I didn’t watch a second of the game, haven’t even seen a highlight and for the first time in my life, 58 years. I don’t care. I’m already with pope in year 3 that I was with tubby in year 10 (actually worse as I at least cared then). Reading everyone’s thoughts I’m stating with my 12-15 loss season (at best). Thank God for Uk football!!!
First Takes
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I don’t think he has that skillset against competent defenders. He could have moments against teams like ULR, sure. But that doesn’t exactly move the needle. He’s just not good enough yet. And he’s had over a year to develop.
That dude has some of the most ridiculous takes on this board ,lol.Last years team wouldn’t cook anyone
Mason Williams is our second best player. That's your red flag.
First impression is this is pope’s best team defensively at UK. Lots of deflections, team rebounds and diving for loose balls. All things considered they ought to sell out to that being their identity as a team.
first half offense was really bad. Wilkins might be the biggest brick layer since BJ Boston.
first half offense was really bad. Wilkins might be the biggest brick layer since BJ Boston.
Best player MM #22.
Best improved from last year MM .
Those two are our best to players .
if this teams stays healthy we can probably finish top 4 in SEC, after Florida, TX , and Arkansas.
If either of our MM s gets injured our season is over.
We are too light at center position. not sure what MP was thinking…..
we should have tried harder and smarter to get a dynamic sf or PF that could score of the dribble . We are missing that elite scorer to be NCAA final four team.
is stil early but the team looked out of shape.
Best improved from last year MM .
Those two are our best to players .
if this teams stays healthy we can probably finish top 4 in SEC, after Florida, TX , and Arkansas.
If either of our MM s gets injured our season is over.
We are too light at center position. not sure what MP was thinking…..
we should have tried harder and smarter to get a dynamic sf or PF that could score of the dribble . We are missing that elite scorer to be NCAA final four team.
is stil early but the team looked out of shape.
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Definitely NOT worth $6 million as an isolated player. However, I cannot imagine what this team would look like without him so he is probably worth twice that to UK.
If Pope didn't land him they were going to be in trouble as I think he is the difference between this team making the NCAA tournament and possibly fighting for a NIT/Crown birth.
JB
Think it was Pope’s first win at UK scoring under 70 points. Feel free to take that random factoid however you wish lol
This team's talent level is below acceptable at Ky.This year may be disappointing but I hope we can find out who our best five is.
Rough night, especially for the guards. Finishing will need to improve on drives.
McBride inbounding the ball against obvious pressure and traps showed a low basketball IQ for what the opponent was doing. Catch and shoot on the perimeter seems solid. The ball needs to get in and out of his hands quickly. He is not a take over guy.
For his first game as a Wildcat, Hawthorne looked good. Worked hard on defense and showed flashes on offense. While he is “patient,” he also looked like he has to think sometimes on offense about what he is doing. Over-dribbled in the paint and at other times. I disagree with a take above and think his point forward skills will be a plus if he learns to make quicker decisions. Good looking confident shot for his first game.
MilMom did some stud things last night. I think he was holding back at times so as to not hog the scene too much. He has an elite understanding of what he is doing.
NDaiye was a mix. Seemed to still be figuring out his place on defense. He has some real skills. Settling in will be key.
Wilkins needs to appreciate boundaries for himself. This may have been a great first game film for him. Show him how discipline will get him more, not less. He seemed more focused on defense at the beginning of the game and then in the second half, King(?) was dead set to go at him and took advantage, on both ends.
I thought Mal looked solid.
Frank is a wild man tank. Flying all around kind of recklessly. I think some of his issues were not all of his own doing as some teammates put him in bad spots on defense. Not sure we expect much from him on offense when he spells Mal.
If Williams was a highly regarded recruit, fans would not be panicked by his play. He was steady and seemed confident for a guy many on here repeatedly bashed. If he grows and improves from that first look, he is going to be a solid guard off the bench. He also showed some willingness and ability to pressure the defense and seemed to pick his moments well. Did not seem to press. From a steadiness factor, he was the best guard last night, but that is more a result of Diallo and Wilkins being roller coasters on the floor.
Diallo has not impressed me at pro day or last night. When he had moments, he often did not finish. I am not sure he really was a set-up for others. He seemed uncomfortable to me.
Popes’ positiveness at his presser was unsettling to me. Just not sure what objective he had for this game. Seems he limited things on offense. He now has film. I think he was excited by how that film will teach. Without knowing what he wanted from this first game, he is hard to read. Maybe the negatives reinforce what he has been teaching?
All said, Travis may have a solid team. They missed a lot of shots. Hope that was our doing.
McBride inbounding the ball against obvious pressure and traps showed a low basketball IQ for what the opponent was doing. Catch and shoot on the perimeter seems solid. The ball needs to get in and out of his hands quickly. He is not a take over guy.
For his first game as a Wildcat, Hawthorne looked good. Worked hard on defense and showed flashes on offense. While he is “patient,” he also looked like he has to think sometimes on offense about what he is doing. Over-dribbled in the paint and at other times. I disagree with a take above and think his point forward skills will be a plus if he learns to make quicker decisions. Good looking confident shot for his first game.
MilMom did some stud things last night. I think he was holding back at times so as to not hog the scene too much. He has an elite understanding of what he is doing.
NDaiye was a mix. Seemed to still be figuring out his place on defense. He has some real skills. Settling in will be key.
Wilkins needs to appreciate boundaries for himself. This may have been a great first game film for him. Show him how discipline will get him more, not less. He seemed more focused on defense at the beginning of the game and then in the second half, King(?) was dead set to go at him and took advantage, on both ends.
I thought Mal looked solid.
Frank is a wild man tank. Flying all around kind of recklessly. I think some of his issues were not all of his own doing as some teammates put him in bad spots on defense. Not sure we expect much from him on offense when he spells Mal.
If Williams was a highly regarded recruit, fans would not be panicked by his play. He was steady and seemed confident for a guy many on here repeatedly bashed. If he grows and improves from that first look, he is going to be a solid guard off the bench. He also showed some willingness and ability to pressure the defense and seemed to pick his moments well. Did not seem to press. From a steadiness factor, he was the best guard last night, but that is more a result of Diallo and Wilkins being roller coasters on the floor.
Diallo has not impressed me at pro day or last night. When he had moments, he often did not finish. I am not sure he really was a set-up for others. He seemed uncomfortable to me.
Popes’ positiveness at his presser was unsettling to me. Just not sure what objective he had for this game. Seems he limited things on offense. He now has film. I think he was excited by how that film will teach. Without knowing what he wanted from this first game, he is hard to read. Maybe the negatives reinforce what he has been teaching?
All said, Travis may have a solid team. They missed a lot of shots. Hope that was our doing.
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Excellent points made in a thoughtful way.
I agree with everything you said.
For me, I have more questions than answers.
1) When Williams, Morton and Noah are available, whose minutes do they take ??
2) Do we really want to take 35 threes a game ??
3) Can we handle aggressive on-ball defensive pressure ??
4) With our height, can we stay with quicker teams ??
5) Will Kepnang be healthy all year and can he play without fouling ??
6) Why are Wilkins' threes from so deep on the court ??
7) Will fatigue be a factor for Momcilovic ??
8) Do we have an inside game at all ??
9) Will this team be better than Pope's first 2 teams ??
10) How good are we right now ??
11) How good can we be in March ??
12) Will Williams and Pelphrey make a difference as coaches in developing this team ??
I don’t know if this is true, but my buddy told me we went 7 minutes without scoring again. We do that so often under Pope it’s crazy. To do that with our payroll against a Little Rock type opponent is really bad. I knew we had went a long while without scoring when they got it back to like down 11, but that is terrible.
Fair analysis but I don’t even see S16 type team yet. If he doesn’t get our back court playing to the level they should, it could get ugly.
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