Hard disagree and not sure how that makes you a front runner. Now, 1st im rooting for Pope to do well and win every game left so that maybe we can be a 4 or 3-seed.. but im still no where near sold that he can do this job. So as our losses pile up and it becomes increasingly clear that we're not gonna do anything in the tournament (maybe not even make it), then it makes sense to bottom out so you can blow the whole thing up. You wont do that to an established coach who has won a lot, just for one year. But with Pope, he really hasn't proven anything. One could argue that the fastest way back to UK winning a final4 is to actually totally burn out this year so we can move on to the next coach. That very well could be fastest path to victory, instead of waiting a few years to see if Pope can put it together.
Not all that dissimilar to tanking in pro-sports where you can move on from a bad coach AND get a better draft pick. The worst place for a team to be is just average. .500 win percentage. Because nothing changes. Coaches do just enough to keep their jobs.
If you told me right now that Kentucky doesnt make the tournament this year (or is a 9-seed first round exit team), then id be inclined to have just been blown out so we can move on from Pope that much faster.
