If Pope does land Stokes, Wilkins, Freeman, Diallo and others does that change anyone’s opinion of his recruiting ability or does he have to sustain for several years before the perception changed?
Big if here.
- Thread starter BigBlue in Carlisle
- Start date
This is literally the only result this offseason that would make me optimistic about next season’s result. Until then, I’ll remain REALISTIC until something changes.
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iF is the key word. Most of us thought last years team could make a deep run.
IF we had no injuries and IF Pope can form a team that's cohesive and fits his system
IF we had no injuries and IF Pope can form a team that's cohesive and fits his system
Some on here will never change their mind. They've decided to hate Pope and bash him, no matter what.
He wins more games and the real fans will change their minds. The trolls won’t though.
And he’s given them more than enough reasons to do so.
Why should anyone have to make their mind up on Pope in the first place? He's won the lottery getting hired at at Kentucky.
I still contend a heavy majority of the “Pope can’t recruit” bunch will continue the mantra. Respected posters such as Son of Saul seem to be of the mind it would change the narrative. However, I look at top portal and recruiting classes from last year and see how much people will twist and turn to bend the narrative in their favor on that, regardless of the facts on it. Pope has some serious problems in my mind — recruiting is the least of my worries for him, despite the narratives.
I wonder if there has ever been a drastic a turn from his first nine games especially after beating Duke to where we are now.
If I win the Powerball I'll be a millionaire....
Has he really? Sweet 16 in his first appearance after being hired late and having to put a team together. Season 2 plagued with injuries and players that didn't fit together. Pope should have done something different in his second season. So that's it. 2 seasons...1 successful, 1 bad, but still made the tournament. A lot rides on year 3, but it hasn't even started yet. That's not giving them plenty if reason to act like babies and trash our coach and team every day.
Pope is not landing Stokes. Why do yall keep doing this? Was this new post necessary?
Yes, my perception will have changed for the better but he'd need to build momentum from it for the next class.
I wait with bated breath!!!
Yeah like the narrative he’s a good in game coach. Good in game coaches don’t have a 63 percent winning percentage.
It’s embarrassing and on top of that he had to take the Covid year to justify his winning percentage being slightly higher than Cal’s last two years. Why did he not compare his first two years to Cal’s first two years?
Pope is a snake oil salesman. Plain and simple.
Recruiting really doesn't matter if he doesn't win. All he has to do is win and fans won't even care if his recruiting isn't amazing.
I mean obviously. Any world that you live in where you think Pope is going to land Stokes is insanity. It ain’t happening man. Why set yourself up for disappointment?
"You just hate CAL!!" Lol, Pope loses and can't recruit. Has nothing to do with Pope himself.
I've flipped to hearing and seeing enough smoke to realize he's not the guy. Even if he somehow pulls something decent together, it's fairly evident that he's not the right guy for this job. Holding on will only be stringing along mediocrity.
Would need an Elite 8 bare minimum to even consider holding on. Honestly even wonder if he wants to be here.
Would need an Elite 8 bare minimum to even consider holding on. Honestly even wonder if he wants to be here.
I agree so I'm not letting the recruiting stress me out. Even if he lands Wilkins and Stokes I'm still expecting a middle of the pack SEC team with 12-14 losses.
Case in point. Literally add nothing of substance. You cry about being picked on but as soon as the script is flipped you’re reporting people that actually live in reality to mods. What a sad dude.Picture of runninclownie and UKorthoTheBugDr. if all ends well.
Don't know why it took me so long but I just figured out that all these accounts are coming from Runninrichie. Pardon me while I have a huge belly laugh at the meltdown. No wonder you love seeing meltdowns.........misery loves company. So sad.
Yea, nothing like a sweet sixteen appearance to make your defining mark as a UK coach
Wrong and I already know you have a huge belly. You’re the type that buys their gear at Wal Mart and then returns it the next day. I know you and your type dude.
It ain't about the X's and O's, it's the Jimmy and Joe's. Gotta have talent with ball IQ.
However, DA seemed to think we had plenty of talent but our practice preparation and execution was lacking. He specifically referenced the inability to adjust against Iowa St. trapping defense. Said the staff should have taught guys to cut to the open spot when their man went to trap. Elementary stuff!
Let's whittle this down for brevity sake, and to drive something home with some of you. (Not the op)
'If Pope lands a series of players that he hasn't landed, yall going to be hating anyway.'
Good grief, pumper strawman everywhere I look on this thread. Their narrative grows dumber by the day.
What if Pope could..........(insert fantasy here)
Ifs, buts, candy and nuts and whatnot..
And to the OP, he will probably need a lot more than Stokes and some decent transfers for a few seasons to change perceptions. My worry when he was announced as coach was that he wouldn't be someone known on the national stage. They know the Kentucky brand. And we know who Pope is. But most young recruits don't and it stands to reason they might be hesitant to commit to an unknown commodity in Pope. One of the main things that needed to happen to change that perception is to win a lot on the national stage. That simply hasn't happened and as those BYU connections dry up it could get ugly quickly. Pope is running out of runway.
'If Pope lands a series of players that he hasn't landed, yall going to be hating anyway.'
Good grief, pumper strawman everywhere I look on this thread. Their narrative grows dumber by the day.
What if Pope could..........(insert fantasy here)
Ifs, buts, candy and nuts and whatnot..
And to the OP, he will probably need a lot more than Stokes and some decent transfers for a few seasons to change perceptions. My worry when he was announced as coach was that he wouldn't be someone known on the national stage. They know the Kentucky brand. And we know who Pope is. But most young recruits don't and it stands to reason they might be hesitant to commit to an unknown commodity in Pope. One of the main things that needed to happen to change that perception is to win a lot on the national stage. That simply hasn't happened and as those BYU connections dry up it could get ugly quickly. Pope is running out of runway.
Yup that's my whole point. You can give Pope all the talent in the world but if his coaching doesn't improve it's really not gonna matter. His team's are so bad at defense and rebounding and tend to give up when things go bad.
I agree. I really was disappointed with the hire and how quick it was. I felt like many he was gettable weeks later. I was optimistic that maybe he was a hidden offensive genius that couldn’t get the players at other schools and that it would work out. But having seen some of the head scratching continue to happen like the drop coverage on pick and roll defense that continued to bite last year and then we switched for a few games to blitzing the pick and roll that seemed to have some success only to switch back a few games later. And the massive offensive droughts that really make me question will he be able to do this. The first year there were games like Florida at home where the office was unstoppable. I guess I still hope there is way it works out but I’m very concerned it’s leading to a very bad breakup or turning into something like Indiana.
I felt like we would struggle against a team that played defense like them. Just exposed our lack of a point guard. DA did well but he was out of position. I think we would have faired better against a lot of the other teams.
I wouldnt call getting blown out of the gym by 30 in the Sweet 16 a "success."