Biggest Issue with this Team

[TFCat11]

a 20 million $ roster should not have ANYONE that can't play at this level. just as it should not lack athletic ability, which the lack of speed & quickness was obvious
very disappoiniting

I don’t think most UK fans understand exactly how much $$$ $22 million dollars is!

To put it in perspective, Pope could have gone out and grabbed (7), yes 7, $3 million dollar level stud talents, and spent the rest on scrubs, and put together a team that would be damn near unbeatable!

Dybantsa/ Peterson/ Dent/ Lindenborg types, 1-7!!!

Sorry, if this UK team cost $22 million, some heads need to roll for perceived money laundering!

 

[KYFOSSIL]

I said all last season and thru the summer that it didn’t appear that Pope puts a premium on conditioning.

But I thought it might just have been that rag tag roster that he had a month to throw together.

It still appears that conditioning is not a focus.

We will most certainly platoon. These guys can’t play more than 5-6 minutes at a time.

 

[Monday Nitro]

It isn’t football. The PG, especially in this offense, isn’t that vital. What is vital, is putting your best players on the court. Playing Chandler that much isnt doing that. Not concerned with it in that particular game, but would be moving forward when games count. Chandler is no way possible suited to play mins at PG.

We had our two PG’s not playing. That will be very rare. You hate Chandler, we get it. Maybe start a website?

 

[Phil_The_Music2]

The biggest specific issue I saw (missed the first 10 min. of the game) was that none of our guards, Chandler, Johnson, and yes even Oweh, coud not stay in front of their guards. And, we don't have anyone (or a system) that can play help defense at the rim.

Seems familiar. Hopefully the 3 on the bench are the missing pieces for that problem. Some of this teams fan favorites will not get to see much playing time when we're at full strength because they can't stay in front of anyone.

I reluctantly have to agree, for now. I hoped and predicted that Noah would improve during the off season. But he's still doesn't seem to be fast or strong enough. And if he can't make shots during games, his offense doesn't offset his defense. As of right now I just don't see him seeing much floor time if we get to full health. And that sucks because I love me some Trent Noah.

 

[Burly Peters]

To be upfront, it’s not that we lost it’s more so in how, everyone was coking and joking like they didn’t have a care in the world, it was very off putting.

Hold up, the guys were doing rails? Then why were they so lethargic?

 

[DelkBowl]

Still needs a superstar/go to guy.

 

[K_TIME]

The problem is the roster building, if u cant build a team that can shoot at least have some athletic talented guys that can cover up for it when the shots arent falling

So Noah, Kam WIlliams (40%+ from deep last year), Aberdeen, Jasper, Chandler, Jelavic arent' enough shooting?

 

[Anon1759768907]

So Noah, Kam WIlliams (40%+ from deep last year), Aberdeen, Jasper, Chandler, Jelavic arent' enough shooting?

jelavic, noah, chandler, and aberdeen shot very poor percentages last year including jelavic overseas

 

[Eagles_Ball_69]

We had our two PG’s not playing. That will be very rare. You hate Chandler, we get it. Maybe start a website?

I don’t hate him at all. Seems like a great person with that plays with supreme effort. He’s just not good enough.

 

[Eagles_Ball_69]

So Noah, Kam WIlliams (40%+ from deep last year), Aberdeen, Jasper, Chandler, Jelavic arent' enough shooting?

None of those guys are or have been yet “good” shooters at this level. Thats the concern. Williams is the only one that remotely has shown to be previously, and he looks awful currently.

 

[Littlecreek10]

My son had a football game last night so I didn't get to see Kentucky's game. After the Purdue game ALL of us was thinking number 9 will happen. Now, Kentucky is in trouble. What we know is that Kentucky is good enough to be the best in the nation (yes, Purdue was absolutely trying to win) and if Kentucky doesn't play with effort and heart they absolutely can get beat by ANYONE. This was an exhibition against a team that's a lot better than the usual exhibition teams. Kentucky also had 3 very important players out, 2 who would be starters. Nobody puts much stock in NBA preseason games, and if Kentucky's players were laughing and carrying on then they probably didn't take it too seriously. That's no excuse but the sky isn't falling. If nothing else maybe this game was a reality check after the Purdue game.

 

[UKbrassowTipIn93]

Biggest issue with fans...they need therapy bc its only October and the season hasn't even started yet they think theyve got everything figured out

 

[chasingwildcat]

My son had a football game last night so I didn't get to see Kentucky's game. After the Purdue game ALL of us was thinking number 9 will happen. Now, Kentucky is in trouble. What we know is that Kentucky is good enough to be the best in the nation (yes, Purdue was absolutely trying to win) and if Kentucky doesn't play with effort and heart they absolutely can get beat by ANYONE. This was an exhibition against a team that's a lot better than the usual exhibition teams. Kentucky also had 3 very important players out, 2 who would be starters. Nobody puts much stock in NBA preseason games, and if Kentucky's players were laughing and carrying on then they probably didn't take it too seriously. That's no excuse but the sky isn't falling. If nothing else maybe this game was a reality check after the Purdue game.

and if Kentucky's players were laughing and carrying on then they probably didn't take it too seriously.

They should never be like this, even in practice. If you want to win big you need to always be competitive abd give 100% effort

 

[Vek96]

Zero intensity even when they were down double digits most of the night, players laughing and joking and such while getting hammered by an inferior team. I believe Pope will have multiple players sitting out almost every single game for extremely minor issues, this is the new era of sports I guess.

I saw the same thing Phil. Mark needs to wake up, and start lighting into players. If he doesn’t, he won’t last long here.

 

[Vek96]

I agree with a lot of what your saying. However, we have a few players that don't have the talent to play at this level. That became evident on the defensive end tonight. It looked a lot like last year, if we get everyone healthy "IF" we can leave the few on the bench and start to be a competitive team. We will see.

No one played defense last night. Zero. Not sure who you’re referring to, but, every single player looked incompetent defensively. And truth be told, they all looked awful on offense.

Moreno looked like he was drunk or high. He was embarrassingly bad.

The horse racing in me says to draw a line thru this game. However, we play at Louisville in 12 days. If they give this effort against Louisville, they’ll lose by double digits.

 

[bigblueinsanity (the real)]

The problem is the roster building, if u cant build a team that can shoot at least have some athletic talented guys that can cover up for it when the shots arent falling

Other than jq, we have a roster full of role players. That's fine except they're all paid like stars.

I think we'll be ok but i still feel like we could've done better with the nil we spent.

 

[Chris Mallory]

The biggest issue is that players are now paid and not motivated. Same with Stoops. Win or lose, they go home with millions.

 

[K_TIME]

jelavic, noah, chandler, and aberdeen shot very poor percentages last year including jelavic overseas

Aberdeen 35%
Chandler 34%
Noah 33%

Those aren't bad by any means

 

[Littlecreek10]

and if Kentucky's players were laughing and carrying on then they probably didn't take it too seriously.

They should never be like this, even in practice. If you want to win big you need to always be competitive abd give 100% effort

I agree with you 110%, that’s not a good picture. That would not happen when Rupp, Hall, Sutton, Tubby or even BCG were here. Shoot, we didn’t do that even in high school. I don’t think it’s an indictment on Pope, it’s just unfortunately the culture of college basketball now.