Cause for concern
- Thread starter CatsMash92
- Start date
I'm not sure what you was seeing before the season even started to think number 9 as a possibility.
I'm thinking by mid January we will have a good idea where this team is heading whether it is number 9 or one and out.
A lot of people are right we are without or starting PG and starting Center but how long are we going to be with out them? I understand JQ's injury but hearing all over the summer it made it sound like he would be ready when the season started well here we are season has started so how far off is he still...... Lowe's injury was a shoulder injury and now how long is he going to miss that's been over 3 weeks since he injured his shoulder. I mean it's like this every season anymore with these players some have minor injuries that drag out the whole season and we never see them play at all. If we go the season with what we have saw these last 2 games this team doesn't pass the eye test. I just hope we actually see Lowe and JQ this season because I think having them 2 in the lineup make this team a whole different team.
On a side note I sure hope we do land a Stokes, Holt, or Collins for 2026 because honestly Pope needs one of those if not 2/3 of those big hitters for next year!
On a side note I sure hope we do land a Stokes, Holt, or Collins for 2026 because honestly Pope needs one of those if not 2/3 of those big hitters for next year!
Like clockwork, the site cheerleaders have their blinders on, and the OP is 
correct!
Go look at the team stats from the entire top 10 for their first game, and tell me who had the worst performance? Heck, Florida in their loss, smoked UKs performance!
Folks, if there’s not MAJOR improvement and this UK team can’t stay “healthy” and get JQ back STAT, this is easily a 10-12 loss team… Easily!
Last year’s squad that got put together in around a month, and at less than half the NIL budget, would have dropped 100+ and beat this current squad by 15+.
correct!Go look at the team stats from the entire top 10 for their first game, and tell me who had the worst performance? Heck, Florida in their loss, smoked UKs performance!
Folks, if there’s not MAJOR improvement and this UK team can’t stay “healthy” and get JQ back STAT, this is easily a 10-12 loss team… Easily!
Last year’s squad that got put together in around a month, and at less than half the NIL budget, would have dropped 100+ and beat this current squad by 15+.
They have been for several days now. Sometimes it's easy to see why people talk badly about Kentucky fans. Our "fans" have been trashing our coach, our players and the team as a whole for a while now.
Are you that dense?Like clockwork, the site cheerleaders have their blinders on, and the OP is
Go look at the team stats from the entire top 10 for their first game, and tell me who had the worst performance? Heck, Florida in their loss, smoked UKs performance!
Folks, if there’s not MAJOR improvement and this UK team can’t stay “healthy” and get JQ back STAT, this is easily a 10-12 loss team… Easily!
Last year’s squad that got put together in around a month, and at less than half the NIL budget, would have dropped 100+ and beat this current squad by 15+.
Our starting PG is hurt and the backup PG is on limited minutes and clearly was a different team when he was on the court and our top draft pick hasn’t played yet.
Without JQ, this is undoubtedly not a FF team, nor will they look like one. 3 point shooting and FT shooting should be better than they have been for us to be in the mix. JQ should be back by the Dec/Jan timeframe, so hopefully Pope is successful incorporating him into the system.
It was not a pleasure watching the game until DA checked in. It was an extension of the Georgetown game. DA and JLo are critical to the success of this team and that is obvious. Those two and Mo are game day ready and comfortable in their roles. What I have learned is the leadership is lacking without our point guards. I think Collin and Jasper benefit from the experience, but neither could be a lead guard at this point in the season, and they do not setup teammates. When DA played with Jasper and Collin you saw their confidence pick up in assists and shooting. We have a tremendous ceiling and JQ will add some juice. I think Jelavic is a wild card and I see him being more valuable than Noah and Kam at this point. BG and Malachi have a long way to go, but with JLo they can PNR and rim run. Spacing is the key for those two. We will get pushed by Arkansas and other SEC teams on the road. I do think the Hogs talent wise are underrated and can run with anyone, which is Cal's style. His teams typically fail when you can force them into halfcourt games that require discipline and running sets. A long season ahead. I will be at the Zags game, so looking forward to the growth between now and then. I would say Collin in second half looked like Collin at the end of last season.
Like don’t get me wrong. I was very concerned that first half. And grumpy.Half the fanbase is folding under ZERO pressure
But as we’ve long agreed what happens in game threads stays in game threads.
We stay healthy we will be fine.
Colin is a SG and it showed last night. He shouldn’t play anywhere else. He thrives in that role.
I’m kinda a believer in positionless basketball to a degree (obviously you aren’t gonna have a guy like Lowe or Mugsy Bouges playing C).
But CC showed me last night that sometimes dudes just are better in certain roles. Which I’ve always known but just never really thought about. But CC is a beast at the 2.
I've been saying since summer on here that 3pt shooting would be a weakness for us this year. I expect as a team we will make 33-35% of our 3's. Not bad, but not championship level good. But yeah, we have enough guys capable, that if the right ones get hot in March we can make a run.
It becomes interesting to see what Pope does here right. Because here we have a head coach that wants to take a ton of threes. He's made it that abundantly clear. But what happens if we don't have the shooters to play that way? Does he adapt? Do we still try to shoot a ton of threes?
Hard to tell off one game but we shot 26% from 3. We shot 63% from 2. We took 27 threes last night.
I'm not ready to say this isn't a good shooting team but we did have guys like Brea, Butler and Robinson last season that was really upping that 3 FG% and we have to figure out how to replace that.
This thread was bound to appear sooner or later. First game of the season ... haha...
Ye', of little faith....Some brilliant comedic posts here. Saved for future reference.
This team will shoot just fine this year. There's always been some posters on here that seriously need a spine ( thanks for ordering one for Mike, I think it was.... good catch) and growing a pair of balls (or a new fresh set, as the case may be) is in order for many.
Nice catch on the LOD reference ... funny stuff !
Errbody up here needs to sit back, enjoy an adult beverage and a big fat doobie, and just chill. It'll be alright.
Go Big Blue !
Ye', of little faith....Some brilliant comedic posts here. Saved for future reference.
This team will shoot just fine this year. There's always been some posters on here that seriously need a spine ( thanks for ordering one for Mike, I think it was.... good catch) and growing a pair of balls (or a new fresh set, as the case may be) is in order for many.
Nice catch on the LOD reference ... funny stuff !
Errbody up here needs to sit back, enjoy an adult beverage and a big fat doobie, and just chill. It'll be alright.
Go Big Blue !
I was frustrated, but the fact that we can look at the whole game through the lens of having no starting PG and minimal offense installed, I'm pretty happy with how we performed.
Oh, absolutely.
I was frustrated in the first half, but the fact that we can look at the whole game through the lens of having no starting PG and minimal offense install, I'm pretty happy with how we performed overall.
Now, are we SOL without Aberdeen or Lowe? Absolutely. I think that's partly why Pope is trying so hard to get CC and JJ reps there.
That said, we'll hopefully have less reliance on PGs when the system is in place. Definitely a bit of a concern right now that we have two PGs and not four like we thought/hoped, but we're in it to win it, regardless. I'll be happy when we have reads and cuts and passes figured out, though.
Here's the thing and I know game threads kind of get overly emotional and whatnot.
We did play like crap first half. We didn't shoot it well and looked completely disjointed at times. There was reason to be upset.
But thing is:
We played a team where we were like a 30 point favorite. In the history of college basketball, teams that are that large a favorite win like 99.999% of the time. UK plays Nichols 1 million times they win this game 999,999 times.
Lets flip this tho a second:
Let's say that instead of a 40 min game of basketball, the game was say........1 min. 0-0 and each team has one possession say. Now how often does UK win the game vs Nichols? Well we still win the large majority of the time but it's nowhere near 99%. It's closer to 50 than it is 99.
My point is this. Anything can happen in small samples. This won't be the first half we shoot like crap or look awful. I know I'm kind of asking for much here but this is why I would caution worrying about one half (or even one game or multiple games) of basketball.
We do this all the time here and we also do it with other non UK teams. How often do we see one of our hated rivals, maybe they are playing a very weak team and they are down at the half. Eventually, a tread pops up here about that game. Almost every single time tho, the upset doesn't happen. Because eventually over time cream rises to the top.
I'd just let things play out here. We are top 10 pre season for a reason. This has every chance to be a very good team.
We did play like crap first half. We didn't shoot it well and looked completely disjointed at times. There was reason to be upset.
But thing is:
We played a team where we were like a 30 point favorite. In the history of college basketball, teams that are that large a favorite win like 99.999% of the time. UK plays Nichols 1 million times they win this game 999,999 times.
Lets flip this tho a second:
Let's say that instead of a 40 min game of basketball, the game was say........1 min. 0-0 and each team has one possession say. Now how often does UK win the game vs Nichols? Well we still win the large majority of the time but it's nowhere near 99%. It's closer to 50 than it is 99.
My point is this. Anything can happen in small samples. This won't be the first half we shoot like crap or look awful. I know I'm kind of asking for much here but this is why I would caution worrying about one half (or even one game or multiple games) of basketball.
We do this all the time here and we also do it with other non UK teams. How often do we see one of our hated rivals, maybe they are playing a very weak team and they are down at the half. Eventually, a tread pops up here about that game. Almost every single time tho, the upset doesn't happen. Because eventually over time cream rises to the top.
I'd just let things play out here. We are top 10 pre season for a reason. This has every chance to be a very good team.
Realize point guards are injured, but this group lacks any play makers. Needs to be a forward that can create own shot. Johnson and Aberdeen were the only ones that could do that but they are careless. The guy from Tulare is completely lost and is a horrid shooter thus far. Less than 50% free throw shooting again. Louisville game may be ugly. They are more athletic for sure.
Troll???
Everything he said is true.
We are 4 games in including blue/White which we had Lowe. Chandler, Cam and Noah have shot the 3 at probably lower than 20%.
We don’t have anyone making plays. Jelivic isn’t close to what we thought he might be. He has 4 airballs on 3s by my count. Cam has had 3. They are not only missing, but missing badly.
You have to be honest with yourself. We have looked very disappointing.
Jasper has been the only player that has met expectations. That includes Oweh. The preseason pick for player of the year hasn’t played well at all.
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I read threads like this and it becomes abundantly clear that many posters have never been a successful athlete. They have not been a part of a successful team or organization. They have very little knowledge of basketball.
There are two assumptions being made that are 100% false. One is that we will play like this every game. Hell, we didn’t play like this the whole game. Two, that we will not change and incorporate new offensive and defensive strategies as the season progresses.
Even if you don’t know any better, fake it and act like like this is not your first rodeo. Maybe study the 2014 season. They went to the last regular season game before turning it around.
There are two assumptions being made that are 100% false. One is that we will play like this every game. Hell, we didn’t play like this the whole game. Two, that we will not change and incorporate new offensive and defensive strategies as the season progresses.
Even if you don’t know any better, fake it and act like like this is not your first rodeo. Maybe study the 2014 season. They went to the last regular season game before turning it around.
Has anyone else noticed how most of these : "sky is falling" threads are started by folks new to the board. Hmm
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What a crock, nobody can predict a seasons outcome based on 1 Game, which we won by 20+ points by the way. We beat a FF team Duke in an early season game last year but didn't even get to Elite 8. In the overall s heme of things early results mean next to nothing related to later results
My favorite is when people during the game say "oh if we play like this vs (insert any good team) we are going to get killed"
Then we get to that game, and it never happens lol.
The crazy thing about this game is we actually did some things even on offense pretty well. We shot 63% from 2. We had 15 offensive boards and rebounded 38% of our misses. We got to the line. Even the aspect where people said we were awful, we weren't even entirely awful in lol.
To be fair, we have zero clue what or how JQ will look if/when he returns. Lowe I can understand. I don't think anyone involved truly had JQ penciled in as the "starting center", especially at this point in the season. This team needs to be a top 5-10 team without him, and if/when he returns they will only be better for it.
I think Lowe (and Aberdeen) will make a HUGE difference...I also think, prior to a potential JQ return, playing Moreno more and more over Garrison will be a net gain. Man, Garrison is just an offense killer. He tries way way way to hard to be a focal point. Set screens and rebound. Clean up stuff around the rim. Don't freeze the ball when you get it. His issues just wreck the offense.
Agreed. Last night, specifically last few mins of the first half and most of the second half was probably the first time I bought into a little of the Chandler hype. Lowe/Aberdeen/Oweh/Jasper/Chandler are plenty at the 1-3 spots. If Kam picks it up enough to grab Chandler minutes, fine. Or maybe Jelavich mins if he can't handle being MO's backup, he can get mins there.
I agree for the most part. Of course I didn't mean to suggest that JQ was expected to be playing yet but when he does play he is expected to be the starter because the JQ of last year is much better than the BG and MM of this year.
Man it’s really going to get ugly when we are only winning by 25…
There was definitely no reason to be so utterly morose as some we see. Had I been foolish enough to watch that game and think, oh, that's as good as we can get, then I'd be concerned. However, my impression was that there were so many areas where we can improve. We had many lapses on defense, mistakes we will not make in another 5 games. We had loose balls that we will contest more later in the year. As you point out, we are capable of scoring inside the arc. To the 3 pt or bust boys, I would simply say unless you can win without them then you don't have a team. We won without them. For us, defense, rebounding and passing will make us competitive in each game we play. If we shoot well also, then we will unstoppable in most games.
I think most of the poor mouthing comes from gamblers that are upset over thinking they had a sure thing through the year. Their opinions are irrelevant. Others come from opposing team fans that are cheap shotting our fan base and they are being successful so far. Also its stylish these days to be a self proclaimed critic. These are the like the ones that aspire to write a book on being a great lover, but don't actually know any women.
We have no idea right now how good this team is going to be, until we get Lowe and JQ playing, and get a few games under their belts.
For sure! I think Moreno is better than BG. It’s a bad situation, but I’d love to see MM get the lions share of the mins, that ensures he’s a perfect JQ backup come late Jan (when I think JQ MIGHT be ready for real actual mins).
I do have some early concerns. That said I’ve always contended that we won’t know what we have until Janurary at least and I still believe that even more now.
Yeah I mean I think given our roster and the lofty pre season ranking you have to figure it would be a massive disappointment if we weren't a top team this season.
Are we in that group of say 6 to 8 teams that could cut down the nets in March? That remains to be seen. And I think especially with this squad, we won't know till later since we won't have our full roster until conference play at the eariliest I'm thinking.
This isn't like 2012 or 2015 where you just knew right off the bat those teams were great.
Are we in that group of say 6 to 8 teams that could cut down the nets in March? That remains to be seen. And I think especially with this squad, we won't know till later since we won't have our full roster until conference play at the eariliest I'm thinking.
This isn't like 2012 or 2015 where you just knew right off the bat those teams were great.
