That was one of my concerns coming into the year. But this is more than bad defense. We can't score either; not beyond Lowe.
The collapse is palpable and it's wildly disappointing.
Coaching Malpractice
- Thread starter I’m The Village Idiot
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That was one of my concerns coming into the year. But this is more than bad defense. We can't score either; not beyond Lowe.
The collapse is palpable and it's wildly disappointing.
This offense not being elite is understandable with guys not making enough shots. We know Pope can coach offense, but he has a top 3 defense type of roster and not in the top 25 with them. It’s on Pope, tactically. I genuinely cannot believe how bad he is coaching defense.
I told you why. And it should be upsetting. Anyone blaming the players is ridiculous.
Yeah, I don't get it. At all. Dude played under Pitino- I'd be ashamed of myself tbh.
I'll blame the players on their piss poor effort. But there's plenty of blame to go around.
Pope just blamed the loss on lack of physicality. Try inadequate lineups and not guarding the 3.
Kentucky has played six ranked opponents this season. They are 1-5 with an average margin of loss of 15.6 points. They have trailed by 20 points or more in four of those losses.
JQ certainly is not helping his draft. At the rate he is playing, he should plan on playing next year to rebuilt the draft value.
This, on all counts
It's both. We looked like we could care less in the first half
Unless “healthy” is a code word for the next Nikola Jokic, then “healthy” means nothing!
Just kidding, I know what you meant
We did a similar thing last year with 1st half poor play. The difference is the squad last year wanted to win much more than the kids do this year.
I have a theory for that…. I think Pope initially was riding the high of being at his “dream job”, and rode that wave all of last season… Then the recruiting misses started to pile up, roster pieces started to look “discombobulated”, injuries, locker room issues, and just general conflicts in general, and Pope’s butt tightened up like a drum head, and now his personality is faced with pressures he’s not wired to handle, much less, overcome…
In short, dude’s in over his head at UK, and drowning before our very eyes. Sad that Mitch got lazy, and panicked like the washed up old fart he is!
Exactly!! You play hand you dealt. That's Pope's biggest problem. He recruits players that don't fit his style and most won't come here anyway. he ignores the players that do fit until it's too late. Then doesn't adapt to what he has. I hate the way Mich St plays. But to Izzo's credit, he recruits to it and stays with it. You know before watch a Mich St game what you are going to see. Pope has no such conviction.
You would think so. But I don't believe they work on it now. There's no way that 2 consecutive teams could just not be coachable.
Entirely possible, sadly. I had Pope pegged as the coolest guy in any room and believed that right up until that Pilgrim stuff about him getting emotional and saying he wasn’t going to get into a bidding war. Now I don’t know what to believe and I feel like anything is on the table.
I don't understand how you're not good at coaching defense. So much of it's effort. And just some basic basic principles.
I don't think Pope is so stupid that he thinks you're supposed to go under screens vs Alabama. But...we watched his team do it over and over today.
There's clearly a concerning trend. Last year we excused it because he didn't have the athletes. This year, we clearly have the athletes. Somehow, we don't have the effort. We don't have the brains.
And those things ultimately fall on coaching when it's a repeated trend.
Exactly! I was talking to the TV about the collapse defense the whole game. Most everyone on this board all saw this. How can this staff not see and adjust? I’m so frustrated with the rotations. And why are we not starting Lowe and JQ? Chandler couldn’t guard anyone, of course if he was coached to be in better positioning defensively it would help. Just a lot needs fixing.
I know Clyde catches strays, and for good reason. But that dude can coach.
I am surprised we are this bad on offense. He coached a number of players last year who were mediocre for their whole careers. Oweh, Williams, Butler, Robinson, and to a certain extent Brea all stepped up from their career expectations
Defense is a lot about effort but it’s also a lot about coaching in a way that every player on your team clearly understands what their assignment is in a given scenario. I gather that most of our players have no clue what their assignment is in certain situations. Defense relies on communication far more than offense, but you can only communicate what you know. There’s either a knowledge issue, a communication issue or a combination of both.
The amount of just pure *** beatings we have had since pope is comical. Just pure *** beatings
Dude..everyone that has seen Alabama play knows that they LOVE to utilize the fade screen. We looked like we had never seen it before. And we had what? Two WEEKS to prepare for it ?
Mindboggling .
They didn't even have to fade screen us. They did and it worked.
But basic ball screens killed us. Our guys (especially Chandler) went under so much. And they were left with a wide open look.
Like, your point is correct. We weren't prepared for Alabama. But hell, we're not even prepared for basic ball screens vs good shooting teams. We're so far away from anything competent.
Pope is a lot of things. Cool ain’t one of them. Dude is an effing dork to the nth degree.
I mean okay but you would say you are cool and you are an effing dork. It's kind of subjective and I'd kind of like to see your wife compared to Pope's wife if we want an objective, results-based measuring system.
Without Lowe they would have absolutely lost by 35 or more today. He made a difference but he can't do it by himself.
I didn’t think we would start losing by 40 against good teams but I had concerns and they have been more than validated.
That's what I mean. We all had some concerns, but most of it was fixable or semi-excusable first year type stuff.
Getting waxed by every good team with a pulse was not on my bingo card for this season.
Problem is...this is below average. I would like someone to say one thing positive that Pope is doing right now. Currently zero recruits, defense is still bad for a poor defensive coach and his supposedly expertise offense is really offensive. He goes to these post game presser especially the one with Jeff Goodman where he looks totally lost, totally defeated. Can't motivate or prepare this team. Another weak team that can't stand physicality. So as I said what is he doing well.
That is so true. I also see some apathy setting in. Who actually believed we had a chance today. I didn’t. This team and its coach have given me zero reason to believe they could win.
For me, I’m someone who considers things like injuries. The fact that we had our whole team out there finally and 11 days rest and looked like our gameplan was created by a “spin the wheel” game —- I just can’t see how i trust Pope again. I really mean this —- it isn’t about the scoreboard to me. If we played well and they made tough shots and win by 15, I’d simply be disappointed. I didn’t expect to win that game anyway. But the bad coaching was so apparent to anyone being honest today —- and it’s frustrating that it’s the same gameplan that we were using BEFORE we added a lottery pick defensive anchor. I cannot believe that we didn’t adjust our philosophy to account for that kind of a defensive menace.