Chicken littles on this page, cal lost to Edwardsville at Kentucky, lost to North Carolina Ashville or something and had a 8 win season. People tend to forget how bad he was last 5 years.
Does it infuriate anyone else that Calipari
- Thread starter judgefudge101
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a couple bad games out of a large sample size
pope has had a lot of bad games in a small smaple size
You are either a cal fan or a duke fan. I can't decide which. No he was awful last 5 years. We lost to Evansville at home. Pope still hasn't lost to anyone as bad as Evansville. Pope has never won only 8 games with NBA talent either...
Oh yeah the team we lost to was unc Wilmington with reeves, Reed wagner and company. Yeah we aren't playing good basketball but can't give up yet chicken littles.
Yeah the late tourney collapses were puzzling and it looked like Cal just wasn’t interested any more and that was ok. Sometimes people just need a refresher. It’s what we got in unproven Pope is what’s so maddening. Looks like we’ll have to ride out a late Cal-like existence for a couple years which is so unfair to the long-faithful BBN.
Probably could get Dusty May, mostly on the premise that its Michigan basketball, which is kind of a 3rd or 4th tier basketball program
However.. its a different era now. The blue bloods arent the automatic dream jobs they used to be, as every school can pay for players. Michigan on top of that, is a rich Big10 school that could certainly tap into more money than UK ever could if it chose to. Dusty May might honestly see the Michigan job as higher ranked than Kentucky, and you honestly, with an objective eye, cant say hes wrong.
Pope has only coached us two seasons. How many seasons did cal win a championship?I believe the answer is one and he has had 1000 x the talent. Also last year the sec was way better than majority of time when cal coached. He let sharpe sit and not play. So many players came through and he allowed to play that wer cancers wheeler, Ryan Harrow, quade green, etc. He thought this was cal u, he's a good recruiter but guy can't coach.
Yep, his last years are dead on equal to Tubby's almost exactly. He got fat and lazy and never was going to get to a final four here again. He had burned all bridges with the media, boosters, fans, and officials. What he does at Arkansas is irrelevant. He was great for a while then decent then unacceptable in his Fat Elvis era.
Everything might have gone differently if he either had gone undefeated in 2015 or maybe even if he just hadn't had the rift with Robic. There's an alternate timeline where he wins a second championship and stays the hottest coach in the country.
"he had 1000x the talent"
thats the point your missing, give pope good players and i think he can be good
but with him being an awful recruiter idk if he will ever get great players
I'm pissed we lost to Carolina we were better. Popes line ups and coaching this year hasn't been good but I'll give him a little more time before I say fire him. Teams can turn it around I've seen Connecticut do it a number of times, regardless the coach.
He should have gotten another PG, Noah needs to shoot or not play. Garrison, barely needs to play. Aberdeen if he plays like that , or how he did during Michigan State he needs to be benched. He is supposed to be the pg. Johnson don't need to play big games yet cuz all he does is clunk up shots. Jelavic needs to play more but needs to work on his defense. Kam needs to drive more since his shot isn't going down this year. I don't think it's recruiting per say. I think kids aren't producing and without certain pieces it takes time to have cohesiveness.
we werent better than carolina.... they had better players that made plays down the stretch
No they didn't. Caleb wilson just shoots up shots. He was 5 for whatever. The only thing they had better than us was taller guys. We were better at almost every position. Oweh is better than all of their players. Chandler is better than most and Jelavic is more talented than that freshmen Wilson. He is way more versatile.
We were better than Carolina? Lolllll
Yes 100 percent. That's why most people are pissed we lost. Besides Caleb wilson and the fat dude who lowers his shoulders who does North Carolina even have. That tiny guard outplayed Aberdeen but was a nobody.
Truth -- outside of Wilson, UNC roster is a bunch of uninspiring role players just like us, and UNC's 2nd best player (4 star recruit, returning player) was out. We had every opportunity to win that game, they did not play well.
Yeah since 2020. Last year wasn't bad besides losing to ohio state. We beat duke Gonzaga, the two times. We made the sweet 16 something we haven't done in 5 years. Just cuz we have started off bad don't mean pope can't turn it around. Most fans who are on the fire Pope train are young fans who watched cal Kentucky teams, I was mad last night but saying **** is just making us fans look bad. I just hope pope can turn it around and shut some fans up either real or fake or bandwagon.
Cal is having better results right now because he has changed—something he wasn’t doing here—be it his because he’s refreshed, NIL or whatever he’s modified his roster construction. He’s mixing in returning talent with 1 and done guys. Guys are coming back that he wasnt getting to do so here.
Pope’s record to me is not an X’s and O’s thing so much as it is the Jimmies and Joes. His biggest X’s and O’s issue is his substitution patterns that appear to be dictated by his fatigue metrics. Somebody close to both the program is going to have to get in his ear and get him to adjust or he will be done sooner rather than later. He has to upgrade the talent and he will have to land some elite HS guys, better portal guys and construct a better roster. Resources aren’t the issue so the lack of talent falls 100% on Pope and MUST be resolved.
He screwed the pooch this year with roster construction and he needs to show the fans there is hope for the future. Platitudes won’t do it. To do it he has to get a Stokes/Collins sooner rather than later. He’s gonna have to figure out how to get Lowe and JQ on the court asap or just say it ain’t happening and he will not have these roster construction issues going forward.
Pope needs to work out because if it does his passion and understanding of UK matched with success can be incredible and the fanbase needs it to be.
If you can't coach the players you have and recruited, are you really a good coach? Being better due to having better players isn't really good coaching.
it isnt, but cal was the same way, HE NEEDED good talent, pope might be in that same boat
for example cal with last years roster wouldnt win 18 games
The problem with that is Cal also took several less talented guys and developed them into damn good ball players during his career. I haven't seen that from Pope.
If there's one thing you can count on Cal for in 2025, it's not losing to Louisville/Rick Pitino.
Also no, I'm not infuriated by it. I was
actually rooting for Cal to win this one at least. Don't hate the man like some of the fanbase does, (or in the case of some posters in this thread did before Pope started to struggle) just don't want to seem him have huge success elsewhere after falling off in his last few years here.
actually rooting for Cal to win this one at least. Don't hate the man like some of the fanbase does, (or in the case of some posters in this thread did before Pope started to struggle) just don't want to seem him have huge success elsewhere after falling off in his last few years here.
Exactly it was 5 years past time to go no matter how bad Pope is sucking right now Cal was sucking a lot harder...... I think people kind of forget about 9-16 , Oakland , and St Peters just in Cal's last 5 years! If Pope don't get the ship on track he will be replaced it's kind of like the transition from Tubby to BCG to Cal. The next hire will be the right hire UK will get it right!
I think coaching at a major program has a 10 year max shelf life. After that it’s time for a change. Even with like IZZO, Michigan state is good but hasn’t won anything in like 25 years. Just depends on your goals I guess.
I just wonder tho. Maybe our perception of this job isn't necessarily the "dream job" that we think it is. At least anymore.
I remember that first Cal press conference here. He was thrilled to be here. I believe him when he said that was his dream job. Pope obviously being a UK guy was also .........you can just tell he loves UK.
But I'm beginning to think the general consensus is it's just not as an attractive position as it once was.
Because there was several guys out there.........Oats, Hurley, MIller etc. And we ended up with.........Mark Pope.
I'm not ready to hop off the Pope train yet but he definitely has a lot to prove here.
Cal was probably a march run away from retirement. Then the committee gave him two teams that were great matchups. Now he is reenergized and with good nil.
Unfortunately they are way better than us. We have no one that would even get much pt for them. It will most likely get ugly down there.
Unfortunately they are way better than us. We have no one that would even get much pt for them. It will most likely get ugly down there.
Agree. We went half of the second half without a field goal and lost by three. We need a true point guard.
Um butler, amari ring any bells. Lord, y'all just love cal. Butler got so much better offensively. Chandler this year has gotten better. I don't think some of you are actual fans, you just come here when Kentucky loses. Cal took what player beside harrelson and developed them. Alexander, maxey only played one year