Surprised a fanbase site could write something with this much praise.
Duke Basketball Report Article - Good Read
- Thread starter TankedCat
- Start date
I think the narrative is going to change on UK. Yes, we will have intense rivalries, but a lot of the hatred towards us was actually about Calipari. The hatred of our "NBA factory" team overshadowed any respect other fanbases would have towards us. We will see what happens, but I think we will be received a lot better than before.
What I think we could see happen, would be kinda cool, but it also means not winning big right away. But if Pope goes to the NIT year 1, then back to back Sweet 16s the fan base will be reasonably happy with it, especially if after the second S16 we have a lot returning for a big run in year 4. It’s at that point where we become an early favorite that the love will be at its high. From there we make them hate us. By winning. And winning. And winning.
We live in a world of copycats especially in sports. One team hires an NBA guy and several more follow. It may be that Mitch went the way of Duke and UNC. A little different in that their coaches sat on the bench of their mentors. I, too, was not very happy with the Pope hire initially but am totally on board but as Pope said yesterday and the article said, can/will he deliver. We shall see but I am confident he will.