Garrison quote

bleedsblue5

All-Conference
Jul 1, 2025
544
1,168
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1791928825798.png

This is something I wonder if Pope will get better at, like I get that he is not gonna yell, but at times we need him to be intense. AND FOR SURE get on some guys on Defense. If he can't do it then give one of his assistants full permission on Defense to get in someone's grill.

For all of the who cares about Garrison blah blah, ya I get it - I don't care about him anymore either, just made me think a little bit about how Pope is.

His biggest downfall imo, is he is 2 laid back. There has to be a happy medium somewhere, Cal was 2 rugged at times and Pope seems like he just took a valium on the sidelines.
 

Wildcat_in_DC

All-Conference
Nov 25, 2025
1,223
2,058
113
View attachment 1483846

This is something I wonder if Pope will get better at, like I get that he is not gonna yell, but at times we need him to be intense. AND FOR SURE get on some guys on Defense. If he can't do it then give one of his assistants full permission on Defense to get in someone's grill.

For all of the who cares about Garrison blah blah, ya I get it - I don't care about him anymore either, just made me think a little bit about how Pope is.

His biggest downfall imo, is he is 2 laid back. There has to be a happy medium somewhere, Cal was 2 rugged at times and Pope seems like he just took a valium on the sidelines.
one can easily argue that the best thing to happen to this team was pope whiffing on stokes because there was a ZERO percent chance he could mange him. big, strong personalities will just run over pope. sadly....that is what most of the elite talents have.
 

katwest

Heisman
Feb 16, 2003
40,122
14,283
113
Different strokes for different folks, most kids to today can’t stand being yelled at and sull up and pout. Did it take Garrison two seasons to find that out, Tony Bennett, Lute Olsen, Jay Wright, and a lot of others were not intense yellers and they won things that mattered too. This season will big for Pope, he needs to have a healthy team for a whole season before I’m ready to say he ain’t it. To judge him on the first two seasons with injured point guards and JQ for most of the year is not rational. Robinson was also hurt for at least half the first year also, that’s Popes personality, I’d like to see him craw somebody’s a— sometimes too. We will see this year, you don’t have to be an intense yeller to get results. You have to consider the source of what was said.
 
Last edited:

UKWildcats1987

Heisman
Sep 9, 2021
20,646
36,850
113
You’re right for the most part, I would say 2017 was our last chance. I however don’t think Oats is the answer.

Didnt say he was. But who are we gonna get thats better?

Hurley or Golden? Dont see them leaving their schools and honestly Oats wouldnt either.
 
Mar 13, 2026
516
445
63
View attachment 1483846

This is something I wonder if Pope will get better at, like I get that he is not gonna yell, but at times we need him to be intense. AND FOR SURE get on some guys on Defense. If he can't do it then give one of his assistants full permission on Defense to get in someone's grill.

For all of the who cares about Garrison blah blah, ya I get it - I don't care about him anymore either, just made me think a little bit about how Pope is.

His biggest downfall imo, is he is 2 laid back. There has to be a happy medium somewhere, Cal was 2 rugged at times and Pope seems like he just took a valium on the sidelines.
One day people will learn that mark pope is a complete fraud! It’s almost too late. Kentucky is becoming Indiana.
 

Lameguy

Senior
Mar 20, 2026
299
625
93
Didnt say he was. But who are we gonna get thats better?

Hurley or Golden? Dont see them leaving their schools and honestly Oats wouldnt either.
2019-
20
Alabama 16-15
2020-
21
Alabama 26-7
2021-
22
Alabama 19-14
This is Oat’s first 3 years at Alabama, that’s an average record of 20.3- 12. I think we can at least wait till the end of year 3 for Pope before declaring he’s not a real coach.
 

ScWildcat3

All-Conference
Sep 27, 2005
1,267
1,884
113
Yes garrisons quotes and what we have been told doesn’t add up. He says pope is an X and O’s guy but everyone claims pope only is analytical. Also we have been told by numerous players that pope yells a ton. I think garrison just didn’t get yelled at cuz it didn’t resonate. Also guess he forgets pope telling him to go sit the bench the rest of the game several times for being lazy.
 

JPFisher

Heisman
Jul 24, 2013
6,903
13,515
113
Wasn't Pope supposed to be an analytics guy and that was the reason for all his insane sub patterns
Bless Garrison, but I don't know wtf the difference between analytics and XS and Os is supposed to be. They aren't mutually exclusive mindsets. Pope puts a lot of his Xs and Os out based on analytics... At least according to what we've heard.
 

Lameguy

Senior
Mar 20, 2026
299
625
93
Yes garrisons quotes and what we have been told doesn’t add up. He says pope is an X and O’s guy but everyone claims pope only is analytical. Also we have been told by numerous players that pope yells a ton. I think garrison just didn’t get yelled at cuz it didn’t resonate. Also guess he forgets pope telling him to go sit the bench the rest of the game several times for being lazy.
Seems like they’re making an effort to convince everyone that Garrison is an unbelievable talent. Well I can honestly say he did things last year that I couldn’t believe.😂😂😂😂
 

JPFisher

Heisman
Jul 24, 2013
6,903
13,515
113
BG played like he was asleep most of the time. A dude I respect at work said "looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane." Also said he half assed practices too.

If you need a coach to yell at you to be motivated, idk what to tell you. Pope jumping his case wasn't going to suddenly make him give a damn at least every other play or go get a rebound instead of watch it go over his head repeatedly.

Cannot understand why Pope wanted to keep him after the first season.
 

Lameguy

Senior
Mar 20, 2026
299
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I love this thread. People who spent two full years running down Brandon Garrison as a lazy flake with a low basketball IQ are now treating some random comment by him as Basketball Gospel by Pat Riley or Phil Jackson. Why? Because it’s another chance to pile on Pope.
In Garrison’s defense, I don’t think he’s going to say “well I sucked most of the time at UK.”
 

Im The Village Idiot

All-American
Sep 7, 2025
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Funny how Brandon Garrison is saying something I’ve been saying for a long time now. The issue with Pope isn’t that he uses analytics — the issue is that he implements them very loosely, while ELITE coaches are using principles from analytics very strictly and intently. Pope needs to lean more into the data rather than away from it. BG is right in my estimation.
 
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Feb 2, 2026
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Yes garrisons quotes and what we have been told doesn’t add up. He says pope is an X and O’s guy but everyone claims pope only is analytical. Also we have been told by numerous players that pope yells a ton. I think garrison just didn’t get yelled at cuz it didn’t resonate. Also guess he forgets pope telling him to go sit the bench the rest of the game several times for being lazy.

a. We were told a lot of **** about Pope that ain't true.

b. I'd put a HELL of a lot more stock in what a dude who literally just spent two years playing with Pope has to say than whatever media/Twitter ******** is out there. Pope is soft. He literally sounded like he was going to off himself after the Michigan State game. It was super pathetic and embarrassing.
 

ScWildcat3

All-Conference
Sep 27, 2005
1,267
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Seems like they’re making an effort to convince everyone that Garrison is an unbelievable talent. Well I can honestly say he did things last year that I couldn’t believe.😂😂😂😂
Exactly. He is a great player. Once every 10 or so games. That’s the problem.
 
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ScWildcat3

All-Conference
Sep 27, 2005
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Funny how Brandon Garrison is saying something I’ve been saying for a long time now. The issue with Pope isn’t that he uses analytics — the issue is that he implements them very loosely, while ELITE coaches are using principles from analytics very strictly and intently. Pope needs to lean more into the data rather than away from it. BG is right in my estimation.
Most say the opposite. Say he uses analytics too much. Say he needs to use game feel more. I think he’s just usually been hamstrung early in season by injuries that kept him from ever being able to run a steady rotation along with gameplan.
 

Im The Village Idiot

All-American
Sep 7, 2025
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Most say the opposite. Say he uses analytics too much. Say he needs to use game feel more. I think he’s just usually been hamstrung early in season by injuries that kept him from ever being able to run a steady rotation along with gameplan.
Pope has also allowed a steady diet of midrange from non-elite mid range shooters, runs frequent post ups for non-elite post scorers and added players to his rosters that aren’t conducive to data driven offenses in 2026. Looking at players like Mouhamed Dioubate and Zoom Diallo with this critique. A coach who is fully committed to advanced data is probably shying away from heavily featuring non-shooting guards and inside the paint power forwards. That’s aside from the defensive analytics aspects of this discussion, which is its own deal.

Let me be clear — I’m 100% behind coach to turn this around and be here forever if he can perform up to Kentucky standards, but I’d definitely rather have a more faithful analytics guy like Oats if it doesn’t work out.
 

JHBr

Junior
Nov 13, 2025
183
396
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BG does not give the vibe that he is intellectual. I hope he figures it out, perhaps Oats can help him moreso than Pope did. My guess is he will help Bama win some games and lose some, too. Hard to imagine him becoming a standout player after three years.
 

BlueSince92

All-Conference
Jul 2, 2025
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I don’t care if he’s laid back and imo analytics is generally fool’s gold. Data lacking context.

Pope can’t recruit worth a damn but if he could I’m take him over Oats any day. X’s and O’s are what built Kentucky. Analytics is what helped Cal piss away a good thing.
 
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sefus12

Heisman
Dec 22, 2007
7,291
19,373
103
2019-
20
Alabama 16-15
2020-
21
Alabama 26-7
2021-
22
Alabama 19-14
This is Oat’s first 3 years at Alabama, that’s an average record of 20.3- 12. I think we can at least wait till the end of year 3 for Pope before declaring he’s not a real coach.
Get ready to be blasted by the folks who are actively pulling for the Cats to lose so they can say they were right about Pope.
 

FitchandMurray29

All-American
Dec 11, 2021
2,825
5,995
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So then Oats should turn Garrison into an All SEC player if his style is so great then, right? I'll take wagers he's the same old BG
Personally, I have no problem with what he said.

But last offseason I did pretty extensive research on big guys ranked between like 25-50 in the country coming out of HS, with multiple years in college. Those guys almost never significantly improved.
 
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UKWildcats1987

Heisman
Sep 9, 2021
20,646
36,850
113
2019-
20
Alabama 16-15
2020-
21
Alabama 26-7
2021-
22
Alabama 19-14
This is Oat’s first 3 years at Alabama, that’s an average record of 20.3- 12. I think we can at least wait till the end of year 3 for Pope before declaring he’s not a real coach.

You are seriously comparing Alabama basketball to UK basketball?

Alabama didn't and doesnt have the NIL war chest UK has. Its like UK football and Alabama football and why 5 and 1 UK is way more impressive than 5 and 1 Bama. Bama has way more resources. Coaching matters.

Pope has been a coach for like 12 years. We have a good sample size. Oats actually won a couple of ncaa games at Buffalo begore going to Alabama. 2 more than pope won at his prior 2 jobs before coming to uk.

Oats is a much better coach and only a small moronic portion of our fanbase would debate that.
 
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yoshukai

Heisman
Dec 21, 2002
30,363
43,303
102
View attachment 1483846

This is something I wonder if Pope will get better at, like I get that he is not gonna yell, but at times we need him to be intense. AND FOR SURE get on some guys on Defense. If he can't do it then give one of his assistants full permission on Defense to get in someone's grill.

For all of the who cares about Garrison blah blah, ya I get it - I don't care about him anymore either, just made me think a little bit about how Pope is.

His biggest downfall imo, is he is 2 laid back. There has to be a happy medium somewhere, Cal was 2 rugged at times and Pope seems like he just took a valium on the sidelines.
Anyone that pays attention to anything BG says is as big a fool as he is . The kid has the maturity of a 12 year old.
 

LineSkiCat14

Heisman
Aug 5, 2015
39,741
62,684
113
Changing your personality at this age is nearly impossible. If Pope is going to run a looser ship, isnt the intense type, then he's not gonna change into something else now.

You can change offenses. You can change recruiting philosophy or player strategy.. but you cant really change who you are.
 
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rob_47

All-Conference
Jun 17, 2020
979
1,940
93
Wasn't Pope supposed to be an analytics guy and that was the reason for all his insane sub patterns
I wouldn't put to much into what Garrison said. Half the time these guys just come up with something on the fly that sounds reasonable. To answer your question though yes we have been fed the belief that Pope really takes the analytics into account but maybe Oats takes it to another level. Or as I suspect, Garrison is just giving a fluff answer that sounds reasonable.
 

Lameguy

Senior
Mar 20, 2026
299
625
93
You are seriously comparing Alabama basketball to UK basketball?

Alabama didn't and doesnt have the NIL war chest UK has. Its like UK football and Alabama football and why 5 and 1 UK is way more impressive than 5 and 1 Bama. Bama has way more resources. Coaching matters.

Pope has been a coach for like 12 years. We have a good sample size. Oats actually won a couple of ncaa games at Buffalo begore going to Alabama. 2 more than pope won at his prior 2 jobs before coming to uk.

Oats is a much better coach and only a small moronic portion of our fanbase would debate that.
Not saying he’s better or worse, I’m saying wait till the season is over. It’s pointless to ***** and moan about Pope when there’s still a season to play. Nobody knows what he can do with a healthy roster, Last years team was a group of selfish players and yes that incudes OO, DA, MD, JJ along with BG. I think Pope even said that they had to simplify the offense for them early on (selfish plus not a lot of basketball IQ on that team).
 
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