Has absolutely derailed any chance we had this year. Looking back to the obvious, how in Gods name did Pope make the same mistake that he made last year taking a damaged pg that could NEVER SHOOT? How did he end up with no viable backup to Malachi??? Why in the hell did he keep Garrison? JQ was always a gamble but do we need to take a $3 million dollar gamble? And finally, why take a guy that’s been a career backup in Aberdeen and think that he’s gonna somehow be a great starting guard? We were doomed from the start. SMH. This was such an epic failure that I truly think Pope needs to be shown the door. Not to mention the total lack of attention to our current recruiting class and our zero commits. I mean who tf wants to play for this shitshow rn???
Horrible, horrible roster construction
- Thread starter TreyzAllDay
- Start date
It’s hard to understand, but also easy to understand when you just accept the reality…
Pope did what he did, got who he got, because that’s what was available to him. That’s the only players that wanted to play for him, and by all accounts, he had to spend 2x- 3x their declared value, just to get them!
Fans are really overvaluing how bad of a recruiter Pope is, and now add the JMI contract, and he’ll be fortunate to get anyone of any value going into next season.
Hence…
Pope did what he did, got who he got, because that’s what was available to him. That’s the only players that wanted to play for him, and by all accounts, he had to spend 2x- 3x their declared value, just to get them!
Fans are really overvaluing how bad of a recruiter Pope is, and now add the JMI contract, and he’ll be fortunate to get anyone of any value going into next season.
Hence…
The problem with Aberdeen is not that he’s starting. The only reason he didn’t start at Florida is because they had the best friggin backcourt in the country last year.
Instead, the problem is that he’s been forcing him to play the wrong position. Aberdeen is a pure wing that should never ever be playing the point/lead guard role. Same goes for Johnson and Chandler. With Lowe gone, this team has nobody suited to play the game’s most important position.
Which is particularly inexcusable, given that’s the exact same problem that derailed last season after Butler got injured. You’d think Pope would have learned his lesson from that and made sure this year’s roster was double stocked at point. But nope.
Hindsight is 20/20. I dare say there were very few people that weren’t excited about the roster coming into the season. I think it’s fair to criticize not having a true back up point guard though.
Losing makes things look worse. Was super pumped about this team all summer. Like you said most people were. On paper it seemed great. Once they hit the court it’s been turrible as Charles Barkley would say.
I wish I could find the threads. I remember one where they were saying this was going to be one of the best all time UK rosters. They were comparing it to Pitinos ‘96 team. Now it is the worst ever.
He had two. Acaden didn’t want to compete and took the easy way out.
The players we do have could be coached up though.
They could be coached to play as a unit.
They are not being.
They could be coached to play defense.
They are not.
They could be over prepared to make up for shortcomings. They are not.
They could be coached to play as a unit.
They are not being.
They could be coached to play defense.
They are not.
They could be over prepared to make up for shortcomings. They are not.
But there was PLENTY of time …literally months …to pursue another point after Lewis decommitted. I don’t think Pope even tried.
Why did we take additional unnecessary bigs (Hawthorne and Potter) as our last two recruits, when the roster was already overloaded with bigs and had a glaring hole with no backup point? That made absolutely no sense to me.
One of the problems is that he’s one of our starters and is probably our third offensive option. You referenced Florida’s backcourt, which was obviously championship-level. If I’m trying to emulate a national champion, I don’t take their sixth man and turn him into my starter—especially not a player who has already spent three years in college.
If anything, you take a national champion’s sixth man and make him your sixth man, in the same role he excelled in at Florida. That would actually be copying a winning model.
By the time a player has been in college two or three years, he is what he is—shooter or non-shooter, defender or non-defender, rebounder or not. You don’t bring in experienced portal guys and try to change them. The portal should make evaluations easier, not harder. You’re getting players who have already proven what they consistently do at the college level.
I understand projecting with high school players and freshmen. That makes sense. But Kentucky shouldn’t be projecting with upperclassmen. Expecting a guy like Lowe to suddenly become a shooter after two seasons of not being one, blaming his numbers on being on a bad team, or assuming Denzel would’ve been a starter elsewhere—that’s all speculation.
Let smaller programs take those risks. At Kentucky, you should be bringing in upperclassmen who have already done it. We shouldn’t have to project—we should be selecting.
mistake
Lamont Butler added ten points to his perimeter shooting percentage year over year by coming here. Finished the season having shot 39% on nearly three attempts per game to go with driving, 4.3 assists to 2.0 turnovers, and legendary defense. Was increasingly being called the best guard in the entire country before he got injured. “Mistake” LOL
Also, it's not like Pope failed to get a backup PG last year. The problem was the backup got hurt in Game #9.
Or at least get 2’s and 3’s that can handle the ball a little.
When our point guard is out we have zero ball handling.
I actually think Pope went against his better judgement when constructing this roster. I think his conventional thought is high IQ offensive-minded players but he was talked into recruiting defense and athleticism. I look for him in future rosters to simply say "im doing what I think is best and letting the chips fall where they may". Although i think he's smart enough to find balance. We will see
Acaden was fine with being PG #2 behind a guy like Dent, then taking the reins as a sophomore. Where Pope screwed the pooch is he signed Lowe who had 2 years of eligibility left, meaning Lewis would likely not start until his Junior year. Can you blame him for bailing?
Pope botched the recruitment, simple as that.
I drank the koolaid that the achelies heel last year was lack of speed and athleticism. So I thought we had a more speedy and athletic team guards to bigs this year. I think the problem this year is Pope can't coach an athletic team. Before they even shoot a basket they should be trying to out tough, out rebound, out defend EVERY opponent. Teams like Alabama that are not huge win the rebounding battle with ease.
Good point and yes Aberdeen as well as Chandler and Johnson are all being asked to play out of position versus what they were recruited for. For Chandler this is the second year of being asked to help at pg.
I can give Pope some slack for last year because the Kerr injury was a fluke. After going through that last year it is inexcusable that he didn't have another back up pg on the roster.
The writing is pretty much on the wall when it comes to recruiting. Not any fun to admit but he can't recruit.
We didn't get any of our initial portal targets this year and the freshman class is loaded this year and we didn't land any big time recruit. Yes Moreno is good and Johnson has talent but they are not the same as Wilson .
This year we are sitting on a big goose egg for recruits. We are in a tough spot.