I agree, maybe not next year as I’m not sure how good of a roster he can assemble this quick but after 2 years.
I quit UK Basketball for about 8 hours.
- Thread starter Mike-D
- Start date
See this is the attitude all Kentucky fans should have. If you agree or disagree with the hire.
Get behind the man or kick rocks. He love the Wildcats.
He might do great. He might not. But I guarantee you he will pour his heart and soul into the job. If he fails it won't be for lack of trying.
You forgot...Gooooooo!!!!!!!!We'll never have to hear Cal's favorite expressions ever again. "I haven't seen him" "youngest team in the country" "they're not robots" "players first" pushing guys out to the NBA, and on and on. At least you've got that. Pope is not in any way at fault here, and I know you are aware of that. He hasn't won any NCAA-T games but he's shown he has basketball acumen and won 23 games this year (won at Kansas and vs Baylor) with a bunch of guys who had to sign papers about not having sex, not drinking alcohol, and doing a 2-year mission. So, he can coach. And he's all about the name on the front of the jersey, which is very refreshing. We just need to help him get a team on the court.
I wasn't happy at all at first, either. But I'm gonna support him. Go Pope! Go Cats!
I mean, I'm glad you are back, I guess, but man that's a pathetic thing to admit.
Sure, but you have to judge things on a curve. He started at Utah St. and then BYU. Judging someone in large part due to an extremely small sample size of their performance in a single elimination tournament isn't the correct thing to do.
I'm not saying he's Hurley, but Hurley had a .579 winning percentage at Rhode Island. His brother was considered the better coach. Dan had won two tournament games in his six years there. There's realistically no difference between a guy that happens to win two and a guy who lost two. It's two games, putting that much stock in such an incredibly small sample size is foolish. Wright took a decade to win a tournament game. It took Hurley four years at UConn to do it.
Getting on Pope for lack of conference success is missing tons of context. He was going up against Gonzaga. Very few coaches in the country are going to win that conference at BYU when Gonzaga is a national powerhouse. I don't think people realize how much being at BYU handicaps the players he can get. It is worth noting in 2020 he had a great team who finished second in conference, was ranked 13 in Kenpom at the end of the year and would have gotten a 4 or 5 seed. The next year he again finished second in conference to Gonzaga.
Then he moves to the Big 12 which may be the best conference in the country. This year he took a team picked to finish second to last in the Big 12 and finished 5th ahead of Kansas.
I'm not saying he's going to be great, but he simply doesn't have enough of a sample size for people to be so convinced he shouldn't have gotten the job.
You gotta look past the numbers. He runs a great offense and being at UK greatly expands the talent of player he can get. He understands the program, will run it in a way that puts the program first, and will recruit players who buy into the program. That's everything people have been begging for for the last 15 years. I've read a lot here of the years that this is Kentucky and that it recruits itself. Well if that's true than Pope should have no problem getting it done here.
My brother called this morning once he woke and said What the hell..I said it's a done deal. I was pissed so bad I couldn't sleep but after having time to adjust to my shock, I realized it is what it is and I'm gonna support Mark Pope and my Cats.
He called me this afternoon and said after we talked he went fridge to get some orange juice and grabbed a beer and one led to another and he woke up on the couch with his dog licking his ear...lmao....
After reflecting during his time out, he's on board now....lmao
He called me this afternoon and said after we talked he went fridge to get some orange juice and grabbed a beer and one led to another and he woke up on the couch with his dog licking his ear...lmao....
After reflecting during his time out, he's on board now....lmao
It’s crazy how I only 24 hrs later came to this as a really good hire. Been watching vids on his offense and looking at what he has been doing at byu. Honestly legit excited now. Nice to make it about winning and playing for the school again. Not even mad a pitino anymore. This kool aid is tasty.We'll never have to hear Cal's favorite expressions ever again. "I haven't seen him" "youngest team in the country" "they're not robots" "players first" pushing guys out to the NBA, and on and on. At least you've got that. Pope is not in any way at fault here, and I know you are aware of that. He hasn't won any NCAA-T games but he's shown he has basketball acumen and won 23 games this year (won at Kansas and vs Baylor) with a bunch of guys who had to sign papers about not having sex, not drinking alcohol, and doing a 2-year mission. So, he can coach. And he's all about the name on the front of the jersey, which is very refreshing. We just need to help him get a team on the court.
I wasn't happy at all at first, either. But I'm gonna support him. Go Pope! Go Cats!
Yeah, I've come around as well. Not to justify myself (and so many others who reacted negatively at first) but I do think the initial shock of Mark Pope being the choice and given his lack of NCAA-T wins led us to some frustration. I was pretty irritated, I will admit. I said some things in my frustration that are posted here for posterity. Although, I did say I wasn't upset with Pope, but with Barnhart. I also said that I hope I am forced to eat so much crow that it sickens me. I meant that. I'm already eating a bit but I'll be thrilled if there is much more to come.
Barnhart's interview with Matt Jones was helpful to get a little more insight on the search and a little more understanding of why things happened as they did. Getting to know Pope's offense and hearing from some other coaches about him has helped also. Hearing his passion for UK and BBN has helped as well. Realizing how much he is all about wearing that Kentucky across his chest and knowing that is what the focus will be is a breath of fresh air.
Now, he needs to build a coaching staff and a team for 2024-25. I'm all in and happy about it. I feel good about supporting Mark Pope because I know he genuinely loves Kentucky and BBN.
I agree. I don’t know why people on this site kiss his *** so much.
I love that I was totally ok with this from jump. Surprised? Yes. Shocked? Yes.
But this is a guy I've been eyeballing to take this seat eventually for a while now. He is a genius...if he can recruit the right guys they may be the talk of college basketball (in a good way) really quickly.
But this is a guy I've been eyeballing to take this seat eventually for a while now. He is a genius...if he can recruit the right guys they may be the talk of college basketball (in a good way) really quickly.