Is there a chance that...
- Thread starter Anon1759768907
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Better chance he is Billy G without the alcohol. (that's what made Billy great imo)
It seems too early to say who Pope is but he needs to get more talent for sure.
Cal still won a title and went to three other Final Fours all in a period of 6 years. Even if people argue that Cal’s first year was underperforming he still won the SEC, the tournament and went to the Elite 8 and won 35 games.
Pope tied 6th in the SEC his first year with a 10-8 record. BCG was third overall (2nd in the East) with 12-4 with Miss St. also 12-4 but winning the tied game (They were 1st in the West). Obviously this was before the SEC stopped doing divisions.
Both Pope and BCG made the quarterfinals in the SEC tournament.
Obviously Pope made it to the Sweet 16 while BCG lost to team Tom Crean in the first round.
Pope went 24-13 while BCG went 18-13 overall. Obviously Pope had a harder schedule than BCG so obviously Pope had a better first season but he also had more talent, as he does this year compared to BCG’s second year.
Pope looks like Cal when he lets his players stand around the 3 pt line and watch one player go one-on-one. He has all these actions we are supposed to be running. If they aren't doing that, call a timeout and make a substitution. He lets the offense grind to a halt for multiple possessions. I don't understand how he thinks that's ok.
Cal didn't coach. When the 5 stars didn't 5 star, we lost to Evansville, UNC Wilmington, St. Peter's, Oakland.
Pope has had some games where he's made really good adjustments. And while it's frustrating to get spanked by MSU and lose by 8 to our rival--some of ya'll act like it's just as bad as long to Evansville in Rupp.
Pope has had some games where he's made really good adjustments. And while it's frustrating to get spanked by MSU and lose by 8 to our rival--some of ya'll act like it's just as bad as long to Evansville in Rupp.
Cal also is the only UK coach to go to 4 final fours n a 5 season stretch. But yeah he didn't do any coaching to achieve that. People on here focus on the bad end to Cal but I remember the good times too.
Pope won't sniff 4 final fours at UK IMO. Hope I'm wrong.
Pope also has been given way NIL and war chest than Cal ever got with his freshmen.
Then let's remember the good times for Pope.
He beat a record 8 top 15 teams last year. He made a Sweet 16 in his 1st year without a PG for most of the season. He had one of the best offenses in the country.
We lost on the road to a top 15 team. We lost on a neutral site to a top 25 team.
And suddenly the narrative is Pope can't hack it.
We practically got blown out at Louisville and against Michigan State. If these were last second losses, there might be some understanding. You have to accept that people are deeply concerned about the effort the players and coaches are giving right now.
It goes beyond simple losses. It’s the weird comments and rumors and how players and coaches are acting at the slightest bit of diversity.
Ha, hes done a lot of the same things..
Word salad.
Vague injury info.
Forcing guys minutes who shouldnt be getting them.
Losing in the championship Classic.
Word salad.
Vague injury info.
Forcing guys minutes who shouldnt be getting them.
Losing in the championship Classic.
He’s nothing like cal in any way. The real fear is that he could be Matt Doherty. I don’t think so, but man it’s a similar hire
Pope is not even in Cal's league as a coach. Nor does Pope want to win any more than Cal does. Is there a difference in talent? Maybe? Depends on the definition. Potential NBA talent vs college talent/experience? We have right now a very talented college roster.
The difference between Cal now, and from the time he got to UK, is that he is player first. Which is what wore out his welcome. Pope is UK first.
I don't know what's wrong with Pope the coach. I loved how he played here. He is not the same guy as coach. No one can question Pope's love of UK basketball. There was no reason to hire Pope other than he played here.
Right now there is no direction or leadership for the UK basketball team.
Barney and the Big Blue Media machine took BBNS love for basketball, and nostalgia for the 90s and sold us Mark Pope (I never bought into that crap)I love Mark Pope, but he aint the guy. Mitch needs to go too, he does not need to hire another coach.
Sooooo, I loved Clyde. Tried to get on as a GA at Tech when he was there. And what you say is true. Clyde was a mess, but man he was my kinda mess. For the record, Clyde can gameplan with the best of them.
You are correct about the 8 wins. And for every single one of those you can point to another equally bad loss/blowout. Last years team was built for that. Shooters that could get anyone if they were making shots. They could also lose to average teams or get their doors blown off if they weren’t.
They’ve gotten blown out by the only two teams they’ve played this year that have a pulse. Why? No shooters and inexplicably can’t defend anyone. It’s not that they lost, it’s how they lost.
All of this coupled with Pope never having had any real success as a coach before, and there’s serious cause for concern for a lot of folks. Then you factor in all of the recruiting misses and there’s a growing belief it won’t get better.
I’m not quite ready to count Pope out just it, but, he seems to not be responding well to the punches he’s being hit with. When you get your teeth knocked out, you have two options.
You can lie down and cry, or you can become infuriated and come back swinging. Uh, it looks like he’s lying down crying.
You can lie down and cry, or you can become infuriated and come back swinging. Uh, it looks like he’s lying down crying.
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The SEC last year was the best conference I have ever seen in my 50+ years of watching Ky BB. The first 4 years of Cal here the SEC was dogshit of a conference. We will be alright with Pope as our coach.
Yes and UK cruised through the dogshit years to great NCAA succes. Winning breeds confidence. It’s why I shake my head when posters advocate for a more difficult schedule or the adding of conference games on the football side.
Amazing. Think of where he could have taken your career. What a miss for you.
He is failing in the moment. A real fan would hope he’d figure it out.
Is there a chance that.........all of the Anons are the same person?
I coach HS basketball and teach. I'd have loved to do it at that level back then, and for him. I know Harrelson a little. Just knowing how he talks about Clyde makes me so curious as to what it's really like. Honestly, had Beard had to take a lower level job (I was a little surprised he got a job like Ole Miss) I had a chance there too. It would've been much harder at that point in my life though. I don't think I'd want any part of it now.
Just giving you ****. Being an assistant at UK would be a good thing for your career regardless of who you were attached to.
Oh lord...I'd NEVER get to that level. I considered Ranger, but you can't make any money at that level w/o teaching still. Only reason I'd have done it back then would be to get out of teaching. Now I'd want absolutely nothing to do with NIL. I think I'd like to do something small level once I retire from public school.
We lost by 8 to Louisville. I don't know that less than 10 is a blow out. I get that we were down by a lot at one point, but basketball is a game of runs.
Michigan State we no-showed. It's inexcusable. Pope deserves crap for it. It's unacceptable basketball.
But do those 2 bad basketball games erase what he did last year? It's hard for me to believe he can't coach when I saw him do it last year. It's hard for me to think he up and forgot how.
And again, if the discussion is "Is he just Cal..." He hasn't lost to Evansville or UNC Wilmington or St. Peter's or Oakland. We're mad we got punked by top 25 teams. That's not the same.
JQ was a 5 star guy. I guess that doesn't count?0-15 on 5*’s is also a school record
If he'd landed JQ last year, boom, 5 star. But since it was in the portal, he can't land a 5 star. You see how that doesn't logic.
I know everyone wants to say this is Kentucky, no excuses. And that's great and sounds bad @$$. But not having a point guard is a real problem for any team.
We were supposed to lose basketball gams last year--even if we had our point guards. That fact that we lost games last year without point guards doesn't really speak to me that Pope is a bad coach. The fact that he won against good teams without point guards speaks to me that he is a good coach.
Again, people keep calling Louisville a blow out. An 8 point loss isn't a blow out. I don't know the cutoff for the proper use of "blowout" but surely we can agree that a blow out is at least double digits.
And yep, we looked like crap against Michigan State. Yep you can be concerned. I am concerned.
But most of the messaging isn't "Man, I'm starting get concerned." It's "Pope can't coach. He shouldn't be here."
IDK about being Cal but I don't see the passion. I hear superlatives and a bunch of rah rah.