That is one the biggest problems. Having one real good shooter surrounded by 3 players that cannot find the rim being 10 feet is not going to work.
On the other hand, if you put in 3 shooters, the defense suffers.
It’s as simple as this; Pope can’t recruit.
- Thread starter CatBearPig
- Start date
On the other hand, if you put in 3 shooters, the defense suffers.
They have Collins the same way if you go look.... Watch them both say no thanks.
I'm sure Jasper was a factor.
The thing with Thompson is Pope had been recruiting him for over a year.
That's plenty of time to get to know a kid and get a read on what he wants in a school, what position he expects to play, and how high his interest is in UK.
If he didn't want to play with Stokes or he was always going to stay home Pope shouldn't have spent so much time on him.
There's a reason Duke rarely ever losses a recruit.
They only recruit kids who want to go to Duke.
No recruiting a kid long term just to be a hat on the table.
ANY coach can recruit to ANYWHERE if they are dropping big enough bags. Think about that.
Everyone has a "bag", we aren't special. You still need a coach with the force of personality to get them to sign on the line that is dotted.
Magoon, Pierre or Dent, and we're MUCH better. Those 3 misses hurt our chances.
and I will fire back, you don't know ball if you think being a perceived NBA prospect at 17 is the definition of talent and having those type dudes is the only way a team can be good - we can do this all day. If you look at this team and say they aren't talented then I am very comfortable saying I am more knowledgeable than you about basketball. Not playing well together is not the same thing as individual talent and quite frankly its absurd to say this team doesn't have talent. It is BY FAR more talented than last years team
Was recruiting the issue in this game?
pg - Jeremy Fears - 4* HS Rank 37
sg - Trey Fort - HS Unranked
sf - Coen Carr - 4* HS Rank 33
pf - Jaxon Kohler - 4* HS Rank 81
c - Carson Cooper - HS Unranked
Michigan State 83, Kentucky 66
pg - Denzel Abderdeen - 4* HS Rank 117
sg - Collin Chandler - 4* HS Rank 35
sf - Otega Oweh - 4* HS Rank 75
pf - Mouhamed Dioubate - 4* HS Rank 99
c - Brandon Garrison - 4* HS Rank 43
Interesting how we had even more of that big sexy “high school talent” than they did and still got absolutely waxed. By the way, I only listed starters. It gets significantly worse if you compare benches where we have even higher rated players.
not having talent is okay if the coaching is there.....
izzo gets away w it bc hes elite
Sure, we can get a recruiting coach and cover up deficiencies. Didn’t we try that…recently even?
No, I’m talking about Calipari. Izzo just said it best in a press conference after the game. Everyone points to portal and recruiting, but it’s roster continuity that wins. We didn’t lose because we didn’t have enough talent —- we had more of that than Michigan State, but they ate us for breakfast because of coaching
well no we dont ga e more talent than michigan state, we didnt have much talent last year either, thats why we have several losses by 20 or more
Some of you will never try to be honest about this. Michigan State had inferior talent versus us and Arkansas and beat both teams. The issue isn’t “studs” whatsoever.
well they beat arkansas bc izzo outcoached pope, arkansas ALSO almost won, we dont have the talent to stay in it like they did
Arkansas has everything you all have been complaining about with Acuff and a bunch of Uber talented players and they won’t win anything either. Watch someone like Purdue, UConn, Houston or someone like that wins who do it with roster continuity and older players. Then, this board will say it’s because we didn’t have a freshman and we will do the whole thing all over next year while the same thing happens and complain about freshman phenoms.
PURDUE HOUSTON AND UCONN CAN GET AWAY WITH MID TALENT BC THEY HAVE AMAZING COACHES
as far as OUR team its a talent issue before its a coaching issue
It's wild how foreign a concept critical thought is on this board. If everyone has a bag, including Kentucky, then why was our best transfer a guy who can't even help for most of the season?
How much are we paying him to sit most of the year? I bet it was a discount. I don't remember who we beat for him, but I do remember being beat by other teams on a lot of guys everyone on this site wanted before we even got to him.
lol, no it isn’t. KenPom had us preseason 4th, while also projecting Pope as like the 30th best coach. Our roster is and was an embarrassment of riches that has now simply become an embarrassment
30th best coach with this roster honestly makes sense
okay coach with subpar roster
He’s not Tom Izzo dude. No one else is. If Tom Izzo had elite talent his whole career he’d have 5 titles. And the issue is he’s not getting the guys he wanted. He’s getting his second and 3rd choices. Izzo gets most of the guys he’s after.
I agree but that’s the point. We need coaching at that level to win. Doesn’t have to be Izzo but needs to be a great coach.
There is no other coach at that level. Izzo is a top 5 tactician of all time.
That’s an exaggeration. Dude has one title in like a 50 year career.
No way to know. I like Izzo but he’s had more than his fair share of stinky seasons as well.
How many does Rick Barnes have? Bum coach. Heck, hasn't even made a Final 4! Hall of Fame Coach.
I think you're constantly moving goalposts around to fit your argument.
I didn’t say anything about Rick Barnes! And I’m moving goalposts? You mean like bringing up Rick Barnes out of left field?
Just because you can't grasp the analogy doesn't mean I'm the one moving goalposts. Not only are you doing that and Straw Manning like mad all over the site, but you are projecting now too.
Well, it’s certainly not my intention. We all have blind spots and ignorances. I suppose you could be calling upon one of mine. I have no idea the reference or the point so I’ll leave it be. Cheers
Recruiting is not Pope's problem. He is in with 2 of the top players in the class, they are late period commitments, as these guys often are. To me at least the one real weakness Pope has shown is how his teams start games. We have been behind in like 14 of the last 18 games we have played. That's a problem, the kind of problem that causes you to lose games.
They ended up hiring Crowe’s dad, I think that is why we lost out in the end there, but it still is a pattern and part of the problem.
Second game in a row where we lose and people don’t really look at the *why*. You’re right recruiting had nothing to do with this. Unless Pope can RECRUIT a defensive coach.
Calipari assistant Rod Strickland is Kyrie Irving's godfather, and he still chose Duke over UK and even visited UK for Big Blue Madness.
It's like some of our fans keep hoping our NIL was less than $20 million so they can bake the "we're a poor state" excuse into the deflection cake for why we've sucked so badly.
Meanwhile, every reputable source out there agrees that our NIL was at least $20 million. There's no a shred of evidence indicating anything else.
So it’s Pope’s coaching? I believe it is…players pick up on the coaches anxiety or whatever he’s feeling and play that way. Pitino was arrogant and his teams played with a chip on their shoulder. Pope isn’t wired like that, maybe at BYU but not here.
I absolutely continue to have a problem with Pope’s coaching and, to me, the issue this year isn’t a lack of “talent.” It’s that the pieces don’t fit. Pope definitely expected the shooting to be better, but he brought the players in. Yes, I think Pope’s coaching has stunk. Been consistent on that all year (feel free to go check my full thread where I go possession by possession in the Louisville game and get meticulous about that.) That doesn’t mean I think he’s a bad coach, however. Good coaches correct their own bad coaching. It remains to be seen if he can or will.
A GM would go along way while he’s coaching here, lets him focus on task at hand. It is an odd roster construction considering how he likes to play.
The problem is roster construction can be off and yet the vision can still be correct. It’s pretty easy to say what Pope was trying to do this offseason and most of us were excited about this roster in the offseason too. Once Quaintance returned from injury, this was how many of us were kind of expecting things to be:
Oweh - 1A Star
Lowe - 1B Star
Quaintance - 1B Star
Abderdeen - Starter
Dioubate - Starter
Chandler - Role Player
Garrison - Role Player
Williams - Role Player
Johnson - Role Player
Jelavic - Role Player
Moreno - Depth Piece
Noah - Depth Piece
However, in reality, Oweh hasn’t been a star. Is that a coaching miss to bring him back as a star? I’d argue no, since it wasn’t just Pope expecting Oweh not to regress. Most of the media had enough hype to have him as preseason SEC POY.
Second, your 1B star has been drinking from the same cup as Butler. Not only have we not had him for most of the year, the little bit we have had him he’s in a shoulder wrap and rusty. Injuries are part of the game no doubt but this one was massive.
Third, your other 1B star is a defensive anchor, not really an offensive go-to guy. We haven’t seen Quaintance yet, but I’ll expect him to help a lot with defense.
Everyone else on the roster was supposed to be role players. Many of them are out of position at this point and having to play a role they weren’t brought in for. Now, I’d argue Moreno and Chandler have been better than anticipated, which helps a little. I understand fans being frustrated at the mere mention of injuries and I see no point arguing with people about it, but there’s no question that has plagued this team.
I think Pope’s coaching has not been good, but I also understand that no teams are going to be able to be what we want to be with the injury situation.
As for the GM — I’d love a GM so that Pope isn’t having to think about or negotiate contracts. Hearing about him getting emotional during a negotiation is a tough pill to swallow. That sounds like someone who is drowning in the current landscape and doesn’t recognize what the situation calls for.
I understand the attraction of playing for UK being that I’m a UK fan. But, why would I want to play for Pope? What has he done that makes me want to trust him and my future in his hands. Not many big time players that he developed to be a pro.