Overreacting a little?

[Artlaibesghost]

In all the years of following message boards I don't think I've ever read as much BullSh!# as I have read on here tonight. We lose an exhibition game down 2 starters and suddenly it's as if the world is ending. A couple of the idiotic ideas I see people running with.
1. Pope is too " nice". You people don't have the first clue of how he interacts with his team behind closed doors, NONE.
2. SO this is what a 22 million dollar roster buys you. Never mind that about 6 million of it was sitting on the bench not even playing. Never mind that several of these guys have never played together before and that the freshman haven't even played a real college game. The season HASNT EVEN STARTED YET. My God you people are INFANTS.
3. Based on tonight's performance Pope can't coach defense and we let quick guards blow by us at will. Never mind that 2 of our best defenders didn't play and probably our best defender hasn't practiced yet.
4. Oweh is mediocre and undeserving of his pre season POY rankings. Never mind that he missed the entire summer with turf toe and has only been going full speed for about 2 weeks
Some of you guys are just miserable people and will never be satisfied with anything but a title. We might win one this year but the odds say no. In about 125 years we have won 8. If it's title or bust you guys need to find something else to follow because the vast majority of seasons that's not happening. To push the panic button before the blasted season even STARTS is madness.




s

 

[Kingslayer07]

It's not that we lost, it's HOW we lost. We go worked. No energy, no fight. Couldn't shoot, period. Season hasn't even started and we got 2 guys dinged up. Not counting JQ. I'd say those a are very legit concerns.

 

[Cat2016win]

It's not that we lost, it's HOW we lost. We go worked. No energy, no fight. Couldn't shoot, period. Season hasn't even started and we got 2 guys dinged up. Not counting JQ. I'd say those an are very legit concerns.

I don’t think so. They are sitting to heal. It’s an exhibition game. We were playing different rotations from real games. It didn’t matter so just be happy we got to see the team and let’s get behind the to cheer.

 

[Ednunn]

Not really. Just bi-polar.

 

[Possum]

In all the years of following message boards I don't think I've ever read as much BullSh!# as I have read on here tonight. We lose an exhibition game down 2 starters and suddenly it's as if the world is ending. A couple of the idiotic ideas I see people running with.
1. Pope is too " nice". You people don't have the first clue of how he interacts with his team behind closed doors, NONE.
2. SO this is what a 22 million dollar roster buys you. Never mind that about 6 million of it was sitting on the bench not even playing. Never mind that several of these guys have never played together before and that the freshman haven't even played a real college game. The season HASNT EVEN STARTED YET. My God you people are INFANTS.
3. Based on tonight's performance Pope can't coach defense and we let quick guards blow by us at will. Never mind that 2 of our best defenders didn't play and probably our best defender hasn't practiced yet.
4. Oweh is mediocre and undeserving of his pre season POY rankings. Never mind that he missed the entire summer with turf toe and has only been going full speed for about 2 weeks
Some of you guys are just miserable people and will never be satisfied with anything but a title. We might win one this year but the odds say no. In about 125 years we have won 8. If it's title or bust you guys need to find something else to follow because the vast majority of seasons that's not happening. To push the panic button before the blasted season even STARTS is madness.




s

How can you overreact to someone who consistently gets roasted on straight line drives to the basket? How can you overreact to 0-13 in the 2nd half and 7-30 for the game from 3? How can you overreact to missing 12 free throws and outscored 27-17 from the bench? Please enlighten us.

 

[howitis_rivals115807]

It is funny all the doomers and rival fans creating accounts tonight though.

 

[UKCowboys]

In all the years of following message boards I don't think I've ever read as much BullSh!# as I have read on here tonight. We lose an exhibition game down 2 starters and suddenly it's as if the world is ending. A couple of the idiotic ideas I see people running with.
1. Pope is too " nice". You people don't have the first clue of how he interacts with his team behind closed doors, NONE.
2. SO this is what a 22 million dollar roster buys you. Never mind that about 6 million of it was sitting on the bench not even playing. Never mind that several of these guys have never played together before and that the freshman haven't even played a real college game. The season HASNT EVEN STARTED YET. My God you people are INFANTS.
3. Based on tonight's performance Pope can't coach defense and we let quick guards blow by us at will. Never mind that 2 of our best defenders didn't play and probably our best defender hasn't practiced yet.
4. Oweh is mediocre and undeserving of his pre season POY rankings. Never mind that he missed the entire summer with turf toe and has only been going full speed for about 2 weeks
Some of you guys are just miserable people and will never be satisfied with anything but a title. We might win one this year but the odds say no. In about 125 years we have won 8. If it's title or bust you guys need to find something else to follow because the vast majority of seasons that's not happening. To push the panic button before the blasted season even STARTS is madness.




s

Yeah, its pretty ridiculous. We can be down 3 starters and if we don't win by 20, the team is terrible and CMP can't coach. I'm going to let the season play out before I hop on and off the bandwagon and quit on the team

 

[BlueSince92]

Dudes we literally just had the best pair of exhibition games in Kentucky history. Maybe in CBB history:

1—We beat the preseason #1 team handily. Dismantled them. Without two of our starters versus them at full strength.

2—We had the floor mopped with us by a real team playing decent ball in a way that can’t hurt our seeding at all. That’s a gold mine. We play exhibition games to get our guys experience facing opponents and to get information about our team. Frocking gold mine in terms of both. We already got the glory. No other NCAA team in all of CBB will ever have any glory from an exhibition game in 2025 that will ever compare to what we did to Purdue. Ever. We don’t need anymore glory. We got one of the most valuable packs of lessons and gut checks and wake up calls we possibly could have gotten and we got it FREE.

Cry all you want. I’m happy.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

Totally different team with Aberdeen. That’s clear.

 

[KYAnywhereEverywhere]

There are still people who want or at least expect Pope to fail.

Other than that, you are seeing deranged people being deranged.

 

[WallMash]

Pope is too nice. If this is what a 22 million line-up looks like inflation through the roof. Pope can't coach defense, at least not in middle of a game. All of our players got outplayed at their position by Georgetown's players.

 

[philstat]

I’m sure this team will have an excellent season, though there’s no denying there are some serious issues, just a few off the top of my head:
- Players will be out every single game, becoming a Pope standard, if you have a blister, chipped nail, you sit.
- Soft.
- Noah at least on four occasions was wide open driving to the lane pulled up on the drive and looked absolutely terrified, lost points.
- Free throws.
- JJ is an ole classic gatling gun, he touches the ball, he’s likely going to take an ill advised shot.
- Team is centered on putting up a lot of threes, though very truly capable outside shooters.
- Interior defense parts like red sea.
- BG holds onto the ball too long, eating up the shock clock on every play.
- Several players have hitched shooting mechanics, not consistent and reliable shooters.
- Could go on and on…

 

[Johnnie Africa]

It's not that we lost, it's HOW we lost. We go worked. No energy, no fight. Couldn't shoot, period. Season hasn't even started and we got 2 guys dinged up. Not counting JQ. I'd say those a are very legit concerns.

Not really understanding your post. So you would’ve been happier if we lost with everyone healthy, shooting lights out, and with great energy and effort?

 

[philstat]

Not really understanding your post. So you would’ve been happier if we lost with everyone healthy, shooting lights out, and with great energy and effort?

For me yes, these guys were completely disinterested in the game itself, Oweh showed absolutely zero on the floor leadership and for the most part looked lost out there as did many other, especially Noah and Chandler.m

 

[megablue]

To my view … are we good enough to win on those inevitable nights when we shoot poorly ?? It is very early and we have not seen our best five together, but I’m not convinced we have enough to win ugly.

 

[Johnnie Africa]

For me yes, these guys were completely disinterested in the game itself, Oweh showed absolutely zero on the floor leadership and for the most part looked lost out there as did many other, especially Noah and Chandler.m

That doesn’t make any sense to me. If we were at full strength, we’re dialed in, and hitting shots and still lost it would mean we were simply worse/less talented/incapable of beating the other team. Us being injured, lacking focus in an exhibition game, shooting poorly are all fixable issues this early into the season. It’s like if your kid gets a C on a test because he was goofing off so you rip his *** a little and you see improvement. But if he’s busting his *** every night and gets a C he’s just dumb.

 

[UKDC80]

Unless UK has full roster strength and a coach that plays his best players the bulk of the minutes, this team will lose more games than last year. The lack of outside shooting is going to make this team rely on back door and wrap around DHO cuts to score. When people say this team is deep, they are only saying that because the 8-12th man plays here and aren’t walk-ons. When in reality they are nowhere near the level of player that should be taking the floor at UK. JMO and pray that I’m wrong.

 

[megablue]

Unless UK has full roster strength and a coach that plays his best players the bulk of the minutes, this team will lose more games than last year. The lack of outside shooting is going to make this team rely on back door and wrap around DHO cuts to score. When people say this team is deep, they are only saying that because the 8-12th man plays here and aren’t walk-ons. When in reality they are nowhere near the level of player that should be taking the floor at UK. JMO and pray that I’m wrong.

So far, I see what you see. I agree 100%. We do not have quality depth. When healthy, the distribution of playing time will dictate our success against good teams.

 

[Anon1755209580]

That doesn’t make any sense to me. If we were at full strength, we’re dialed in, and hitting shots and still lost it would mean we were simply worse/less talented/incapable of beating the other team. Us being injured, lacking focus in an exhibition game, shooting poorly are all fixable issues this early into the season. It’s like if your kid gets a C on a test because he was goofing off so you rip his *** a little and you see improvement. But if he’s busting his *** every night and gets a C he’s just dumb.

Sometime the other team just has more shots fall and squeaks out the win. It doesn't mean they are better, more capable, more talented or whatever else. It just means they had the better game. Most can live with that happening. However, not even really trying, not dialed in, not focused and the rest aren't acceptable.

 

[Johnnie Africa]

Sometime the other team just has more shots fall and squeaks out the win. It doesn't mean they are better, more capable, more talented or whatever else. It just means they had the better game. Most can live with that happening. However, not even really trying, not dialed in, not focused and the rest aren't acceptable.

An SEC regular season game or big non conference matchup? Sure. An exhibition game after beating the #1 ranked team with some of our starters out? We’ll just have to agree to disagree. Think this was a great wake up call personally and better than beating athletes in action by 70 points.

 

[Trinity45]

In all the years of following message boards I don't think I've ever read as much BullSh!# as I have read on here tonight. We lose an exhibition game down 2 starters and suddenly it's as if the world is ending. A couple of the idiotic ideas I see people running with.
1. Pope is too " nice". You people don't have the first clue of how he interacts with his team behind closed doors, NONE.
2. SO this is what a 22 million dollar roster buys you. Never mind that about 6 million of it was sitting on the bench not even playing. Never mind that several of these guys have never played together before and that the freshman haven't even played a real college game. The season HASNT EVEN STARTED YET. My God you people are INFANTS.
3. Based on tonight's performance Pope can't coach defense and we let quick guards blow by us at will. Never mind that 2 of our best defenders didn't play and probably our best defender hasn't practiced yet.
4. Oweh is mediocre and undeserving of his pre season POY rankings. Never mind that he missed the entire summer with turf toe and has only been going full speed for about 2 weeks
Some of you guys are just miserable people and will never be satisfied with anything but a title. We might win one this year but the odds say no. In about 125 years we have won 8. If it's title or bust you guys need to find something else to follow because the vast majority of seasons that's not happening. To push the panic button before the blasted season even STARTS is madness.




s

There is always over reaction on this board, when UK beat Purdue some went over board, over a game that doesn't even count, last night they went over board on a game that doesn't even count, plus there are trolls who just can't wait for a UK loss so they can flood this site with negative comments.

 

[UKDC80]

So far, I see what you see. I agree 100%. We do not have quality depth. When healthy, the distribution of playing time will dictate our success against good teams.

So far, I see what you see. I agree 100%. We do not have quality depth. When healthy, the distribution of playing time will dictate our success against good teams.

Another glaring weakness I see is relying on OO to be the guy. His game is not of that type. When the focus is on him, it looks forced and easily contested or stopped. JR and better shooting last year at least allowed him to be the type of player that he really is. One that thrives with more spacing and threats from outside around him. Opens up gaps where he can use his strength to get downhill. If he’s going one on one ball, we are in trouble.

 

[Kats23]

Overreacting? Sure, that's this board in a nutshell. The biggest concern I took away from yesterday is how much the bigs got abused defensively and struggled to score on the offensive end. Having two guards out didn't do that. The shooting was poor because the passing was poor with weak dribbling, and the guards being out did contribute to that, but to see that much of a drop off is concerning. We looked like we had the athletic prowess of EKU out there.

Last year, physicality and toughness were a big problem, and it looked like after the Purdue game that had been remedied. However, it looks like we may have just matched up better against Purdue physically and athletically. We have to fix the toughness, and that's not an overreaction.

 

[megablue]

Another glaring weakness I see is relying on OO to be the guy. His game is not of that type. When the focus is on him, it looks forced and easily contested or stopped. JR and better shooting last year at least allowed him to be the type of player that he really is. One that thrives with more spacing and threats from outside around him. Opens up gaps where he can use his strength to get downhill. If he’s going one on one ball, we are in trouble.

Again … I 100% see what you see. Oweh cannot be a black hole. Every possession cannot look like an isolation by him. He needs to blend and let the game come to him. He is not going to surprise people this year … and I hope he is not going to let pre-season accolades make him selfish with the ball.

 

[Anon1755209580]

An SEC regular season game or big non conference matchup? Sure. An exhibition game after beating the #1 ranked team with some of our starters out? We’ll just have to agree to disagree. Think this was a great wake up call personally and better than beating athletes in action by 70 points.

Yea, zero effort and regression is what we all like to see. Particularly in exhibitions.

 

[Johnnie Africa]

Yea, zero effort and regression is what we all like to see. Particularly in exhibitions.

Oh ok, just making up an argument and arguing against it works too A MB classic

 

[megablue]

Yea, zero effort and regression is what we all like to see. Particularly in exhibitions.

We all agree that winning exhibition games is not paramount. Learning about your team and identifying strengths and weaknesses is the key. I think weaknesses many here now worry about are legitimate concerns. Getting healthy and correcting those weaknesses is paramount now.

 

[UKDC80]

People are going to cling to this "you're all overreacting" narrative until it happens again, and I'm certain it will. When I watch players play basketball, I can see with my eyes how good they are or can be, whether that's an exhibition or regular season game. The skillset of many of these players is limited to say the least, both offensively and defensively. Will Lowe and Aberdeen help when they come back, sure, are they elite level players? No! Imagine one of the true top best 5 teams in America right now, take two of their best players away and let them play G-town. You think they are losing by 20 to that team? It's not even that it was by 20, UK was man-handled by them. That should alarm everyone. JMO.

 

[bleedsblue5]

No pg was one thing, but the way they played us is the biggest concern because it is EXACTLY how the SEC will play us. Bully ball, hold, hack push and shove and you have to be able to drive kick and/or finish at the rim.
Having a pg would def help this, but we seemed lost on D and panicked when they got up in our grill on offense. This will cost you many games in the future if you cannot fix it.

I think we are soft, hopefully Pope remembers how Pitino coached defense and gets these guys to work.

 

[Anon1755209580]

Oh ok, just making up an argument and arguing against it works too A MB classic

I mean, it's your own words and logic. See how silly it sounds now?

 

[Johnnie Africa]

I mean, it's your own words and logic. See how silly it sounds now?

oh man you’re trying really hard on a Friday morning I’m perfectly fine thinking my thoughts, thanks

 

[Anon1755209580]

oh man you’re trying really hard on a Friday morning I’m perfectly fine thinking my thoughts, thanks

Trying hard by repeating you?

 

[senonesy]

Pope is too nice. If this is what a 22 million line-up looks like inflation through the roof. Pope can't coach defense, at least not in middle of a game. All of our players got outplayed at their position by Georgetown's players.

Good thing this isn’t what a 22 million lineup looks like since probably around 6 million worth of players didn’t play last night. The overreaction is just ridiculous.

 

[FitchandMurray29]

A theory I’m workshopping is that being without your PG(s) is like an NFL team not having their starting QB. NFL teams usually lose and everything looks so much worse, even if it’s completely unrelated(like the defense playing worse for instance). Fans inevitably freak out. The problem in my theory is 3M dollars(estimated combined of CC and JJ) should get you more than THAT. They gave us backup NFL QB play tonight. Went from Lamar Jackson to Cooper Rush. (Our 2 guys aren’t Lamar good just an example!)

No overreaction from me tonight. I think we just got reminded tonight that we have a lot of flawed players. Good thing is we have a lot of them, at least when healthy, so they might be able to cover for each other.


The biggest takeaway tonight for me is CC and Jasper can’t play point. They can’t stop PGs from getting where they want/initiating the offense and they don’t initiate offense themselves. Jasper at least can create for himself or run a 2 man game. Think he has to be the “3rd” PG instead of Chandler. Jasper’s lack of ability defensively, or to be an effective PG, will remove any chance of being a one and done.

 

[OleTiredBum]

Gonna be another very tough year based on last night's performance and overall lack of a visible pulse.

 

[TTTblue24]

We need more offensive sets and not the old big handoff on the wing to a guard, that play ours way too much pressure on our big to make the correct read on the back door or handoff. G’town just switched with their perimeter guys so no one was open.

They ran a play where there was multiple back screens off the ball and under the basket where the ball moved to eventually the Zona transfer caught it in rhythm then 1 dribble in to a 15 ft elbow jumper. It was in the 1st half and we really need to steal that play, movement off the ball with multiple screens as well.

 

[Fawrules]

Definitely overreacting to a degree, just as we did after the first Exhibition game.
We went from people saying we "Look like the best team in the country" and "I don't see how Louisville/*insert team here* can keep up with us to "Gonna be a long season" and giving up on players after looking like crap in one exhibition game where we didn't have a PG.

Don't get me wrong, last night still sucked and shined a light on some very real concerns with the team. I just think we should wait and see how we look after a few official games before hitting the panic button.

 

[BigBluefoot]

How can you overreact to someone who consistently gets roasted on straight line drives to the basket? How can you overreact to 0-13 in the 2nd half and 7-30 for the game from 3? How can you overreact to missing 12 free throws and outscored 27-17 from the bench? Please enlighten us.

Yes, just like this.

 

[Possum]

Yes, just like this.

Still waiting for an explanation on how we can overreact to those glaring discrepancies.

 

[BigBluefoot]

Still waiting for an explanation on how we can overreact to those glaring discrepancies.

No one owes you an explanation of anything.