You mean like the last play of the game. Oweh was calling for the ball but Lowe was not going to pass it. He has played well but UK's offense is him dribbling around until he drives to the basket and take a circus shot. He has no intention of passing it.
Pope lost control of this team
- Thread starter AJG-15
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I have a different takeaway from OP. This statement feels like he’s trying to force the team to fit his vision of it rather than playing to its strengths. This would make the Purdue game make sense. We’ve got the pieces, they’re just be criminally misused and the real adjustment needs to start at the top rather than the bottom.
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Last year’s team was unprepared too.
Last year’s team didn’t play with effort many games.
They did their winning early when the gimmick of Pole was still new.
They didn’t show up in MSG against Ohio St. They let the Clemson dude have a career rebounding night.
Took a hero game from Butler to eke out a win against a bad UL team in Rupp.
Cal came into Rupp and dominated.
Auburn came into Rupp and dominated.
We almost threw away a win on Thursday in the SEC tournament in the final minute.
Then on Friday decided to not even show up against Alabama.
There were plenty of signs last season that this was coming. But it was masked by the excitement of Cal’s exit and the new car smell of Pope.
I still remember how bad the effort was against ole miss. They did not look like they wanted to be there, I thought that would be the worst performance we would see from a pope team effort wise
I was wrong
One of the hardest part of the coaching job is to break the old habits and to get new ones. Cal‘s teams usually had those issues at the beginning but he would get eventually to them , at least on small things, rebound with two hands, effort, drive to the basket.
With the exception of the Covid year Cal would eventually get in the head of his players/ team sooner or later but he also was set in his ways and eventually got tired of the process of rebuilding we every year and start mailing in it especially in his last years….
Pope is new at this process. I suspect he doesn’t know yet how exactly to deal with it. Last year he got lucky because his players were experienced, could shoot the ball, had higher iq and could make the decisions that the zoom offense require.
this year with more money and time on his hand he put together a team that doesn’t have the chemistry and doesn’t fully understand his offense. against weaker teams this team can shoot because they have the time to execute and the other teams are playing zones and not trying to run them over the 3 point line like the power 5 teams are doing .
there was a play where Mo and Moreno supposed to play high low. Mo gets the ball high and Moreno gets a good position low sealing his guy but Mo waits and waits until Moreno loses the seal position and then he passes the ball which gets intercepted by defense and then Mo complains about Moreno. That’s an example of either low IQ or worse bad intentions.
With the exception of the Covid year Cal would eventually get in the head of his players/ team sooner or later but he also was set in his ways and eventually got tired of the process of rebuilding we every year and start mailing in it especially in his last years….
Pope is new at this process. I suspect he doesn’t know yet how exactly to deal with it. Last year he got lucky because his players were experienced, could shoot the ball, had higher iq and could make the decisions that the zoom offense require.
this year with more money and time on his hand he put together a team that doesn’t have the chemistry and doesn’t fully understand his offense. against weaker teams this team can shoot because they have the time to execute and the other teams are playing zones and not trying to run them over the 3 point line like the power 5 teams are doing .
there was a play where Mo and Moreno supposed to play high low. Mo gets the ball high and Moreno gets a good position low sealing his guy but Mo waits and waits until Moreno loses the seal position and then he passes the ball which gets intercepted by defense and then Mo complains about Moreno. That’s an example of either low IQ or worse bad intentions.
With this team a solution worth trying would be to run teams out of gym and play platoons based on chemistry.
for instance don’t play aberdeen and Oweh together but play Aberdeen and Cam or Oweh and Garrison or Jasper and Moreno.
I would also build the platoons based on who is staying next year so you prepare some chemistry for next year and other criteria would be who played together and well together In the past so you used the good chemistry in place. I am assuming by a now a pope and staff should have some data on plus and minus based on personal usage.
you could have easily 2 platoons if not 3 and play a high tempo , full court press…I know that’s not Pope style but he has the personal to do it . That would not solve right the way the half court offense but in time it will help because you would 5 players that play together the whole time. That would give the players the conditioning and piece of mind that all will play and with guys they get along.
right now we keep switching personal and there is no flow .
for instance don’t play aberdeen and Oweh together but play Aberdeen and Cam or Oweh and Garrison or Jasper and Moreno.
I would also build the platoons based on who is staying next year so you prepare some chemistry for next year and other criteria would be who played together and well together In the past so you used the good chemistry in place. I am assuming by a now a pope and staff should have some data on plus and minus based on personal usage.
you could have easily 2 platoons if not 3 and play a high tempo , full court press…I know that’s not Pope style but he has the personal to do it . That would not solve right the way the half court offense but in time it will help because you would 5 players that play together the whole time. That would give the players the conditioning and piece of mind that all will play and with guys they get along.
right now we keep switching personal and there is no flow .
Every time they tried to post up jq or moreno, diabate either 1) was down there clogging the paint too or 2) was the high low trigger person refusing to throw the pass.
He should've been sat after first five minutes.
I agree that’s part of the issue. Pope didn’t adapt his coaching style to the personal.
I watched Moreno interview after Missouri game. Really nice guy and team player. Positive attitude. you Can build the team around him for the future.
i suspect the majority of guys on that locker room are just just like him with some exceptions that Pope would need to deal with.
there are ways to deal with things including chemistry . Pope always says an issue in hand is an opportunity to get better , well , we do have several issues on our hands including coaching adjustments. Let’s get better ! Use it as an opportunity!
i suspect the majority of guys on that locker room are just just like him with some exceptions that Pope would need to deal with.
there are ways to deal with things including chemistry . Pope always says an issue in hand is an opportunity to get better , well , we do have several issues on our hands including coaching adjustments. Let’s get better ! Use it as an opportunity!
I saw one possession where Lowe and Oweh were both at the top of the key about 3 ft apart and passing the ball back and forth to each other.
Neither had any idea what to do with the ball or where to be. These were high level recruits wanted by many teams. How did they get this bad?
Oweh is what, 30 years old? How is it possible for him to have unlearned everything he ever knew about playing?
NEVER understood the excitement of this guy joining UK????
agree that last years team was much more fundamental and basketball savy.
this years group looks like high school kids......can't shoot, can't pass, loafs
sure disagree about Mo. he is horrible....can't shoot, can't handle the ball, too mouthy, doesn't rebound that well
never understood why people expected him to be a super star..........he didn't even put up very good #'s at Arizona State last year where he was playing big minutesLottery pick with 1 point and 4 rebounds in 18 minutes.
Every
All teams have bad performances during a season but I don’t remember last year’s team not playing with effort. They may not have played well, I will grant you, but effort and team play was not an issue.
Remember Pope won a record 8 games against top 15 AP-ranked teams last year. He didn’t forget how to coach.
Every time we face a 2-3, our offense is literally pass it around the perimeter and crank a last second ill advised 3. If we are ever threatening to win, like last night, im sure we will see more zone.
The entire thing is pathetic.
I was in MSG. There was not effort.
I was in Bridgestone for the SEC. There was no effort at all against Alabama.
At Vandy the whole team stood around and watched Butler throw the ball into the crowd.
It’s quite obvious now that the players won those games in spite of Pope’s coaching.
UNC can have him. Lot of talent but he doesn’t defend or make good enough decisions to play big time ball. They will be frustrated with him too.
Oweh was part of that group as well, he has been doing his job. He missed a terrible layup but I can understand why he is upset. He wanted a great year and it’s been ruined by this staff and their portal pickups and misses on the recruiting trail.
Pope talked about how great the team was going to be. Did he not KNOW? Or was he just full of ****?
Yes he was
Agree AJG!!
Halfcourt offense ( or should I say dribbling is putrid). Halfcourt defense the same
CMP wants to simplify the game do the following:
Instead of shrinking the rotation, expand the rotation! Here is what I would attempt.
1. Go to 2 platoons - Full court pressure all game. New 5 comes in at every TV timeout.
Downside - may disrupt the offense and my rebuttal would be “what offense.”
Upside
A. Get a few steals and easy layups (my bad, we cannot shoot layups either)
B. Wear down the opposition which shows up later in the 2nd half
C. Milks the shot clock which Exposes our terrible half court defense for a shorter period of time!
D. Run at every opportunity
Understand that any change requires EFFORT which these players have shown aversion to doing. Those not expending max effort come out of the platoon
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People say that UK can’t shoot. I agree but it’s kinda hard to truly tell when you never get open looks. Other teams are moving the ball and have wide open shooters. When UK gets shots, they are almost always guarded. Thats coaching!
Pope's explanation is beyond puzzling. He has 4 players on the team from last year. If that were the case he would start Oweh, Chandler, Garrison, and Noah bc they already have a yr within his offense. Shouldn't be a problem.
More lame excuses!!!