Pope says he’s behind with the team

[I’m The Village Idiot]

You mean the “modern offense” that’s been around at least 60 years?

Tweaks added to it since 1987 to include the 3 point shot?

Nothing wrong with it. It’s been around that long because it works.

Bullllll. Find me a clip of any team in 1987, college or NBA, running a 5 out offense with a big as the trigger man, where there’s a continuity series of pin downs that are used to give guards space to receive DHOs with a read option at the point of action.

No idea what point you’re trying to make with that statement but offense is far more advanced today than it was in the past. It would be like saying that the 1948 Kentucky wildcats ran the same offense as the 2011 Kentucky Wildcats did since both teams implemented a fast break and handoffs. Well, yeah…both teams also dribbled and had man to man defensive possessions as well. Carbon copies. (Closes eyes to ignore all of the blatant distinctions between them.)

For the record, the reason why Pope said he’s behind on this team is clear. They worked on defense rather than offense all off-season and the defense is still not elite. He’s right —- we are working on tinkering to plug the holes, but Coach would be a liar if he didn’t speak plainly about what any reasonable mind can infer. Even last night during the game against Eastern Illinois, there were a lot of breakdowns, which Pope also acknowledged. Good on Coach for saying it and now he’s working on fixing it.

 

[true-blue1]

I almost think he has too many players to keep happy.

This!

 

[NociHTTP]

You mean the “modern offense” that’s been around at least 60 years?

Tweaks added to it since 1987 to include the 3 point shot?

Nothing wrong with it. It’s been around that long because it works.

No one suggested it doesn't work. My post said nothing of the sort.

 

[BlueSince92]

It's NOVEMBER 15TH.

Throughout most of our century-plus long storied history we would not have even played a SINGLE REAL GAME by this date on the calendar. Check it out. Use Jon Scott's page if you need to. Babies and people with tiny shriveled memories.

We do have legitimate reasons to be concerned about who will play the role of primary point guard for this team and how given Jaland Lowe's medical status BUT

Can't believe Mark Pope's SHOVING IN YOUR FACE the fact that he is self-reflective to an extreme level, proving he has none of the drawbacks of the last coach, and you are taking that as evidence he has all the drawbacks of the last coach.

 

[wildcat111]

Maybe he is getting sick of the crazy fan bullcrap faster

He just needs to do what he was hired to do and what he said he was going to do!!

 

[UKCowboys]

He just needs to do what he was hired to do and what he said he was going to do!!

Sweet 16 year one. With zero kids on the roster when he was hired. Was he supposed to win the Title year one? He's doing his job, what are you, 12?

 

[KyKevin]

I almost think he has too many players to keep happy.

I almost think he has to many fans that think they could do a better job, to keep happy

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

I almost think he has to many fans that think they could do a better job, to keep happy

Good news is he’s the coach. He just needs to coach the team and not worry about making the fans happy. The fans will be happy if we win and hang banners no matter how he does it

 

[JohnnyGreen]

Pope is my coach. He will take us to the promised land.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

I wanted Pope from the get go. He's a brilliant coach in my opinion.
He'll figure this out and we will be fine this year.
Yeah, he missed on some freshmen talent but we have a really good team. He just needs to fit the pieces together and have them stay healthy.

He needs to get his first choices. If we upped our offer and got Dent, Demary, Wilkerson we would be loaded and ready to win huge 100%.

 

[IowaCityLit]

And he just got beat by the same team we beat. We have a good coach too.

It was an exhibition game man. UK didn’t beat Purdue any more than Georgetown beat UK.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

It's NOVEMBER 15TH.

Throughout most of our century-plus long storied history we would not have even played a SINGLE REAL GAME by this date on the calendar. Check it out. Use Jon Scott's page if you need to. Babies and people with tiny shriveled memories.

We do have legitimate reasons to be concerned about who will play the role of primary point guard for this team and how given Jaland Lowe's medical status BUT

Can't believe Mark Pope's SHOVING IN YOUR FACE the fact that he is self-reflective to an extreme level, proving he has none of the drawbacks of the last coach, and you are taking that as evidence he has all the drawbacks of the last coach.

Man, I couldn’t agree with this more. Everyone complained about him talking in riddles, so he goes out there and puts his heart on the table for the world to see and then people like “what dis?”

 

[BlueSince92]

Man, I couldn’t agree with this more. Everyone complained about him talking in riddles, so he goes out there and puts his heart on the table for the world to see and then people like “what dis?”

Right?

 

[KYAnywhereEverywhere]

I don't think Pope was wrong in saying he is behind with this team. They seem disjointed. Last year's team had so many unexpected issue and stayed connected and cohesive. Every player last year did everything they could do to win each game. Last year was great because the whole was greater than the sum of the parts.

I've been as excited for this season as any since the start of the '14-15 season, but something seems amiss like Pope hasn't figured out how to mesh the egos. Oweh already seems to be looking past this year. He thrived last year because when they needed someone to be "the man," he was the man, but this year there seems to be several guys who want to be "the man" - like they've each been waiting for their chance to be the man - and now no one is the man as a result.

Kam and Noah weren't able to satisfy their roles early and those roles seemed important in establishing the early rhythm to the offense; they weren't hitting the shots they needed to and the team went, "now what?" Same to a lesser degree for Jelavic. Chandler didn't come in an overperform as an emergency PG the way players overperformed when forced into different roles last year. Neither Garrison nor Moreno are the same level of secondary handlers/distributors as Williams. The ability of Williams to do that last year as a pressure release was underappreciated. That dynamic was so unorthodox that it caused other teams fits and confusion.

tl:dr version: this team doesn't have the team rhythm (yet) that we saw last year. They aren't playing for each other so far.

 

[Phil_The_Music2]

It was an exhibition game man. UK didn’t beat Purdue any more than Georgetown beat UK.

This logic is some of the weirdest stuff I've seen on message boards recently. Just because a game is labeled exhibition or regulation doesn't make a damn bit of difference. Both teams are playing to win just like they would any other game.

 

[wkycatfan7]

I'm glad Pope is our coach. I think he's a good coach. Give me him over Cal any day.