Pope still believes (coaches show)
- Thread starter TheResistance
- Start date
Agreed, they’ll round into form. I’ve given up on them ever being the dominant team we hoped in the preseason but they’ll turn into a formidable squad. Shooting basically has to improve.
Not for one I'm not blindly pumping anything. I've been disappointed. With our early results as much as anybody else has.. but I also understand rarely doesn't wanna get instant gratification. That's why I am giving Pope his time through this year and possibly next year, depending on the team he puts together
Pope had nothing to do with the first losing season and we do not have a losing season this year and will not have a losing season this year
But it shows the weakness of Mitch Barnhart’s handling of the program. He’ll go down as one of the worse, if not the worst AD in Kentucky basketball history if we end up with a 2nd losing season in such a short period of time.
As for the likelihood, I’d say it’s just as likely we end up with a losing season than making the tournament as it currently stands. If Pope loses to St Johns and Alabama, it’ll be hard for me to not think the worst case scenario.
That’s all I’m talking about. We finally showed some heart and fight when we had to. Like I said, if I see that carry over into wins over St. John’s and Alabama, I’ll start to think we may have a chance this season.
IU was a baby step, but it was a step forward. Can we mix Quaintance in and play that hard for the next 3 months? I hope so. About all I can say now.
One half!!
Damn!! You got me!!
One half of effort, not coaching, effort on the season.
Give that man an extension!!
I hear ya. I’m just not personally going to spend my time worrying about it. I hope you’re at least partially wrong, or that we figure out some way to fix it.
I lived through a 13-19 season where we flirted with the death penalty. Within 3 years we were playing the game of the century in the Elite Eight.
It could be doom and gloom and there’s nothing we can about. I’d rather believe there are enough people who care enough about this program that mountains will be moved to make things right.
As for now, hoping we can salvage this season. Kentucky basketball is pretty much the only live tv I watch anymore, but I was pretty close turning it off for the season a few days ago.
I thought Cal's coach speak was unbearable, Pope's is on another level. I love the guy, I want him to be great, but he’s a cheeseball and his over the top "it's beautiful" stuff, is just too much.
But I do think he is willing to change to fit the job. He wants it bad and he already has had to get mean with some guys, which is not his nature. I hope he realizes he's going to have to get a lot meaner if he wants to be successful.
I hope you’re right but I think the inverse dynamics may be at play here. Big reason we made those monster defensive gains down the stretch last year was our offense was so tight we found ourselves free to ignore offense drills in practice and focus on defense for three/four weeks straight to shore it up.
Is this squad realistically on a trajectory to get so good at defense we can skip a month drilling it while we shore up that offense? I don’t pretend to know the answer but I think the question is worth asking.
It’d be wonderful if Pope changed his methodology and made a miraculous turnaround. I hope it happens. But he’s going to have to show it through results. He’ll also have to consider revamping his staff if he pulls off the miracle and saves this season with a tournament appearance, at least. This staff is inept at recruiting, we need changes.
But it just doesn’t seem likely. Indiana didn’t show us that much beyond Kentucky players upping the ante in the second half and Indiana who was a turnover machine and couldn’t hit a shot. I’d be more willing to believe that there’s a turnaround coming if we beat St. Johns this weekend.
This is what I hear when people say we’ll still be able to recruit under the JMI deal.
I just want to see moving without the ball, reversing the ball, and making the extra pass.
If I start seeing those 3 things on a consistent basis, I firmly believe the shooting will take care of itself. I have not seen those 3 things done in harmony since the Purdue game, for whatever reason.
If I start seeing those 3 things on a consistent basis, I firmly believe the shooting will take care of itself. I have not seen those 3 things done in harmony since the Purdue game, for whatever reason.
I can see Chandler and Noah getting much better looks when JQ gets going. With he and Dioubate in the middle, it should loosen up the backcourt. Those guys getting good looks have been tough to come by. Noah doesn’t get his shot off super quick. Chandler just needs a fraction more of a second.
This team is athletic enough that I think the margin of error is more forgiving (assuming we play like we actually want to be there).
I'm not sure we'd require just a month of nothing but offense in practice to get a great product. We had a lot more movement and action against IU than we did in any of our previous games, and it showed because our offense made it look like we had a clue. We were still sloppy and didn't score like we expected, but to me, the offense really looks like it's coming along nicely.
So, the pessimist in me says this team is a terrible shooting team and he's just being overly optimistic about it. However, there is some evidence that much of the shooting problem is mental. When these guys are feeling good about themselves (in several of our blowout wins) they have shown they can make shots. They shot over 70% in the 2nd half against Tenn Tech. They shot well
Better defense and better rebounding should produce better shots which should produce shooting.
This team would be better with a different coach. He's being a stubborn *sshole when it's clear this year's roster requires a different approach. He'll coach them to keep jacking up 3s bc that's all he knows.
Certain players should be benched if they shoot a 3 imo.
Never thought for a minute he wouldn’t play. I really believe that was just a Calipari thing, never seen many coaches allow that but I guess it is a different era so I get people being hesitant. But I’ve always thought he would play.
Now how rusty or out of shape he is, not up to speed, different story. Maybe he’s so damn good he creates something special and we shoot up.
Your pessimism is warranted. I’ve never seen a Kentucky team shoot this bad. It’s hard to watch, clangers everywhere. I’m just in shock sometimes watching how bad they miss. I don’t know if this is the worst shooting team in KY history but man it feels like it.
Without evidence on the court, it becomes difficult for fans, players and coaches to believe. CMP needs to play those that are best-executing what he wants them to do.
I’m hoping the same, we’ve got too many who care to see it happen. At the same time, why was it allowed to happen in the first first? I don’t have the answers but the majority of the time I think of nothing else JMI will have to tweak it or they’ll never get another flagship. So we’ll see.
People are over obsessed with freshmen recruiting when most years freshmen classes aren't that great. Here lately it hasn't been the freshmen winning it all. People are too used to the cal days and that's evident.
analytics don’t lie, but they aren’t always right for the future either. Pope has already deviated from them, and I’ve watched the analytic craze destroy many baseball teams. One of the big changes happening with the STL Cards is they’re reviewing how they’re going to approach analytics because it was destroying our seasons. I watched playoff runs disappear over using analytics. Mark is now cutting it off to a large degree. We’re going to look back and realize how foolish it was to close our eyes during the game and instead open them to read a piece of paper than has no bearing on what’s going on in a personal and human in game situation.
In STL we hired a bunch of non athletes and math guys and cleared out a bunch of baseball men. It’s not worked out well at all. Never understood why anyone would make analytics the entire process instead of letting sports guys plug it in where they see fit.
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Pope gives analytics a bad name, lol. Every coach now uses analytics to some degree and yet Pope's problems seem unique to him.
I see so many comments that CMP should abandon his style of play and quit shooting 3s. What do we go to? We don’t have a dominant low post game and low post players other than a 6 7 Mo. Can’t run the dribble drive with this group- we don’t have that many finishers or ball handlers.
In the half court I say with Lowe we drive and kick and let JQ, Moreno and Garrison plus Mo hit the offensive board. Let shooting the 3s and the analytics catch up. I know we have enough shooters to get 33% or better. Just have to run the offense and get away from the one on one approach. Pass the ball.. drive and kick. Quit all the dribbling. Reverse the ball. Better screening.
One personal frustration for me is watching Noah and Chandler plus Denzel to some extent drive the ball to 6 feet and stop and turn their back to the basket looking to pass. I understand not going to the rim every time but at 6 5 go up and drill a 6 foot jumper. I’ll take the 65% 2 pointer.
In the half court I say with Lowe we drive and kick and let JQ, Moreno and Garrison plus Mo hit the offensive board. Let shooting the 3s and the analytics catch up. I know we have enough shooters to get 33% or better. Just have to run the offense and get away from the one on one approach. Pass the ball.. drive and kick. Quit all the dribbling. Reverse the ball. Better screening.
One personal frustration for me is watching Noah and Chandler plus Denzel to some extent drive the ball to 6 feet and stop and turn their back to the basket looking to pass. I understand not going to the rim every time but at 6 5 go up and drill a 6 foot jumper. I’ll take the 65% 2 pointer.
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Yeah I definitely think he’ll play. I also think he’ll make some difference just because he’s big and he’s strong and coordinated and smart.
Whether he’ll ever really fit into our system is another story. He’s got a little over two months of runway to learn everything. I know he’s smart but no one else seems to have really mastered everything and they’ve mostly all been practicing the system together since June. Ideally JQs role would be even more complicated than most since we’d like to run zoom action through him.
What I don’t understand is how the hell this team can score in the hundreds but completely fall apart against better competition. Better defense explains some of it but not all. Some of the looks they were missing are wide open. Maybe the win against IU will help them get out of their heads and just play.
Makes perfect sense. It's like...say I know a big guy, stands probably 6'5, who likes to beat up on midgets. If he sees a midget, he'll rip him limb from limb and leave him in a pile of discarded body parts. He just massacres the poor little fellas.
But when a guy his own size challenges him...he's hiding under the table with his tail between his legs.
That's our team this season. And I think maybe...that is Mark Pope as a person.
Nothing will change until the shots they are taking changes. And that wont happen until he fixes the offense and gets back to spacing the floor and cutting so that they get more kick out looks. Its not just about good shooters vs bad shooters its the shots we take now are out of rhythm, out of sinc, forced up shots off the dribble for the most part. 3 Point shots taken off a kick out where shooters are alreayd set, squared up and ready to release go in at a much higher percentage for all shooters.
I just dont get why it seems we've abandoned Pope's set offense with spacing, motion and back cutting. The ball gets stuck in one spot way too much this year and we're easy to defend.
Marks vocabulary drives me nuts and doesn’t help him.