Season Mojo - Change from Pre Season to Now

[BlueWorldOrder74]

Anyone else feel like a complete 180 from where you were before season started? Super optimistic to skeptical? Deep to thin? I just feel this way a little. Loss to Gtown, injuries, loss to UL, Lowe out again, defensive struggles, shooting issues, Pope down in the dumps and making weird statements about pregame ********, player body language……just seems like we went from up to down so fast. Just don’t have a great outlook today. Hope it changes next week. I posted after Gtown a list of a handful of issues I noticed that could be problems, now wondering if I was onto something long term? Maybe I’m just having a bad day?

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

Yea didn’t expect the highest paid roster in college basketball to not have a point guard by game three.

 

[cat tat2]

I certainly don’t feel quite as optimistic as I did a couple of weeks ago. Starting to sound like there may be some internal issues.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

Anyone else feel like a complete 180 from where you were before season started? Super optimistic to skeptical? Deep to thin? I just feel this way a little. Loss to Gtown, injuries, loss to UL, Lowe out again, defensive struggles, shooting issues, Pope down in the dumps and making weird statements about pregame ********, player body language……just seems like we went from up to down so fast. Just don’t have a great outlook today. Hope it changes next week. I posted after Gtown a list of a handful of issues I noticed that could be problems, now wondering if I was onto something long term? Maybe I’m just having a bad day?

No, you aren’t just having a bad day. Coach has yet to prove he can coach a good defense. We can’t win by playing one side of the ball, but I’d hold onto your horse before we write the obituary—nothing unfixable with this roster if the right adjustments are made.

 

[megablue]

Anyone else feel like a complete 180 from where you were before season started? Super optimistic to skeptical? Deep to thin? I just feel this way a little. Loss to Gtown, injuries, loss to UL, Lowe out again, defensive struggles, shooting issues, Pope down in the dumps and making weird statements about pregame ********, player body language……just seems like we went from up to down so fast. Just don’t have a great outlook today. Hope it changes next week. I posted after Gtown a list of a handful of issues I noticed that could be problems, now wondering if I was onto something long term? Maybe I’m just having a bad day?

We are a good team.
We just may not end up being as good as most people predicted.
It's early, though.
The season needs to unfold ...

 

[catsarecool1447]

Definitely not a complete 180. The Lowe injury is what is really hurting my vision of this team. Healthy I think they are for sure a top 10 team.

 

[wildcat111]

We are a good team.
We just may not end up being as good as most people predicted.
It's early, though.
The season needs to unfold ...

Not going anywhere if we don't play some defense. Guess this is what $22 million gets you.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

Not going anywhere if we don't play some defense. Guess this is what $22 million gets you.

That’s it. It all comes down to defense. We will either: A.) Get better on defense, or B.) Be average and the fans will turn on Pope.

It has everything to do with not giving up damn 96 points to your rival.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

It was an insult to Pitt's staff that Kentucky's coaches implied that Lowe's issues were "system" issues. I saw Lowe be Lowe against Louisville, and that's not good. He hasn't changed.

Plus, I don't like how our staff is still getting cucked on the recruiting trail by virtually everyone who goes against us for out-of-state kids.

Pope seems to think we don't need to break the bank for guys like Holt and Stokes. And yet he's still sitting on a 67% winning percentage this year, just like he had last year.

I think this team loses at least ten now that I've seen how the parts don't fit. Georgetown was the eye-opener for me.

 

[JPFisher]

Not at all, to be completely honest. I have no idea where all this angst is coming from just three games into the schedule. That's not a jab at everyone else, btw. I legitimately just don't know why we're freaking out. I hate that we lost to Louisville, but otherwise, I'm cool as a cucumber.

I trust Pope to figure this out like he did last year when we duct-taped Butler together and sent him and Carr out to play on little more than hopes, dreams, prayers, and a back brace.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

We are a good team.
We just may not end up being as good as most people predicted.
It's early, though.
The season needs to unfold ...

"We just may not end up being as good as most people predicted."

This isn't a problem when you spend $22 million on a roster?

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

Not at all, to be completely honest. I have no idea where all this angst is coming from just three games into the schedule. That's not a jab at everyone else, btw. I legitimately just don't know why we're freaking out. I hate that we lost to Louisville, but otherwise, I'm cool as a cucumber.

I trust Pope to figure this out like he did last year when we duct-taped Butler together and sent him and Carr out to play on little more than hopes, dreams, prayers, and a back brace.

Louisville tearing us a new one is exactly where it’s coming from. Of course we are being dramatic but that’s where it’s coming from. Teams saying F Kentucky and then proceeds to F Kentucky.

 

[Anon1755209580]

I have never been high on Pope as a coach. Just nothing on his resume to suggest he is going to be a championship level coach. Some don't want to hear that, so they resort to fallacy attacks because they can't actually argue with any facts on the issue.

However, he was given the job, so I can only be hopeful that I am wrong and he succeeds.

Recruiting top talent had already slowed under Cal and it has almost died under Pope. We just keep whiffing on guys that insiders are sure we are going to get. Its honestly kind of weird.

I was also never that high on this team being great. We missed on a lot of our initial portal targets and took 2nd, 3rd and 4th options. Most teams built of portal players usually take 2 seasons for the players to really click, so that was also working against this team.

Next year will be the defining year for Pope, in my opinion. If he doesn't make a major jump by then, he will lose most of the fanbase. Positive is most of this team has more eligibility and should return.

 

[kuhlkat]

Not going anywhere if we don't play some defense. Guess this is what $22 million gets you.

Damn can we stop with the constant 22 million references? Not pointing just at you.
It's an unconfirmed number.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Louisville tearing us a new one is exactly where it’s coming from. Of course we are being dramatic but that’s where it’s coming from. Teams saying F Kentucky and then proceeds to F Kentucky.

Plus the fact that all of Louisville's players were "getable" by Kentucky, including Brown. Pope recruited him, but favored Lewis instead.

So essentially we outspent Louisville, but they brought in better players, players that we could have had. I wonder what Kelsey would do if he had UK's budget.

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

I have never been high on Pope as a coach. Just nothing on his resume to suggest he is going to be a championship level coach. Some don't want to hear that, so that resort to the fallacy attacks because they can't actually argue with facts on the issue. However, he was given the job, so I can only be hopeful that I am wrong and he succeeds.

Recruiting top talent had already slowed under Cal and it has almost died under Pope. We just keep whiffing on guys that insider are sure we are going to get. Its honestly kind of weird.

I was also never that high on this team being great. We missed on a lot of our initial portal targets and took 2nd, 3rd and 4th options. Most teams built of portal players usually take a 2nd year to really click, so that was also working against this team.

Next year will be the defining year for Pope, in my opinion. If he doesn't make a major jump by then, he will lose most of the fanbase.

They won’t say we missed. They say we got the right fit. Got players that want to be here. Couldn’t you tell the other night. Didn’t you see all the players diving on the ground for loose balls. Giving it their all for the state of Kentucky. Save the bullcrap. Get some hoopers. Get some basketball players that look like basketball players and make basketball plays.


speaking of which. I just seen Caleb Wilson lock down his defender full court, create a turnover, dive on the ground for a loose ball and have two or three guys piling on top of him. If only

 

[megablue]

"We just may not end up being as good as most people predicted."

This isn't a problem when you spend $22 million on a roster?

I get it. I've said more than once here that I'm not convinced we are better than last year. I felt that way pre-season and have seen nothing to change my mind. If we do not either make the Elite Eight, win SEC league play or win the SEC tournament ... this will be a failed season, especially for the money committed to it.

 

[BlueSince92]

I feel about the same.

I feel worse about defense:

We suck.

(However we don’t have any defensive problems that require any skills we don’t have or talent we don’t have or size we don’t have to fix. It’s not like we have nine Travis Perry’s in our rotation. We only need the guys we have to get a freaking clue. Is it feasible to accomplish that with our staff and our roster before it’s too late? I dunno. But I do know that “too late” is a good long runway after seeing Arky stink it up almost all year last year and then wind up in the Sweet Sixteen. I see plenty of reasons for legitimate gripes but I think it’s way too early to panic yet.)

But I feel better about offense:

We outshot Louisville in their gym including outshooting them from three at a time when supposedly we haven’t even worked on offense much yet and our looked-like best shooter was out of the game with a sore ankle. That’s a high, high ceiling.

I can certainly call a spade a spade. I wised up to Cal in Spring 2019 and wasn’t fooled again.

But I don’t see any reason to panic now or even worry much. Why be reactionary. We’ve shown we have a whole lot of work to do today. But it’s a long season. Let’s see what happens.

 

[FredmanthecatfanAnon]

I can understand how someone with low testosterone levels could let an early loss change their outlook on the team’s prospect for success.

I think this team is a championship caliber team. I never expected us to go undefeated. I expected and still expect us to be one of the top 2 seeds in both the SEC and NCAA tournaments.

it’s kinda funny. Before the season begins, people are kind of rational. They will say, “We’ll lose at least one of our big non conference games. Maybe even 2. We’ll probably lose 4-6 conference games. And we’ll be one of those teams in that top tier of favorites to win it all”. I agreed with that before the season and still do. However, so many, went from that attitude, to “We suck. Our Roster’s over paid. Our coach can’t get it done”. I think it’s pretty funny.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

I can understand how someone with low testosterone levels could let an early loss change their outlook on the team’s prospect for success.

I think this team is a championship caliber team. I never expected us to go undefeated. I expected and still expect us to be one of the top 2 seeds in both the SEC and NCAA tournaments.

it’s kinda funny. Before the season begins, people are kind of rational. They will say, “We’ll lose at least one of our big non conference games. Maybe even 2. We’ll probably lose 4-6 conference games. And we’ll be one of those teams in that top tier of favorites to win it all”. I agreed with that before the season and still do. However, so many, went from that attitude, to “We suck. Our Roster’s over paid. Our coach can’t get it done”. I think it’s pretty funny.

Instead of ad hom attacks on anyone who disagrees with your position, maybe you could try to understand why people who expected losses would be so upset?

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

I can understand how someone with low testosterone levels could let an early loss change their outlook on the team’s prospect for success.

I think this team is a championship caliber team. I never expected us to go undefeated. I expected and still expect us to be one of the top 2 seeds in both the SEC and NCAA tournaments.

it’s kinda funny. Before the season begins, people are kind of rational. They will say, “We’ll lose at least one of our big non conference games. Maybe even 2. We’ll probably lose 4-6 conference games. And we’ll be one of those teams in that top tier of favorites to win it all”. I agreed with that before the season and still do. However, so many, went from that attitude, to “We suck. Our Roster’s over paid. Our coach can’t get it done”. I think it’s pretty funny.

I expect losses. More than 10 of em. I don’t expect to get pimped. It’s early November for everybody.

 

[theBlues]

I know we laid an egg against UL. There's no way to spin it but it's not the end of the world. Hopefully Lowe will get healthy and we'll get JQ. But even if not this can be a good team. There is still much room for improvement.

Moreno and Jelavic and Williams will be better as the year goes along; they're all players.
Oweh will play better.
At some point Noah will start hitting shots.
Jasper Johnson, at some point, will have a better understanding of the distinction between a good shot and a bad shot.
Aberdine, MoD, and Chandler are excellent players.

And of course they can all improve on defense. UL did not kill us because they were more talented or more athletic; it was mostly mistakes on
our part and their star playing out of him mind(helped to get in the groove by poor defense).

This team is capable of beating anybody they play even without Lowe and JQ.

 

[BlueWorldOrder74]

I can understand how someone with low testosterone levels could let an early loss change their outlook on the team’s prospect for success.

I think this team is a championship caliber team. I never expected us to go undefeated. I expected and still expect us to be one of the top 2 seeds in both the SEC and NCAA tournaments.

it’s kinda funny. Before the season begins, people are kind of rational. They will say, “We’ll lose at least one of our big non conference games. Maybe even 2. We’ll probably lose 4-6 conference games. And we’ll be one of those teams in that top tier of favorites to win it all”. I agreed with that before the season and still do. However, so many, went from that attitude, to “We suck. Our Roster’s over paid. Our coach can’t get it done”. I think it’s pretty funny.

Low testosterone? Cute.

 

[BlueWorldOrder74]

By the way, I’m not deflated because of the loss at UL. I didn’t like it. It’s not the end of the world. I was just saying that where I was at preseason compared to where I’m at today is vastly different. It will most definitely all change again very soon. I had, and still have, high hopes for this team. But, I can’t pretend I don’t see some concerning issues so far.

 

[KYFOSSIL]

Instead of ad hom attacks on anyone who disagrees with your position, maybe you could try to understand why people who expected losses would be so upset?

 

[KYFOSSIL]

Look it's not because people disagree is because about six people on her keeps bout the same bull crap doom, and despair over and over attacking players and coach after one ******* loss this year. And it is on every single thread like a cancer.. Alabama just lost to Purdue at home so let's write their *** off as well. I have no problem with the LP in this thread at all, but it's like blood and water for shark Some of the people and they know who they are. They use every excuse to downgrade our coach and bash our players and I'm sorry, but those are poor excuses offense. OP I do not include you in this. You're simply a passionate fan who has deep concerns and I get that.

 

[BlueWorldOrder74]

Look it's not because people disagree is because about six people on her keeps bout the same bull crap doom, and despair over and over attacking players and coach after one ******* loss this year. And it is on every single thread like a cancer.. Alabama just lost to Purdue at home so let's write their *** off as well. I have no problem with the LP in this thread at all, but it's like blood and water for shark Some of the people and they know who they are. They use every excuse to downgrade our coach and bash our players and I'm sorry, but those are poor excuses offense. OP I do not include you in this. You're simply a passionate fan who has deep concerns and I get that.

I love Mark, love our team. I’ll be insane every game regardless. I think Mark has what it takes between the ears to be one of the best coaches in the country, easily. I didn’t like his decisions through 2/3 of the game at UL though. I don’t like the injuries. I don’t like hearing the weird cryptic lines from Mark about pregame stuff, I don’t like some player body language.

 

[JPFisher]

Louisville tearing us a new one is exactly where it’s coming from. Of course we are being dramatic but that’s where it’s coming from. Teams saying F Kentucky and then proceeds to F Kentucky.

Louisville fans will **** a collective brick if they meet back up with us in the tournament. See how quickly that bravado disappears. They got us good, but assuming we figure out PG this year once everyone stops dying, I'd take us in round two.

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

Louisville fans will **** a collective brick if they meet back up with us in the tournament. See how quickly that bravado disappears. They got us good, but assuming we figure out PG this year once everyone stops dying, I'd take us in round two.

I take us in round two also. That’s assuming we have JQ.

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

Look it's not because people disagree is because about six people on her keeps bout the same bull crap doom, and despair over and over attacking players and coach after one ******* loss this year. And it is on every single thread like a cancer.. Alabama just lost to Purdue at home so let's write their *** off as well. I have no problem with the LP in this thread at all, but it's like blood and water for shark Some of the people and they know who they are. They use every excuse to downgrade our coach and bash our players and I'm sorry, but those are poor excuses offense. OP I do not include you in this. You're simply a passionate fan who has deep concerns and I get that.

is fans going back and fourth with opinions really attacking players tho? I mean I guess if they get on here and read they wouldn’t like some of the stuff but even then if they are that sensitive that may be a problem.

 

[KYFOSSIL]

I take us in round two also. That’s assuming we have JQ

is fans going back and fourth with opinions really attacking players tho? I mean I guess if they get on here and read they wouldn’t like some of the stuff but even then if they are that sensitive that may be a problem.

You could spend it anyway you want but so much **** that said and the attitudes are pathetic. You don't see it that's on you.. just let me tell you something same fans will disappear when the cats do good is that a trade of a true fan?

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

You could spend it anyway you want but so much **** that said and the attitudes are pathetic. You don't see it that's on you.. just let me tell you something same fans will disappear when the cats do good is that a trade of a true fan?

There’s more to say when we lose because we care, my bro. I remember many of us going ape when we won versus Gonzaga last year. Call out the trolls, sure. But don’t be upset with fans caring and having opinions. Do you remember when Cal hated us Bennies? Don’t do it, too. We just fans like you.

 

[Monday Nitro]

Not at all, to be completely honest. I have no idea where all this angst is coming from just three games into the schedule. That's not a jab at everyone else, btw. I legitimately just don't know why we're freaking out. I hate that we lost to Louisville, but otherwise, I'm cool as a cucumber.

I trust Pope to figure this out like he did last year when we duct-taped Butler together and sent him and Carr out to play on little more than hopes, dreams, prayers, and a back brace.

The “I told you the night they hired Pope that I hated the hire” crowd is bowing up and telling everyone how smart they are. They are giddy……and insufferable

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

Umm yup, no PG. Our best player we don’t know when he will play, and now this.

 

[Anon1755209580]

Umm yup, no PG. Our best player we don’t know when he will play, and now this.

View attachment 1001992

Damn Mormons

 

[cornbreadnmilk]

Umm yup, no PG. Our best player we don’t know when he will play, and now this.

View attachment 1001992

WTF? Why was religion even being discussed before a huge game?

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

WTF? Why was religion even being discussed before a huge game?

, it’s one of those things that shouldn’t be but if it was off the court for sure. I am more concern those involved can’t respect each other views and it came to this kinda fight. Not good for team cohesion and getting along.

 

[Anon1755209580]

WTF? Why was religion even being discussed before a huge game?

For some zealots, it's always time to discuss religion.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

I hope we look amazing tomorrow and put that game behind us. I don’t want this to drag on and we need Lowe to maybe get his shoulder fixed. We need him for sure but not every 5 games all season.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

I

WTF? Why was religion even being discussed before a huge game?

i hope it’s one of those fake accounts. My friend sent it to me. I haven’t checked the OP out to see if it’s one of those fake accounts they fall for.