Stop Blaming the Players
- Thread starter Coach777
- Start date
We aren’t even running any offense to get looks at 3. It’s just chuck it up the minute you catch it.
I’d rather watch Walker Horn play his *** off just trying to get a shot off and get dunked on rather than watch someone like Oweh who I know can play at a high level stand around and do nothing.
Well I guess we will see if benching has any effect Garrison moving forward! He had to get a few splinters in his a$$ sitting over a half!
Question. Am I allowed to blame the players when they don't show effort and hustle back on defense? Or if they stand around on offense and don't cut or set screens and roll hard? What about if they miss curfew after getting blown out by 35 pts in a game they showed no heart? Or is that something I should blame on the staff too?
If they are playing like that then that’s on the coach for having them in the game.
So... Let's just say you only have 2 guys showing effort on the entire team. You gotta play 3 selfish unmotivated premadonnas as well. And the ones who missed curfew weren't on the floor in the first half. At some point people have to remember these aren't kids anymore. They are paid professionals that we can't fire, dock pay, or hold accountable for their poor performance. Quit giving the trash character players an easy out by blaming the staff. Some of it is on Pope, some of it is on the players. To pretend otherwise is short sighted and agenda driven.
I have been really critical of Pope!
I blamed him and the players but I can promise you this is not all Popes fault. These players are having a hard time scoring because there’s no one on the team who will lead. Some are trotting around nonchalant and not giving 100 on every play.
I can’t gurantee things will turn around but I still believe in Pope. I was at the game and heard alot of statements he made on the sideline. Something’s he said to the guys last night were we have to take this one play at a time. If you can’t pour your soul out on this court you don’t belong on it. Then the timeout after BG not hustling back on D he yelled “what the fuuu” and was allover him on the bench. The main thing at the end of the game he signed every damn autograph left in the arena after the post game show. I know because I was the last one who took a picture with him. He told every fan in the building “we will turn this around I promise and I believe in this team”.
Guys it’s ok to judge and be dissatisfied with how the season is going. It’s ok to think at this time Pope is not the guy but I promise you we have a coach who absolutely breaths this program.
I blamed him and the players but I can promise you this is not all Popes fault. These players are having a hard time scoring because there’s no one on the team who will lead. Some are trotting around nonchalant and not giving 100 on every play.
I can’t gurantee things will turn around but I still believe in Pope. I was at the game and heard alot of statements he made on the sideline. Something’s he said to the guys last night were we have to take this one play at a time. If you can’t pour your soul out on this court you don’t belong on it. Then the timeout after BG not hustling back on D he yelled “what the fuuu” and was allover him on the bench. The main thing at the end of the game he signed every damn autograph left in the arena after the post game show. I know because I was the last one who took a picture with him. He told every fan in the building “we will turn this around I promise and I believe in this team”.
Guys it’s ok to judge and be dissatisfied with how the season is going. It’s ok to think at this time Pope is not the guy but I promise you we have a coach who absolutely breaths this program.
We just lost to Gonzaga by 35. I'm not impressed that he almost said the F word. Go do this against a team worth a damn
My 85yo neighbor Mort lives and breathes this program too and I wouldn't want him as coach
Sorry buddy. We're all frustrated here.
Love the avatar btw.
If you go back and see my past post you’d see I have called Pope every name in the book lol.
I completely understand. Honestly I don’t think we beat Indiana and I think Pope has failed with this roster construction. I wasn’t too impressed with somethings last night but I just saw something in Pope on the sideline that I was like oh hi Mark!
Didn’t know he had that in him.
I get it. This fanbase has taken a lot of punches recently. We just need to see something turn our way for a change.
Anyway how is your sex life?
I could honestly picture Pope walking up to the Gonzaga bulldog mascot and saying hi doggy lol.
He was just channeling his inner Ricky P. Lets hope he keeps doing it and that he keeps their attention.
While, I do agree there are things that Pope needs to do better and accountability is one of those. "They play and act like they don't care" ... is Pope's fault? LOL, sorry but that is the definition of victim mentality. Pope needs to put his foot down yes, but at some point, his players need to have heart, pride and man up, so no, its not all on Pope.
Putting everything on Pope misses the real problem. Our issues aren’t about laziness or lack of effort as much as they’re about roster limits and identity. You can’t fix size, strength, or a missing post threat by just benching guys.
The team hasn’t “regressed” because fundamentals aren’t being taught. The players look worse because they’re being asked to do things they aren’t built for. There’s no downhill scorer, no bully in the paint, and no true post anchor to build an offense around. When nobody collapses the defense, the offense keeps ending up in threes by default. That’s not stubbornness, that’s just what our personnel forces.
If you want to blame Pope, do it for roster construction, not motivation. He put together a finesse lineup without the physical pieces needed to balance it. Until he recruits size, toughness, and real paint scoring, the offense won’t change much no matter how loud he is or who he benches.
Is it the players' fault they don't have the talent to beat good teams in high major conferences? I don't blame them for being who they are. They can't help it. They CAN outwork other teams but that doesn't necessarily equate to wins. These players just aren't very good. That's the problem.
Effort is on the kids. Oweh has looked worse than he did last year until yesterday. That’s on him, not the coaches. Same with BG.
I agree it's ultimately on the players and they should not need to be motivated. The point I was trying to make was Pope allowed this to happen game after game and not holding the players accountable. If this had been handled earlier in season I believe this would not be a issue. I just don't understand why you don't believe benching is the solution to the lack of hustle? You believe players would be fine sitting? I've yet to see that at any level in any sport. Regardless, Pope seems to have adapted what has been discussed here and only time will prove if this is a team or a group of individuals. I never thought I would be discussing the lack of hustle of a UK team - sad.
I never said I didn't believe in benching players. I said what do you do as a Coach if you only have 2 guys on your entire roster who play hard and hustle? You can't bench the entire team, you still gotta play 3 more. I'm a tough love Coach. I'm not their friend. It is my job to teach them, it is their job to execute what I teach them. It is my job to discipline them, it is their job to not give me a reason to discipline them. On that I think we can agree. Pope is not that guy, and it appears there is nobody on his staff that is that guy. That part is on Pope. Not addressing it before now is on Pope. The construction of this roster is on Pope mostly as well (he doesn't get 100 percent of the blame because he had tons of other targets we missed on who would have drastically changed the trajectory of this team even they only landed one of them, and losing a recruit isn't 100% on the head coach all the time, there are other factors involved.) But lets not forget just how many of the guys on this roster had NBA potential grades before this season started that all haven't played up to their potential. I just don't believe you can bench this team (as a whole) and get the desired results, unless we start Horn, Tow, Potter, Hawthorne and the practice MVP who proves he wants to play. It might take that but are we willing to sacrifice an entire season to prove that point on guys who will graduate and transfer out at the end of the year with zero incoming recruits?
What isn't on Pope?
Missing shots in big games but not against cupcakes.
Refusing to move without the ball.
Not playing off two feet.
Not sprinting back on defense.
Playing selfish basketball.
Player Ego.
Some players you can't get through to with benching or running them till they puke. And it's not like we can strangle them or take them out back and beat them with a garden hose to get them to listen to the coaches. lol
The very first thing I would do is FORCE them to live in the lodge together at the bare minimum and wear only team gear when the team traveled.