From 2/8/25, game after Ole Miss debacle, we are now 10th in Deffensive Efficiency; 22nd in Offense. Amazing stat considering our defense to start the first half of the season.
T-Rank - Offense and Defense
- Thread starter BlueWorldOrder74
- Start date
I firmly believe so much of this was just the giant transition and overhaul for Mark Pope and staff. Brand new coach, brand new staff, 100% brand new team formed in April. Everyone had to get acquainted with everyone. There was not one single thing to build on from previous years, nothing that followed over, except that Mark probably had his name etched into a dorm wall somewhere from 1996.
And once we started going? Kerr gets injured. Ok, we can deal. Then Butler. Then Carrs back takes him and and out.. then Jrob. In all this time, Carr/Jrob/Butler come back in several times, which is great to see, but throws off chemistry.. things get reset back to zero.
We really haven't had a shred of consistency (aside from November), until these last few weeks. That's INSANE to think about and even more insane to try and navigate en route to a freaking Sweet16 lol.
And once we started going? Kerr gets injured. Ok, we can deal. Then Butler. Then Carrs back takes him and and out.. then Jrob. In all this time, Carr/Jrob/Butler come back in several times, which is great to see, but throws off chemistry.. things get reset back to zero.
We really haven't had a shred of consistency (aside from November), until these last few weeks. That's INSANE to think about and even more insane to try and navigate en route to a freaking Sweet16 lol.
We're starting to look and feel like a real boy!
That's honestly pretty amazing and built to win a Championship. I think Pope has done an amazing job especially since returning 0% of nothing from last year!
How this guy isn't COY is bonkers to me. I know some of these awards have already been given out and the tournament isn't always a factor (no idea why)..
But for him to get a 3-seed and a Sweet16 in all of this? Taking away all of my biases, I don't see how, to date, Mark Pope isn't COY. Sure, some coaches didn't lose 10 games or whatever, but I think you have to look at the circumstances around each team. Like Auburn,.. cool you got a 1-seed.. on the backs of a team that's 24 years old and was in the tournament last year as a high seed. Did Bruce Pearl REALLY do that great of a coaching job?
With what Mark Pope had to do this year, what he did is more impressive than any other coach IMO.
I think a better starting point (even though some of those game were played without Butler) is from the first game that Robinson missed forward (so include the game where he tried to play & played like 5min).