Uncensored

[I’m The Village Idiot]

While one guy is the coach people complain about OAD.

While one guy is the coach people complain about lack of OAD.

People complain about NIL and funds for basketball, then demand to payout an extremely large buyout for a new football coach.

People complains about becoming the new Indiana, while literally complaining that we aren’t more like Indiana.

People say to play the best players, but complains they aren’t from Kentucky.

People complain that the players don’t play for the name of the front of the jersey while we endlessly and unfairly get brutally personal about aspects of them that have nothing to do with basketball.

People complain at others who feel we should wait to fire the coach until we have a suitable replacement. Ironically, this is the replacement that we have due to people complaining that we should fire the coach before we had a suitable replacement.

People complain that we don’t promise players minutes to get them to sign here yet complained on end about how Calipari promised players like Chris Livingston minutes.

People complained that we couldn’t keep players in the program to develop, yet we refer to any of our players who are returnees as “not good enough to make the NBA.”

People complained that our school was made to be the G-League Jr, yet are now angry that we *only* had two NBA players last year and don’t have enough this year.

People complained that everyone on the outside takes shots at the school, yet fails to ever look at even the most minor of self-inflicted wounds as anything that could possibly have been so. After all, the world is a binary of good guys and bad guys, so we are never wrong.

People complain about players like TyTy Washington saying that Big Blue Nation doesn’t care about its fans, while our response is to deny responsibility and remove him from existence.

People complain about players’ parents literally begging the fanbase to chill with the personal and brutal attacks, yet also demand that coaches not only bring the best talent here, but also ensure they are the perfect fit.

I know I am absolutely going to get massacred for saying this. I know it will be deemed “preachy” and unwelcome. I ask myself this question: if we want to be the best program in the country, especially in an era where everything is on the table. Schools that never had a chance to be competitive now have money and these kids and coaches can choose anywhere to go, I think we as fans need to truly know what we want and what we believe. Winning is obvious. We all want that. But we need to know what our philosophy is to get there. These ADs, coaches and players will come and go but WE are what holds this thing together. Everyone has to decide for themselves what being the best fan looks like. I love all of Big Blue Nation, even the people who don’t agree with my message. We gotta start thinking big and long-term in my opinion if we want to sustain success for future generations.

 

[UKCowboys]

While one guy is the coach people complain about OAD.

While one guy is the coach people complain about lack of OAD.

People complain about NIL and funds for basketball, then demand to payout an extremely large buyout for a new football coach.

People complains about becoming the new Indiana, while literally complaining that we aren’t more like Indiana.

People say to play the best players, but complains they aren’t from Kentucky.

People complain that the players don’t play for the name of the front of the jersey while we endlessly and unfairly get brutally personal about aspects of them that have nothing to do with basketball.

People complain at others who feel we should wait to fire the coach until we have a suitable replacement. Ironically, this is the replacement that we have due to people complaining that we should fire the coach before we had a suitable replacement.

People complain that we don’t promise players minutes to get them to sign here yet complained on end about how Calipari promised players like Chris Livingston minutes.

People complained that we couldn’t keep players in the program to develop, yet we refer to any of our players who are returnees as “not good enough to make the NBA.”

People complained that our school was made to be the G-League Jr, yet are now angry that we *only* had two NBA players last year and don’t have enough this year.

People complained that everyone on the outside takes shots at the school, yet fails to ever look at even the most minor of self-inflicted wounds as anything that could possibly have been so. After all, the world is a binary of good guys and bad guys, so we are never wrong.

People complain about players like TyTy Washington saying that Big Blue Nation doesn’t care about its fans, while our response is to deny responsibility and remove him from existence.

People complain about players’ parents literally begging the fanbase to chill with the personal and brutal attacks, yet also demand that coaches not only bring the best talent here, but also ensure they are the perfect fit.

I know I am absolutely going to get massacred for saying this. I know it will be deemed “preachy” and unwelcome. I ask myself this question: if we want to be the best program in the country, especially in an era where everything is on the table. Schools that never had a chance to be competitive now have money and these kids and coaches can choose anywhere to go, I think we as fans need to truly know what we want and what we believe. Winning is obvious. We all want that. But we need to know what our philosophy is to get there. These ADs, coaches and players will come and go but WE are what holds this thing together. Everyone has to decide for themselves what being the best fan looks like. I love all of Big Blue Nation, even the people who don’t agree with my message. We gotta start thinking big and long-term in my opinion if we want to sustain success for future generations.

Anyone who massacres you needs to say with a straight face you weren't telling the truth

 

[LadyCaytIL]

Its almost like BBN isnt a hive mind and there are pockets and %'s of the fan base that have differing views.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

Its almost like BBN isnt a hive mind and there are pockets and %'s of the fan base that have differing views.

Take some of those talking points into a conversation and watch how quickly you get exiled. I’m all about having difficult conversations and I think they are needed. Some of these we don’t like to talk about very much. We do have a lot of good guy/bad guy dynamics we view things from. While I agree fans are not a hivemind, groupthink is absolutely a thing and everything I listed there have been perpetuated to an extreme degree by our fanbase. My post invites the introspection and further discussion rather than assuming a singular answer.

 

[Eastkybball]

The more I think I know, the more I don’t know but I know this one thing. We have to have an AD who will pursue and hire the best most qualified coach possible. A coach who can develop, game plan, make in game adjustments, and recruit the best players. Who that is? I really don’t know. Could be Pope, Pearl, Oats, or Hurley? Maybe but I would start with the AD.

 

[UKCowboys]

The more I think I know, the more I don’t know but I know this one thing. We have to have an AD who will pursue and hire the best most qualified coach possible. A coach who can develop, game plan, make in game adjustments, and recruit the best players. Who that is? I really don’t know. Could be Pope, Pearl, Oats, or Hurley? Maybe but I would start with the AD.

I agree with this.
When Cal left, Pearl was my number one choice. Great coach who wanted the job. But MP won me over after he was hired. Had an outstanding first year. Im not quitting on him nine games into year two. He gets a third year no matter what IMO. Then we'll see

 

[JHBr]

I agree with this.
When Cal left, Pearl was my number one choice. Great coach who wanted the job. But MP won me over after he was hired. Had an outstanding first year. Im not quitting on him nine games into year two. He gets a third year no matter what IMO. Then we'll see

I agree also. I can't give up on the man this soon. That being said he has a tall task in turning this season around.

 

[KFuqua]

I agree also. I can't give up on the man this soon. That being said he has a tall task in turning this season around.

Agreed! It too soon to give up on him! GO BIG BLUE!

 

[Goingfor9]

I agree with this.
When Cal left, Pearl was my number one choice. Great coach who wanted the job. But MP won me over after he was hired. Had an outstanding first year. Im not quitting on him nine games into year two. He gets a third year no matter what IMO. Then we'll see

The guy came in with zero tournament success. His resume was thinner than Bcg. That matters. You don’t get 3 years when you had no resume and lose 12 games year one and can’t get an ooc win year two. And we have been beaten bad when I say bad I mean destroyed.

 

[Snarks]

I agree with this.
When Cal left, Pearl was my number one choice. Great coach who wanted the job. But MP won me over after he was hired. Had an outstanding first year. Im not quitting on him nine games into year two. He gets a third year no matter what IMO. Then we'll see

Same, I was all for Pearl. Wasn’t crazy about Pope but changed my mind during last season. He gets 1 more year to show he has what it takes for this job. Was the first year an outlier or is this year? We’ll find out year 3.

 

[Bluetick2100]

While one guy is the coach people complain about OAD.

While one guy is the coach people complain about lack of OAD.

People complain about NIL and funds for basketball, then demand to payout an extremely large buyout for a new football coach.

People complains about becoming the new Indiana, while literally complaining that we aren’t more like Indiana.

People say to play the best players, but complains they aren’t from Kentucky.

People complain that the players don’t play for the name of the front of the jersey while we endlessly and unfairly get brutally personal about aspects of them that have nothing to do with basketball.

People complain at others who feel we should wait to fire the coach until we have a suitable replacement. Ironically, this is the replacement that we have due to people complaining that we should fire the coach before we had a suitable replacement.

People complain that we don’t promise players minutes to get them to sign here yet complained on end about how Calipari promised players like Chris Livingston minutes.

People complained that we couldn’t keep players in the program to develop, yet we refer to any of our players who are returnees as “not good enough to make the NBA.”

People complained that our school was made to be the G-League Jr, yet are now angry that we *only* had two NBA players last year and don’t have enough this year.

People complained that everyone on the outside takes shots at the school, yet fails to ever look at even the most minor of self-inflicted wounds as anything that could possibly have been so. After all, the world is a binary of good guys and bad guys, so we are never wrong.

People complain about players like TyTy Washington saying that Big Blue Nation doesn’t care about its fans, while our response is to deny responsibility and remove him from existence.

People complain about players’ parents literally begging the fanbase to chill with the personal and brutal attacks, yet also demand that coaches not only bring the best talent here, but also ensure they are the perfect fit.

I know I am absolutely going to get massacred for saying this. I know it will be deemed “preachy” and unwelcome. I ask myself this question: if we want to be the best program in the country, especially in an era where everything is on the table. Schools that never had a chance to be competitive now have money and these kids and coaches can choose anywhere to go, I think we as fans need to truly know what we want and what we believe. Winning is obvious. We all want that. But we need to know what our philosophy is to get there. These ADs, coaches and players will come and go but WE are what holds this thing together. Everyone has to decide for themselves what being the best fan looks like. I love all of Big Blue Nation, even the people who don’t agree with my message. We gotta start thinking big and long-term in my opinion if we want to sustain success for future generations.

I would complain about your post but it's true.

 

[UKreturntogreatness]

I sure saw a lot of posts before the Pope hire negative about Pearl. Too bad the old system doesn't still exist where past posts could be viewed. Mine was encouraging the hire but I saw more to the negative. I wonder now if some who are saying we should have were the negative ones before.

I also posted after the UL and Michigan State games that if Pope benched Otega and Garrison then I believed he was showing the discipline that was needed. He didn't. That was very disappointing for me. I love Pope's positivity but sometimes you have to be willing to make the tough decisions too. However, he is not getting fired so those posts are silly. He will have at least a third year.

 

[UKCowboys]

The guy came in with zero tournament success. His resume was thinner than Bcg. That matters. You don’t get 3 years when you had no resume and lose 12 games year one and can’t get an ooc win year two. And we have been beaten bad when I say bad I mean destroyed.

He made the sweet 16 with a completely empty roster coming in. You are being unfair only listing season one as 12 losses

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

He made the sweet 16 with a completely empty roster coming in. You are being unfair only listing season one as 12 losses

Yep. Being frustrated as one thing, but the holding up records and comparing records without context is just dishonest. Twelve losses in the toughest conference in college basketball history with a zero player start is not the same as any other 12 loss season. Just wish people could be fair in their criticisms, even if scathing.

 

[Woodrow24]

Take some of those talking points into a conversation and watch how quickly you get exiled. I’m all about having difficult conversations and I think they are needed. Some of these we don’t like to talk about very much. We do have a lot of good guy/bad guy dynamics we view things from. While I agree fans are not a hivemind, groupthink is absolutely a thing and everything I listed there have been perpetuated to an extreme degree by our fanbase. My post invites the introspection and further discussion rather than assuming a singular answer.

Dude you made a post taking up for a guy that’s trolled this board for years the other day. Is he one of these “exiled” people you’re talking about?

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

Dude you made a post taking up for a guy that’s trolled this board for years the other day. Is he one of these “exiled” people you’re talking about?

No, I’ve been in enough conversations myself where I’ve seen how this goes. You wouldn’t know how many nasty messages I’ve gotten for asking the wrong questions or having a different opinion. Long after I’m gone from this board, I really just want to encourage all people to think deeply and be comfortable asking questions to one another. An example being if you bring up injury factor, immediately it becomes pro-Pope versus anti-Pope, no actual faithful discussion about the merits of the argument being made. From me, it’s always been a point to encourage folks to hear out the views they may hold as “correct.” That’s really it. Honestly, I don’t care one way or the other if fans blame the coach. However, I like to get people to question their rationale along the way —- this will be crucial for laying out the right path for the next coach and so on. Never be afraid of having your ideas challenged.

 

[Wildcat_in_DC]

no accountability with this fanbase and the toxic culture that they have created over the 5+ years. a million excuses along with everything is everyone else's fault.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

no accountability with this fanbase and the toxic culture that they have created over the 5+ years. a million excuses along with everything is everyone else's fault.

I absolutely think we have to be a selling point, not a sticking point. We can be both and it doesn’t always favor us.

 

[Ford to Mashburn]

There is something going on with this team internally. I have no idea what and it’s probably a good thing we don’t know. I have suspicions but that means nothing.

 

[Woodrow24]

No, I’ve been in enough conversations myself where I’ve seen how this goes. You wouldn’t know how many nasty messages I’ve gotten for asking the wrong questions or having a different opinion. Long after I’m gone from this board, I really just want to encourage all people to think deeply and be comfortable asking questions to one another. An example being if you bring up injury factor, immediately it becomes pro-Pope versus anti-Pope, no actual faithful discussion about the merits of the argument being made. From me, it’s always been a point to encourage folks to hear out the views they may hold as “correct.” That’s really it. Honestly, I don’t care one way or the other if fans blame the coach. However, I like to get people to question their rationale along the way —- this will be crucial for laying out the right path for the next coach and so on. Never be afraid of having your ideas challenged.

Best thing to do is hit ignore on who you can’t get along with. It makes it way more enjoyable on here. That Johnny green guy that you were posting about the other day is definitely trolling. He made a random post last week saying we should have spent 10-15 million more on our roster

 

[Uncle ByeBye]

I've never been so disappointed clicking on something that said "uncensored"

 

[AllBall]

The more I think I know, the more I don’t know but I know this one thing. We have to have an AD who will pursue and hire the best most qualified coach possible. A coach who can develop, game plan, make in game adjustments, and recruit the best players. Who that is? I really don’t know. Could be Pope, Pearl, Oats, or Hurley? Maybe but I would start with the AD.

100000000000000000% He's been in that position FAR too long. We need innovative and fresh ideas. It's self serving and selfish to remain AD at any university for 20+ years.
He shouldn’t be allowed to stay on at any capacity. Your time is served. Find new endeavors!!!!!

 

[RunninRichie]

All i know, Is Pope isn't the man for the job.

 

[UKortho]

All i know, Is Pope isn't the man for the job.

 

[MegaBlue05]

You’re right as much as many won’t want to admit.

When Cal was here many fans wanted experienced players we “get to know” over the course of their careers, more Kentucky kids on the team and a modern 4 out offense.

We hire Pope and those same fans now want elite high school talent, players with OAD potential, not too many Kentucky kids and a focus on defense and rebounding while also being great 3 point shooters who don’t shoot too many 3s.

Last year Pope was refreshing and Cal was a bum. This year Pope is a bum and maybe Cal wasn’t so bad.

It’s almost like some of BBN wants what it doesn’t have and doesn’t appreciate what it does.

This is not me defending the results of this season. This is me noting some UK fans, and sports fans in general, myself very much included, talk out of both sides of their mouths.

 

[Anon470511]

While one guy is the coach people complain about OAD.

While one guy is the coach people complain about lack of OAD.

People complain about NIL and funds for basketball, then demand to payout an extremely large buyout for a new football coach.

People complains about becoming the new Indiana, while literally complaining that we aren’t more like Indiana.

People say to play the best players, but complains they aren’t from Kentucky.

People complain that the players don’t play for the name of the front of the jersey while we endlessly and unfairly get brutally personal about aspects of them that have nothing to do with basketball.

People complain at others who feel we should wait to fire the coach until we have a suitable replacement. Ironically, this is the replacement that we have due to people complaining that we should fire the coach before we had a suitable replacement.

People complain that we don’t promise players minutes to get them to sign here yet complained on end about how Calipari promised players like Chris Livingston minutes.

People complained that we couldn’t keep players in the program to develop, yet we refer to any of our players who are returnees as “not good enough to make the NBA.”

People complained that our school was made to be the G-League Jr, yet are now angry that we *only* had two NBA players last year and don’t have enough this year.

People complained that everyone on the outside takes shots at the school, yet fails to ever look at even the most minor of self-inflicted wounds as anything that could possibly have been so. After all, the world is a binary of good guys and bad guys, so we are never wrong.

People complain about players like TyTy Washington saying that Big Blue Nation doesn’t care about its fans, while our response is to deny responsibility and remove him from existence.

People complain about players’ parents literally begging the fanbase to chill with the personal and brutal attacks, yet also demand that coaches not only bring the best talent here, but also ensure they are the perfect fit.

I know I am absolutely going to get massacred for saying this. I know it will be deemed “preachy” and unwelcome. I ask myself this question: if we want to be the best program in the country, especially in an era where everything is on the table. Schools that never had a chance to be competitive now have money and these kids and coaches can choose anywhere to go, I think we as fans need to truly know what we want and what we believe. Winning is obvious. We all want that. But we need to know what our philosophy is to get there. These ADs, coaches and players will come and go but WE are what holds this thing together. Everyone has to decide for themselves what being the best fan looks like. I love all of Big Blue Nation, even the people who don’t agree with my message. We gotta start thinking big and long-term in my opinion if we want to sustain success for future generati

While one guy is the coach people complain about OAD.

While one guy is the coach people complain about lack of OAD.

People complain about NIL and funds for basketball, then demand to payout an extremely large buyout for a new football coach.

People complains about becoming the new Indiana, while literally complaining that we aren’t more like Indiana.

People say to play the best players, but complains they aren’t from Kentucky.

People complain that the players don’t play for the name of the front of the jersey while we endlessly and unfairly get brutally personal about aspects of them that have nothing to do with basketball.

People complain at others who feel we should wait to fire the coach until we have a suitable replacement. Ironically, this is the replacement that we have due to people complaining that we should fire the coach before we had a suitable replacement.

People complain that we don’t promise players minutes to get them to sign here yet complained on end about how Calipari promised players like Chris Livingston minutes.

People complained that we couldn’t keep players in the program to develop, yet we refer to any of our players who are returnees as “not good enough to make the NBA.”

People complained that our school was made to be the G-League Jr, yet are now angry that we *only* had two NBA players last year and don’t have enough this year.

People complained that everyone on the outside takes shots at the school, yet fails to ever look at even the most minor of self-inflicted wounds as anything that could possibly have been so. After all, the world is a binary of good guys and bad guys, so we are never wrong.

People complain about players like TyTy Washington saying that Big Blue Nation doesn’t care about its fans, while our response is to deny responsibility and remove him from existence.

People complain about players’ parents literally begging the fanbase to chill with the personal and brutal attacks, yet also demand that coaches not only bring the best talent here, but also ensure they are the perfect fit.

I know I am absolutely going to get massacred for saying this. I know it will be deemed “preachy” and unwelcome. I ask myself this question: if we want to be the best program in the country, especially in an era where everything is on the table. Schools that never had a chance to be competitive now have money and these kids and coaches can choose anywhere to go, I think we as fans need to truly know what we want and what we believe. Winning is obvious. We all want that. But we need to know what our philosophy is to get there. These ADs, coaches and players will come and go but WE are what holds this thing together. Everyone has to decide for themselves what being the best fan looks like. I love all of Big Blue Nation, even the people who don’t agree with my message. We gotta start thinking big and long-term in my opinion if we want to sustain success for future generati

I agree with this.
When Cal left, Pearl was my number one choice. Great coach who wanted the job. But MP won me over after he was hired. Had an outstanding first year. Im not quitting on him nine games into year two. He gets a third year no matter what IMO. Then we'll see

A free pep rally won you over...guess sweet sixteen appearance hopes are the new Gold Standard

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

You’re right as much as many won’t want to admit.

When Cal was here many fans wanted experienced players we “get to know” over the course of their careers, more Kentucky kids on the team and a modern 4 out offense.

We hire Pope and those same fans now want elite high school talent, players with OAD potential, not too many Kentucky kids and a focus on defense and rebounding while also being great 3 point shooters who don’t shoot too many 3s.

Last year Pope was refreshing and Cal was a bum. This year Pope is a bum and maybe Cal wasn’t so bad.

It’s almost like some of BBN wants what it doesn’t have and doesn’t appreciate what it does.

This is not me defending the results of this season. This is me noting some UK fans, and sports fans in general, myself very much included, talk out of both sides of their mouths.

No we want elite talent, and fringe talent who stays. Continuity and elite recruiting which Calipari could do. Also we wanted him to modernize his offense a little bit. Those asks were not earth shattering and could have brought him mega success again. All he had to do was get NIL rolling, retain guys who wouldn’t be drafted high yet, and keep brining in freshman studs who can go pro. Hire an actual assistant like Robic who could game plan and modernize the offense. He finally did that with Sheppard team and we had the best offense he had in years. Unfortunately he didn’t recruit a good enough front court to defend and rebound.

 

[UKCowboys]

A free pep rally won you over...guess sweet sixteen appearance hopes are the new Gold Standard

I guess quitting on any coach that has injuries and losses a few games is tge new standard. That will entire major coaches to come here. Im sure Oats thinks, Damn, if these people will throw a former UK national champion under the bus that fast, why would I come coach for these nuts? They will run me out of town first time I lose a few games with players hurt

 

[MegaBlue05]

No we want elite talent, and fringe talent who stays. Continuity and elite recruiting which Calipari could do. Also we wanted him to modernize his offense a little bit. Those asks were not earth shattering and could have brought him mega success again. All he had to do was get NIL rolling, retain guys who wouldn’t be drafted high yet, and keep brining in freshman studs who can go pro. Hire an actual assistant like Robic who could gameplan and modernize the offense.

My point was we criticized Cal for all this player retention and style of play stuff, got someone with the opposite approach and now want some of Cal’s methods again when what we wanted wasn’t what we thought we wanted.

UK fans generally only want a coach who is an ace recruiter and master tactician who brings in NBA talent and Kentucky kids to score 90 ppg and allow 50 ppg while shooting 45 percent from 3 as a team.

 

[The_Answer1313_rivals]

I know I am going to get hammer for this but it needs to be said...........

You win basketball games by assembling the best talent possible.
We had one coach that did a pretty good job of doing that in his time here. He took us to four final fours and won a national title by assembling that talent.

Now he paid the price for all those high end recruits..........they ended up leaving after one/two years. The constant turnover in roster made it difficult for any semblence of consistency within the program.

At the end, he STILL has some good teams. It's just those teams happen to get upset in March. And that's where the tricky part of this comes into play. It's a results based business. Even tho the results were based on a small sample (what happened in March pre 15 to post 15).

I'm not saying he didn't have to go. Again...........result based business. Coach gets too much credit in good times and too much blame in the bad times.

But at the end of the day, it all starts with being able to bring in talented enough teams to compete for titles. If you don't have that, you're toast. And through two recruiting classes, Pope hasn't done that. He hasn't made us talented enough. And that's a problem. Because you can be the greatest coach in the world but if u don't have talent, you don't have talent. Conversely, the same isn't true. You can win with poor coaching but enough talent to overcome it. We've questioned Cal's coaching for basically his entire time here but yet he had success.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

My point was we criticized Cal for all this player retention and style of play stuff, got someone with the opposite approach and now want some of Cal’s methods again when what we wanted wasn’t what we thought we wanted.

UK fans generally only want a coach who is an ace recruiter and master tactician who brings in NBA talent and Kentucky kids to score 90 ppg and allow 50 ppg while shooting 45 percent from 3 as a team.

Of course! We want the best of everything!

 

[Ash Williams]

Take some of those talking points into a conversation and watch how quickly you get exiled. I’m all about having difficult conversations

You're all about stirring the pot.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

You're all about stirring the pot.

I like stirring this particular pot. Absolutely. I’m reading some great points in this thread. I don’t agree with all of them, but I enjoy seeing people think out their positions. If that’s not your thing, that’s fine as well.

 

[One2Three]

You’re right as much as many won’t want to admit.

When Cal was here many fans wanted experienced players we “get to know” over the course of their careers, more Kentucky kids on the team and a modern 4 out offense.

We hire Pope and those same fans now want elite high school talent, players with OAD potential, not too many Kentucky kids and a focus on defense and rebounding while also being great 3 point shooters who don’t shoot too many 3s.

Last year Pope was refreshing and Cal was a bum. This year Pope is a bum and maybe Cal wasn’t so bad.

It’s almost like some of BBN wants what it doesn’t have and doesn’t appreciate what it does.

This is not me defending the results of this season. This is me noting some UK fans, and sports fans in general, myself very much included, talk out of both sides of their mouths.

Except that Cal handily beat Pope last year at home. He also managed to make it to the Sweet 16, the same as us. And had an opportunity to make the Elite 8 before Cal’s coaching tendencies caused him to choke away the game. Meanwhile we weren’t even close to sniffing an Elite 8 with Tennessee beating the crap out of us.

Many of you need to take off the rose tinted glasses. Last year was average at best. It certainly wasn’t enough to give Pope the leeway if he ended up following last year with a disaster of a season, which is looking likely. And it’s clear many fans who were booing at recent games and those of us frustrated online don’t believe he’s deserving of having extra time to fix this if he messes up this year.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

Except that Cal handily beat Pope last year at home. He also managed to make it to the Sweet 16, the same as us. And had an opportunity to make the Elite 8 before Cal’s coaching tendencies caused him to choke away the game. Meanwhile we weren’t even close to sniffing an Elite 8 with Tennessee beating the crap out of us.

Many of you need to take off the rose tinted glasses. Last year was average at best. It certainly wasn’t enough to give Pope the leeway if he ended up following last year with a disaster of a season, which is looking likely. And it’s clear many fans who were booing at recent games and those of us frustrated online don’t believe he’s deserving of having extra time to fix this if he messes up this year.

If they would have won that S16 game I could have seen them make a final 4.

 

[Ash Williams]

I like stirring this particular pot. Absolutely. I’m reading some great points in this thread. I don’t agree with all of them, but I enjoy seeing people think out their positions. If that’s not your thing, that’s fine as well.

You missed one. The fact that BBN does not matter because the administration controls everything and they do not care what the fans think. Unlike some schools, here the fans have zero effect on what decisions are made. You say that one of our goals is to be the greatest program in the country, but we are not even close because the people in charge do not care about that goal. Their goal is money for their own pockets. That will never change until the entire leadership is replaced.

 

[Rick Honcho]

I’m among those who despise O&D, the transfer portal, and NIL/revenue split. I really enjoyed following college sports when it existed. There’s a reason I’ve never followed the G-League, minor league baseball or the UFL. I watched UK vs UofL and will watch UK vs IU, but I follow modern college sports less and less.

 

[K_TIME]

While one guy is the coach people complain about OAD.

While one guy is the coach people complain about lack of OAD.

People complain about NIL and funds for basketball, then demand to payout an extremely large buyout for a new football coach.

People complains about becoming the new Indiana, while literally complaining that we aren’t more like Indiana.

People say to play the best players, but complains they aren’t from Kentucky.

People complain that the players don’t play for the name of the front of the jersey while we endlessly and unfairly get brutally personal about aspects of them that have nothing to do with basketball.

People complain at others who feel we should wait to fire the coach until we have a suitable replacement. Ironically, this is the replacement that we have due to people complaining that we should fire the coach before we had a suitable replacement.

People complain that we don’t promise players minutes to get them to sign here yet complained on end about how Calipari promised players like Chris Livingston minutes.

People complained that we couldn’t keep players in the program to develop, yet we refer to any of our players who are returnees as “not good enough to make the NBA.”

People complained that our school was made to be the G-League Jr, yet are now angry that we *only* had two NBA players last year and don’t have enough this year.

People complained that everyone on the outside takes shots at the school, yet fails to ever look at even the most minor of self-inflicted wounds as anything that could possibly have been so. After all, the world is a binary of good guys and bad guys, so we are never wrong.

People complain about players like TyTy Washington saying that Big Blue Nation doesn’t care about its fans, while our response is to deny responsibility and remove him from existence.

People complain about players’ parents literally begging the fanbase to chill with the personal and brutal attacks, yet also demand that coaches not only bring the best talent here, but also ensure they are the perfect fit.

I know I am absolutely going to get massacred for saying this. I know it will be deemed “preachy” and unwelcome. I ask myself this question: if we want to be the best program in the country, especially in an era where everything is on the table. Schools that never had a chance to be competitive now have money and these kids and coaches can choose anywhere to go, I think we as fans need to truly know what we want and what we believe. Winning is obvious. We all want that. But we need to know what our philosophy is to get there. These ADs, coaches and players will come and go but WE are what holds this thing together. Everyone has to decide for themselves what being the best fan looks like. I love all of Big Blue Nation, even the people who don’t agree with my message. We gotta start thinking big and long-term in my opinion if we want to sustain success for future generations.

Some people complain and as fans …and people in general…it is what it is. But a vast majority of fans complain of this

1. We complain of the former coach who neglected building a full roster to win at Ky…literally only had 9-10 scholarships on roster and literally only desired to coach snd play 7-8 guys ….thusly nobody wanted to stay if they weee not in those 7-8 guys and left

2. We complain of a former coach that coached for the league and ignored concepts like playing zone at times, in bound plays, and tried his best to showcase Wagner while lulling in Shep and Dilly off the bench….how ridiculous

3. We complain because there is a need for some nba caliber players but also role players …shooters, defense, experience tough guys, play makers, depth….you know…a basketball TEAM concept. Bulding a roster around just 7 guys that are five star kids that are hell bent on getting out of college is not working

4. We complain because some kids that are hell bent on going to nba in one year but have so many deficiencies that can’t be overcome…so why are we wasting time with them? Livingston, Edwards, The Dragon, Bradshaw, EJ Montgomery, etc…they all needed a program that they would develop but Ky and was rarely that program for these kids

5. As far as the current coach….this year…22M dollars, whiff after whiff recruiting, 35pt loss, going to miss NCAA, even last year he coaches some of the softest defensive schemes you’ll see , etc. I think fans have plenty to complain about. The concept of getting Caleb Wilson , Quantenance, and super star backcourt to pair with fringe NBA guy like Oweh, Colin Chandler…young kids with potential like Jasper , Moreno and role players like Noah etc. Then coach the damn team to play with your hair on fire. To actually have a defense gameplan and intimidate people

I don’t think as a fan I’m asking for too much. Maybe if our AD spent more time on bball coaching search then he did for a volleyball coach we’d not given the job to a guy who never win a ncaa game

 

[kywildcat1021979]

Some people complain and as fans …and people in general…it is what it is. But a vast majority of fans complain of this

1. We complain of the former coach who neglected building a full roster to win at Ky…literally only had 9-10 scholarships on roster and literally only desired to coach snd play 7-8 guys ….thusly nobody wanted to stay if they weee not in those 7-8 guys and left

2. We complain of a former coach that coached for the league and ignored concepts like playing zone at times, in bound plays, and tried his best to showcase Wagner while lulling in Shep and Dilly off the bench….how ridiculous

3. We complain because there is a need for some nba caliber players but also role players …shooters, defense, experience tough guys, play makers, depth….you know…a basketball TEAM concept. Bulding a roster around just 7 guys that are five star kids that are hell bent on getting out of college is not working

4. We complain because some kids that are hell bent on going to nba in one year but have so many deficiencies that can’t be overcome…so why are we wasting time with them? Livingston, Edwards, The Dragon, Bradshaw, EJ Montgomery, etc…they all needed a program that they would develop but Ky and was rarely that program for these kids

5. As far as the current coach….this year…22M dollars, whiff after whiff recruiting, 35pt loss, going to miss NCAA, even last year he coaches some of the softest defensive schemes you’ll see , etc. I think fans have plenty to complain about. The concept of getting Caleb Wilson , Quantenance, and super star backcourt to pair with fringe NBA guy like Oweh, Colin Chandler…young kids with potential like Jasper , Moreno and role players like Noah etc. Then coach the damn team to play with your hair on fire. To actually have a defense gameplan and intimidate people

I don’t think as a fan I’m asking for too much. Maybe if our AD spent more time on bball coaching search then he did for a volleyball coach we’d not given the job to a guy who never win a ncaa game

100% spot on !!!!!!!!