What made you buy into Pope?

[Anon1755209580]

So, last year, when the news first broke about UK hiring Pope, the general mood was disappointment, anger, frustration and so on. However, within a couple of days, the mood shifted entirely and over 20,000 fans literally "sold out" a press conference at Rupp Arena with hundreds if not thousands standing outside the arena hoping to get in.

Yet, Pope's resume didn't change and the facts that led to most of BBN being initially very let down by the hire never changed either. I will admit, I was never happy about the hire and never changed my opinion. But I am curious about what really caused such a quick shift at the time and caused so many to jump from disappointment to elated in a matter of hours?

 

[Anon1759768907]

recruiting getting better is a start

 

[Anon1755209580]

recruiting getting better is a start

Are you saying recruiting got better under Pope?

 

[BlueBomb]

He DID all the right things. He SAID all the right things. He said them with such confidence, that it made everyone excited and hopeful.

I mean after all, what coach says we're going to win #9 right out of the gate. Coaches usually/always seek to lessen expectations. You know who else said we would win right away and win championships? Pope's coach, Pitino. I suppose that's where he got his supreme confidence from.

Nonetheless, he's yet to back it up. He's 27-14 and winning 65% of his games. Historically, we win about 77%. Won't cut it.

 

[Anon1759768907]

Are you saying recruiting got better under Pope?

im saying it needs to get better

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

We had no choice.

 

[jedwar]

I was not on board with the hire. But I did talk myself into it some with the press conference etc. Got caught up in the hype. I thought we were on to something with the Duke and Gonzaga wins even though we got down in both games and had to comeback. Also had some other huge wins along with some disappointing losses. I gave last year a B. A good year in his first year. I was really hyped about this year with the players we got along with who was coming back. The jury is till out on this team and Pope imo but it's not trending well.

 

[Eagles_Ball_69]

I never bought it. Always thought he would fail. I get super excited about every single game. Why? Because I'm a UK fanatic.

 

[UKreturntogreatness]

Two terrible losses and now Pope is no good? I call b.s. on some of these posts (not just in this thread). After the hire and Pope's coming into a packed arena everyone was excited. He had a better first year than Cal's last few and so I don't recall any negativity about him this pre-season. Instead there were posts angry and insulted at some of the "experts" suggesting this team wasn't as top tier as fans here were expressing. If you want to talk about hype than be honest as so many were talking about number 9.

There may be some realities. Most thought Jelavic was going to be a superstar. Everyone was thrilled when Otega returned and every the experts were suggesting he would prove SEC player of the year. Jasper was a high recruit, Dioubate was going to be this beast in the paint, and others like Garrison, Noah, Chandler were going to have made significant improvement and we had several other very talented transfers making this one of the deepest college teams.

So what happened? Otega looks selfish and bad, Jelavic is not showing anything of a superstar, Dioubate is not playing as a low post beast, Garrison is being exposed, and others are appearing marginal. Now people are down on Pope and his "positive attitude." Two key players are not able to be on the court and hopefully eventually that changes. Nevertheless, I believe that the next few games may be the most important long-term opinion on coach Pope. Will he bench those that are not putting in the effort, or playing me ball even if they have been starters? Will he show a strong hand and take control of the team? Or will this team remain in control and Pope can't institute the necessary changes. Time will tell.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

Two terrible losses and now Pope is no good? I call b.s. on some of these posts (not just in this thread). After the hire and Pope's coming into a packed arena everyone was excited. He had a better first year than Cal's last few and so I don't recall any negativity about him this pre-season. Instead there were posts angry and insulted at some of the "experts" suggesting this team wasn't as top tier as fans here were expressing. If you want to talk about hype than be honest as so many were talking about number 9.

There may be some realities. Most thought Jelavic was going to be a superstar. Everyone was thrilled when Otega returned and every the experts were suggesting he would prove SEC player of the year. Jasper was a high recruit, Dioubate was going to be this beast in the paint, and others like Garrison, Noah, Chandler were going to have made significant improvement and we had several other very talented transfers making this one of the deepest college teams.

So what happened? Otega looks selfish and bad, Jelavic is not showing anything of a superstar, Dioubate is not playing as a low post beast, Garrison is being exposed, and others are appearing marginal. Now people are down on Pope and his "positive attitude." Two key players are not able to be on the court and hopefully eventually that changes. Nevertheless, I believe that the next few games may be the most important long-term opinion on coach Pope. Will he bench those that are not putting in the effort, or playing me ball even if they have been starters? Will he show a strong hand and take control of the team? Or will this team remain in control and Pope can't institute the necessary changes. Time will tell.

What’s there to call BS on?

Many people have a rational reason to have concerns about Pope.

Many people have a rational reason to believe in Pope.

This false narrative of pick a side is goofy. Both can be true.

 

[jedwar]

Two terrible losses and now Pope is no good? I call b.s. on some of these posts (not just in this thread). After the hire and Pope's coming into a packed arena everyone was excited. He had a better first year than Cal's last few and so I don't recall any negativity about him this pre-season. Instead there were posts angry and insulted at some of the "experts" suggesting this team wasn't as top tier as fans here were expressing. If you want to talk about hype than be honest as so many were talking about number 9.

There may be some realities. Most thought Jelavic was going to be a superstar. Everyone was thrilled when Otega returned and every the experts were suggesting he would prove SEC player of the year. Jasper was a high recruit, Dioubate was going to be this beast in the paint, and others like Garrison, Noah, Chandler were going to have made significant improvement and we had several other very talented transfers making this one of the deepest college teams.

So what happened? Otega looks selfish and bad, Jelavic is not showing anything of a superstar, Dioubate is not playing as a low post beast, Garrison is being exposed, and others are appearing marginal. Now people are down on Pope and his "positive attitude." Two key players are not able to be on the court and hopefully eventually that changes. Nevertheless, I believe that the next few games may be the most important long-term opinion on coach Pope. Will he bench those that are not putting in the effort, or playing me ball even if they have been starters? Will he show a strong hand and take control of the team? Or will this team remain in control and Pope can't institute the necessary changes. Time will tell.

Really great summation.

 

[Eagles_Ball_69]

Two terrible losses and now Pope is no good? I call b.s. on some of these posts (not just in this thread). After the hire and Pope's coming into a packed arena everyone was excited. He had a better first year than Cal's last few and so I don't recall any negativity about him this pre-season. Instead there were posts angry and insulted at some of the "experts" suggesting this team wasn't as top tier as fans here were expressing. If you want to talk about hype than be honest as so many were talking about number 9.

There may be some realities. Most thought Jelavic was going to be a superstar. Everyone was thrilled when Otega returned and every the experts were suggesting he would prove SEC player of the year. Jasper was a high recruit, Dioubate was going to be this beast in the paint, and others like Garrison, Noah, Chandler were going to have made significant improvement and we had several other very talented transfers making this one of the deepest college teams.

So what happened? Otega looks selfish and bad, Jelavic is not showing anything of a superstar, Dioubate is not playing as a low post beast, Garrison is being exposed, and others are appearing marginal. Now people are down on Pope and his "positive attitude." Two key players are not able to be on the court and hopefully eventually that changes. Nevertheless, I believe that the next few games may be the most important long-term opinion on coach Pope. Will he bench those that are not putting in the effort, or playing me ball even if they have been starters? Will he show a strong hand and take control of the team? Or will this team remain in control and Pope can't institute the necessary changes. Time will tell.

He's not "no good". He's probably just not good enough for this job.

Just because there was a packed arena doesn't mean everyone was excited about the hire. The UK PR machine sold it. Fair or foul, our fanbase is rabidly nuts. I live in the southwest part of MO. I hated the hire. I almost drove the 8+ hours for it. Why? I'm a nutty UK fan and enjoy being in that atmosphere.

 

[OleTiredBum]

I never bought it. Always thought he would fail. I get super excited about every single game. Why? Because I'm a UK fanatic.

my heart sank into my gut when i heard he was 'the one'....not gonna lie. i'm glad we did well with what we had last season but this year is just an absolute disaster right from the start.

 

[20MRoster]

I was not on board with the hire. But I did talk myself into it some with the press conference etc. Got caught up in the hype. I thought we were on to something with the Duke and Gonzaga wins even though we got down in both games and had to comeback. Also had some other huge wins along with some disappointing losses. I gave last year a B. A good year in his first year. I was really hyped about this year with the players we got along with who was coming back. The jury is till out on this team and Pope imo but it's not trending well.

I'm very similar on the initial reaction. Was not on board with giving an unqualified guy $5M a yr. The Duke game got me like "OMG WTF" (in a good way). Clemson and OSU got me back to "yeah that's about right". Then the UF game got me back to "OMG WTF". I didn't think we'd do anything after the Arkansas humiliation, but getting to the S16 was a good job, esp the win over a decent Illinois team. The performance against UT was brutal though and just terrible optics. But a B for year 1.

Year 2 I differ from you as I never had confidence in this roster and thought we could have done better for the money for every player we got, Even Aberdeen, who I like, and who has been one of the few guys earning his keep so far, was a reach for the amount of $$. I don't think guys like Lowe and Oweh are winning players. Oweh was fine as an overlooked 4th option. He is not a go-to, neither in talent nor attitude. In hindsight, it's looking like if some GM was stupid enough to give Oweh a 2nd round promise, we may have had a better team this yr. We have a "good" team (that is underperforming slightly, if $$ are not factored in) that is nowhere near the level of a "highest paid roster in the sport" expectation (We are an embarrassment by the ROI on $$ Benchmark).

 

[TFCat11]

my heart sank into my gut when i heard he was 'the one'....not gonna lie. i'm glad we did well with what we had last season but this year is just an absolute disaster right from the start.

Exact same for me

 

[CoffeeCat]

I’m one of the first that advocated hiring Pope and I’m also one of the first advocating getting rid of him

 

[Catlogic1552]

Pope lives by analytics. And the analytics on his coaching career gave no indication whatsoever he should be the head coach at the University of Kentucky.

 

[Crestcat]

I'm a Pope fan, he came in last year no players, no coaches won some big games. Had a lot of injuries but patched together a better year than the previous with no lottery picks. I'm not thrilled with the way this year has started but there is still a lot of basketball to be played.

 

[UKreturntogreatness]

Just read where Pope is defending Garrison. I am beyond disappointed in reading this. It is exactly the fear of some being expressed here and elsewhere. It's one thing to be positive but as I stated earlier my hope was Pope would take control. Who cares if Garrison plays well against the High School teams we blow out and thus creates a false analytic? This Garrison defending comments indicate the inmates will continue to be in control. That is and is not what is needed. He has to grow a pair, discipline, and be positive when there is positive to deserve it.

 

[UKortho]

So, last year, when the news first broke about UK hiring Pope, the general mood was disappointment, anger, frustration and so on. However, within a couple of days, the mood shifted entirely and over 20,000 fans literally "sold out" a press conference at Rupp Arena with hundreds if not thousands standing outside the arena hoping to get in.

Yet, Pope's resume didn't change and the facts that led to most of BBN being initially very let down by the hire never changed either. I will admit, I was never happy about the hire and never changed my opinion. But I am curious about what really caused such a quick shift at the time and caused so many to jump from disappointment to elated in a matter of hours?

The other thing- if you said one thing even remotely suggesting pope was a bad hire you would get crucified here. It was like Groupthink 101

 

[UKortho]

What’s there to call BS on?

Many people have a rational reason to have concerns about Pope.

Many people have a rational reason to believe in Pope.

This false narrative of pick a side is goofy. Both can be true.

It’s like the lord of the flies

 

[senonesy]

Pope lives by analytics. And the analytics on his coaching career gave no indication whatsoever he should be the head coach at the University of Kentucky.

Name one UK coach that had the “analyticss” at their prior gigs that was acceptable to you minus Cal?

 

[UKortho]

Name one UK coach that had the “analyticss” at their prior gigs that was acceptable to you minus Cal?

Pitino had 8 tournament wins and one final 4. Pitino also had 3 regular season titles and 2 conference tournament titles. Wins versus ranked teams/ Rick was 50% while Pope was 25%. Pitino had some recruiting success as well. Per ChatGPT

 

[BCGera]

Never have. Never thought he was the guy for the job and I think it will go down as the worst hire in the history of college basketball

 

[One2Three]

So, last year, when the news first broke about UK hiring Pope, the general mood was disappointment, anger, frustration and so on. However, within a couple of days, the mood shifted entirely and over 20,000 fans literally "sold out" a press conference at Rupp Arena with hundreds if not thousands standing outside the arena hoping to get in.

Yet, Pope's resume didn't change and the facts that led to most of BBN being initially very let down by the hire never changed either. I will admit, I was never happy about the hire and never changed my opinion. But I am curious about what really caused such a quick shift at the time and caused so many to jump from disappointment to elated in a matter of hours?

I was mostly on the fence last year. The early season wins hyped me up but the loss to a bad Ohio State team and the number of strange SEC losses placed me firmly back on the fence. The Alabama blowout in the SEC tournament and the Tennessee blowout, a team we beat two times, in the Sweet 16 left me as befuddled about Pope as I was when he was first hired.

The recruiting and transfer whiffs concerned me in the offseason. With the kind of money we were spending, I coped that perhaps we were a top 10 team with JQ added midseason to make us top 5. But now I’m not even on the fence.

There’s way too many red flags for me to think things are going to turn around. Now we have assistant coaches responding to rumors online. I can’t see this ending well for us. Lord help us if we have to deal with this another year.

 

[Verbal Kint II]

Fake love fueled by viceral hatred for the former coach. Was even called a great coach with nothing to back it up.

Y’all better get over that BS because he’s our guy now and we have to do everything we can to help him succeed. Start by quit with all the corny virtue signaling play for the name on the front BS. We need talent, play for whatever motivates you. We need star players with complimentary guys who can shoot and play D. We do not need to spend big money on 10-14 guys who sit the bench. We need to play our best guys 30-32 minutes and stop trying to play 12 guys. Just my opinion.

 

[CrimsonCats_rivals]

He DID all the right things. He SAID all the right things. He said them with such confidence, that it made everyone excited and hopeful.

I mean after all, what coach says we're going to win #9 right out of the gate. Coaches usually/always seek to lessen expectations. You know who else said we would win right away and win championships? Pope's coach, Pitino. I suppose that's where he got his supreme confidence from.

Nonetheless, he's yet to back it up. He's 27-14 and winning 65% of his games. Historically, we win about 77%. Won't cut it.

Very similar for me. My gut reaction was that he was a reach of a hire made in haste when the search got past Drew, who had long been known as Mitch’s handpicked candidate.

In the days after though, it was hard not to be impressed with how Pope handled everything. He’s obviously a very sharp guy, and he said all the right things about using analytics and playing a modern style. He spoke from the heart about how much Kentucky means to him. It was hard not to want to rally around him at that point.

Then the season actually started and he was winning the big games that we had fussed about Cal losing for years. Sure we took a few puzzling losses in conference play, but it was easy enough to blame those on our rash of injuries, especially when what was left of the team kept scrapping to wins in several big games and made the Sweet 16. I was actually really optimistic at the end of last season and pretty much completely won over to being a Pope supporter thanks to what sure seemed at the time like evidence that he was up to the task.

For whatever reason, this year has been the polar opposite so far. We’re getting drubbed by any legitimate opponent we play, and he pretty much straight up admits he doesn’t have the answers for why that is. He’s stepping on land mines with his interviews, especially the whole Louisville pre-game saga. I’m not so fickle as to call for his job yet, but if the evidence of last season improved my opinion of him, the evidence so far this season is very concerning. Hopefully he can learn from whatever actually happened so far to improve things. I don’t actually want my gut reaction to his hiring to be proven right.

 

[wildcat111]

He DID all the right things. He SAID all the right things. He said them with such confidence, that it made everyone excited and hopeful.

I mean after all, what coach says we're going to win #9 right out of the gate. Coaches usually/always seek to lessen expectations. You know who else said we would win right away and win championships? Pope's coach, Pitino. I suppose that's where he got his supreme confidence from.

Nonetheless, he's yet to back it up. He's 27-14 and winning 65% of his games. Historically, we win about 77%. Won't cut it.

Said all of the right thing and did a reasonable job the first year. But now with more talent, not to mention a mega NIL budget, it is time to ask WTF happened?? Is he in over his head? Is he too soft on the players? It would take a lot of four letter words to describe the team's performance against Georgetown, Louisville and Michigan State. It is hard to believe something else is not going on that we don't know about.

 

[Vek96]

Because he was someone other than Calipari.

 

[Dward13]

I’m still not sold on him and never have been. But i’m still going to hope he figures it out.

Really all we can do as fans.

Not going to admonish those that are critical. I get it. But i’m probably just going to keep mine to myself going forward because the truth is it probably does make it harder.

 

[rivercatinfl]

Pope lives by analytics. And the analytics on his coaching career gave no indication whatsoever he should be the head coach at the University of Kentucky.

I'm sorry but I think Pope's record at Utah Valley and BYU were pretty good. He went 30-2 at home in his time at UVS and won 23 or more games in his last 4 years at BYU.
I was actually a fan of him being hired. He's a smart guy who loves UK and has a really good handle on offense prowess. I also like his bent on analytics. If you don't measure the key metrics you can't manage them.

I know I'm disappointed in the first 5 games in many respects but I think this guy can coach.
I know he didn't get some 5* guys as of yet, but he will. This team won't fold up. Pope wont let it.

Things have to get better but we are ready to run the guy off after 5 games in his second season?

Dog me if you want to but just how I see it.

It's not how you start, it's how you finish. He's gonna get this straight.

 

[FireWentOut]

I was a Pope fan from 96. I always knew things would be okay when he came into the game. By that I mean he wouldn't screw everything up.

As far as buying in goes, I didn't. What I did do was decide to give him a chance and see if he could reproduce that same feeling as a coach as he did a player. Last year gave a glimpse of a good future, but right now things look pretty dark. Now we will see if he can unscrew what he screwed up.

Lastly, I also put a time limit on his chance. This is year two. I said three max. So I haven't given up completely; yet, but if he can't turn this around then he goes and we get someone new. I'm not in the mood, or place in life, where I am willing to wait long.

 

[MidseasonTweak]

Coping mechanism.

 

[chattanogawildcat]

Watched him play 94-96 seasons. Played for RP and won a natty. He left it on the floor as a player.

 

[Uncle ByeBye]

Nostalgia is a powerful thing

 

[RiverRatt]

Pope needs this letdown.....then UK fans will see who or what he really is when he brings it all around .

 

[Eastkybball]

At first I wasn’t happy with the hire but then again I didn’t want anyone else but Brad Stevens or Billy Donavon which would’ve never happened.
Pope won me over with his confidence and embracing Kentucky fans with the title or fail mentality. I just can’t believe how we haven’t got one top talent or somewhat of an identity as a team we’ve put a lot of money into. I may be very wrong and I hope that I am but I’m just very disappointed.

 

[One2Three]

Coping mechanism.

The way this board and other Kentucky fans act about Pope reminds me a lot of how this board and fans acted about Gillispie back in 2007-2009. Even down to fans saying that BCG was all we could get because no half-decent coach wanted to come here.

That concerns the ever-loving bejesus out of me.

 

[buc puppet]

I hated the hire even after the PC. I bought in after the Florida or Gonzaga win. I was very encouraged even with a sweet 16 and the best part was that I was certain that last years squad would be our least talented team in popes tenure.

lo and behold, this squad is less talent last years. So I am very concerned with recruiting. It was always a question mark

 

[Anon470511]

Nothing, I still think he is the wrong guy, and Mitch needs to be fired...Love Mark Pope the man though