to Keep you optimistic that pope is indeed the right hire? I know he had a good, not great first year. For me, I think there is some pressure on him to get this team at least to a final four and maybe an sec title. Anything short of that? Pressure will be on in year 3.
What needs to happen this year...
- Thread starter Bluejoe56
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I think it is not unreasonable to expect winning the conference or the conference tournament.
Sounds to me like your take on the situation is a little more pessimistic than most in BBN and most people around the college basketball world. From all I've read and listened to both during last season and since ... it seems that most people are very upbeat and optimistic with the general belief that CMP was definitely the right hire and a perfect fit. There's always pressure to win the SEC and make the FF every year at UK. Unless there's a significant backslide from year one and multiple years with no obvious improvement ... I don't see CMP being under the kind of pressure you're speaking of.
Yea, I'm going to disagree. Most people I talk to personally like Pope and really want him to succeed, but most are still unsure if he will be able to win big here. Winning aome regular season games is cool, but we don't hang banners for that.
Not contending for an SEC regular season or conference tournament won't be okay for most for more than a year or 2. Not getting past the sw16 won't either.
If either fail to materialize this year, the rumbling will start to get much louder.
Outside of regular UK pressure to hang banners every year (let's get that out of the way first), what more could Pope have done in year one? He got a mid April hire so high school recruits were not an option. The Kentucky roster was empty with only incoming Travis Perry willing to stay committed. The Transfer Portal was already open and the contacts he had made at BYU weren't exactly SEC caliber people so he had to shift and make new relationships. Mark Pope built a staff and a competitive veteran basketball team in roughly 3-4 weeks out of portal scraps. He was basically building the plane while flying it.
Which brings me to my point, the other serious coaching candidates. Did Baylor, UConn, or Gonzaga have a better season than UK last year? Only Nate Oats did, and he wasn't leaving Alabama for UK. Maybe you could argue that Bruce Pearl was considered (who also had a better season), but I really doubt the board would have let that happen and was probably more fanbase wishing than an actual consideration for head coach by the university. UK had it's deepest tournament run in years with no healthy point guard, our starting four's back limiting him, Oweh beat up, and our only NBA talent (projected coming into the season) done for the year.
Without blue tinted glasses, what Mark Pope did in year 1 was nothing short of remarkable with what he had to work with. And most everyone around college basketball says as much. Year 2 we can scrutinize him a lot more. He finally got a full year of recruiting in, got the portal guys he wanted. We need to be competitive in the SEC and near the top, same for the SEC tournament, and a second weekend run in the NCAA tournament (probably Elite 8) needed to consider this year a success and building upon year 1. Barring severe injuries to several key players I think that is the bar most fans set, we want more of course, but I think an Elite 8 finishing in the top 3 in the SEC in year 2 is another large stepping stone to righting the ship Cal crashed into the reef his last 5 years here.
Which brings me to my point, the other serious coaching candidates. Did Baylor, UConn, or Gonzaga have a better season than UK last year? Only Nate Oats did, and he wasn't leaving Alabama for UK. Maybe you could argue that Bruce Pearl was considered (who also had a better season), but I really doubt the board would have let that happen and was probably more fanbase wishing than an actual consideration for head coach by the university. UK had it's deepest tournament run in years with no healthy point guard, our starting four's back limiting him, Oweh beat up, and our only NBA talent (projected coming into the season) done for the year.
Without blue tinted glasses, what Mark Pope did in year 1 was nothing short of remarkable with what he had to work with. And most everyone around college basketball says as much. Year 2 we can scrutinize him a lot more. He finally got a full year of recruiting in, got the portal guys he wanted. We need to be competitive in the SEC and near the top, same for the SEC tournament, and a second weekend run in the NCAA tournament (probably Elite 8) needed to consider this year a success and building upon year 1. Barring severe injuries to several key players I think that is the bar most fans set, we want more of course, but I think an Elite 8 finishing in the top 3 in the SEC in year 2 is another large stepping stone to righting the ship Cal crashed into the reef his last 5 years here.
Need to compete for SEC reg season and tourney title (and I mean win it or be super close), and get a S16 with a chance at a EE. Canāt get beat convincingly if we lose it there. Thatās my take. I wonāt be ready to fire the guy if we donāt do the above, but itās my expectation. I think we do both. Maybe even a FF.
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Not negative but trust me brother, if he was to have a miserable post season this year, he will have some pressure in year three. With that said, I think we are gonna be really good and I canāt wait!
Where is the rumbling coming from? Havenāt heard any of it.
It could only be from trolls or fans who donāt have a clear knowledge of UK bball and the situation it was in plus the injuries that crippled the team.
Thereās plenty of surface UK fans in the latter category. Donāt really understand all the dynamics.
I think most years the goals are:
-Beat UL and 2 or so of the other hard OOC games
-Contend for SEC regular season title and also the SECT title but win one or the other at a good clip
-Getting to the Elite Eight. At that point it's hard to get to a FF but getting to the EE is navigatible most years.
I think last year was a great year. A good team but when you look at it, we were relying on players who were not elite save for a couple. Pope overachieved imo.
I personally don't know anyone who is unhappy with Pope. But now it's time to go to the next step with is EE imo.
-Beat UL and 2 or so of the other hard OOC games
-Contend for SEC regular season title and also the SECT title but win one or the other at a good clip
-Getting to the Elite Eight. At that point it's hard to get to a FF but getting to the EE is navigatible most years.
I think last year was a great year. A good team but when you look at it, we were relying on players who were not elite save for a couple. Pope overachieved imo.
I personally don't know anyone who is unhappy with Pope. But now it's time to go to the next step with is EE imo.
I've heard it from most people I know. They all like Pope and want him to succeed, but they still need to see it. He literally just won his first NCAA game in his career. People are going to want to see real results and they will rightfully question it if they don't.
Why would they have to be trolls or not have a clear knowledge? We were literally a 2 seed the year Cal left. While we lost everyone, the same **** happens everywhere now.
How many NCAA tournament wins did that 2 seed team the year Cal left get?
This is just stirring the pot. Any reasonable fan who knows the challenge he had in year 1 and weren't thrilled with the results is crazy. Where were these so called fans the last 5 years of Cal's tenure?
It's being realistic. You could just as easily be accused of wearing blue tinted glasses.
You're also illogically equating being thrilled with not having expectations of more. People can be both.
They were complaining loudly, which is why they wanted change and have high expectations for that change.
I don't have any set criterion that he needs to accomplish next year. For me, I need to see a continuation of last year's reboot and evidence that we are progressing toward a title in the next few years.
I think this is going to be a historically hard year but we are going to see glimpses of Kentucky as Darth Vader ready to lead an imperial death march over college basketball in the next half decade.
For some reason, and I have no reason why, I feel like we look great this year but lose in the Elite Eight and Pope wins number 9 next year over Kelvin Sampson to keep Kelvin from ever winning a title. No idea why I think it, but I do.
I think this is going to be a historically hard year but we are going to see glimpses of Kentucky as Darth Vader ready to lead an imperial death march over college basketball in the next half decade.
For some reason, and I have no reason why, I feel like we look great this year but lose in the Elite Eight and Pope wins number 9 next year over Kelvin Sampson to keep Kelvin from ever winning a title. No idea why I think it, but I do.
I realize it's early and hard to really know, but most pre-season SEC rankings I've seen have Florida and/or Alabama ranked ahead of us.
So, if legitimately the third-best team in the conference, I do not think it unreasonable to expect us to win either the conference or its tournament.
If we progress, are healthy and playing our best ball at the end of the year, I do not see that as too difficult a challenge. After all, it's a banner.
Regarding the NCAA tournament, I am much more guarded in expectations and would consider making the Final 16 a successful season.
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I expect a FF.
I wonāt be down on Pope if we donāt though.
We had some luck go our way in games some last year and we had luck go not our way in it seems like more games.
But that was a rag tag team thrown together quickly and then several expected major contributors get hurt.
This season we see what the formula is.
Without the injuries we probably make the FF last year.
This team looks far better. So letās play!!
I wonāt be down on Pope if we donāt though.
We had some luck go our way in games some last year and we had luck go not our way in it seems like more games.
But that was a rag tag team thrown together quickly and then several expected major contributors get hurt.
This season we see what the formula is.
Without the injuries we probably make the FF last year.
This team looks far better. So letās play!!
Pope has to add up to standards but the upside with Mark is so great, he's going to get a lot of leeway and he should. Mark, as a former player and NChamp, is special to the university and the legacy of UK basketball. We have yet to cement our legitimate, inarguable, modern goat. Pitino had it and left and Cal had it and quit trying. Mark also won't leave UK for any job at any level anywhere. He can be synonymous with UK basketball in ways no coach since Rupp could be. He gets what we're doing here and wants it as much as we do. You don't throw the chance of that away because he didn't hold up out of the gate or to the usual timeframe and standards.
We will be very patient with this one because we'd be stupid not to. We can't fall off of course but we won't. This was the perfect time to make this move with the new NIL giving Mark the ability to use the brand and the money to lure players he wouldn't normally get right now. Be patient - as long as he keeps us winning much of the year we need to give it time to click. We need this to be our modern goat. I'm definitely giving him more time than I normally would with another coach.
We will be very patient with this one because we'd be stupid not to. We can't fall off of course but we won't. This was the perfect time to make this move with the new NIL giving Mark the ability to use the brand and the money to lure players he wouldn't normally get right now. Be patient - as long as he keeps us winning much of the year we need to give it time to click. We need this to be our modern goat. I'm definitely giving him more time than I normally would with another coach.
Calipari went for years and years without a FF. Canāt imagine that much pressure on Pope making a FF in only his second year.
You gotta be smoking rock to think there would be any pressure after year 2. He missed recruiting season mostly last year, and he literally didnāt have a team when he started. This is his first full year of recruiting his program his way and you expect a FF or the hot seat? Ridiculous. Now if he went BCG and had people blocking free throws, signing 7th graders, and playing in ballrooms I could see year 2 being a real situation but any sane coach at any college would get more than that.
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