Pope is cooked with this quote

I mean, even Jamal Mashburn came here “to play for the Knicks coach.” We’re about winning, not about worshipping ourselves. You make the program great and let that create Kentucky hype. Not the other way around.

He has No clue! Pope makes Hubert Davis look like a good coach!!!

He continues to make Clyde look like the wizard of Westwood.

[email protected] said:

Pope just don’t get it! It’s not 1998 anymore, it’s a different era now. I just don’t see this turning around l.

Oh my.

He's both right and wrong, but more wrong. If you find guys that want to be a part of something special, that recognize where the program used to be and want to get the program back to it, then yes those guys will be easy to teach. Problem is, like OP said, those glory days are so far removed from today. Hell, any footage you look at of those days look like it was recorded on 8-tracks (just kidding). Pope is just too damn nice to the players, IMO, and it affects how he manages the roster and how he coaches the game. Mark is wanting to relive the glory days, with guys who want to touch money.

Can I buy a vowel. What?

We killed Cal about the whole "players first" stuff. We killed him when he said that draft night was one of the biggest nights in UK history............ The truth is this just the reality of the times we live in. You need talented players to win titles. Players who main dreams is the NBA. You have to appeal to that type of player otherwise Pope is doing NOTHING here.

Get rid of 2/3 of these goons.

The guys that want to be at Kentucky are Noah and Potter. We're absolutely fked

[email protected] said:

Pope just don’t get it! It’s not 1998 anymore, it’s a different era now. I just don’t see this turning around l.

He kinda has no idea what he's doing

Say what you will about Cal, and I was ready for him to go, but at least he understood and kept up with the changing landscape of college basketball. Pope and Mitch are stuck in the 90s.

He says this goofy shit in public, imagine what he says privately to the team and to recruits. Smh

[email protected] said:

Pope just don’t get it! It’s not 1998 anymore, it’s a different era now. I just don’t see this turning around l.

Pope wasn't here in 1998

true-blue1 said:

He has No clue! Pope makes Hubert Davis look like a good coach!!!

Hubert is a way better coach than Pope

They don't want to be at UK because of you Mark.

He has to find guys that trust him to get them into the NBA. If he can't do that then it's not going to work. His playing for the sacred cloth stuff is fine for sound bites but this is professional sports.

The_Answer1313_rivals said:

We killed Cal about the whole "players first" stuff. We killed him when he said that draft night was one of the biggest nights in UK history............ The truth is this just the reality of the times we live in. You need talented players to win titles. Players who main dreams is the NBA. You have to appeal to that type of player otherwise Pope is doing NOTHING here.

You’re missing it. Calipari was extreme. He laughed at Duke for saying program and family matter. He laughed when they said it helps long term. He went all in on players matter program means nothing. That’s not what you do and it’s not what he did early. Pope is all “it’s Kentucky you either hit your knees or go somewhere else”. That’s wrong. You sell how great the program is, the fame, this history and what that means to you long term. You also explain we give the platform for your NBA dreams. There is no reason in being extreme in either direction. Man this ain’t hard I don’t know why we’re making this complicated.

What Pope said: “I think our focus is finding guys that want to be at Kentucky because of what Kentucky is. …We’ll find the guys, there's no play like place like this”. What I heard: We're not going to have as much money next year and none of the top recruits want to play for me so we're going to have to get some players from minor conferences that want a chance see if they're good enough for the SEC.

I can't imagine an elite prospect wanting to play for pope or in his dumpster fire

Today’s recruits can’t even remember ever seeing UK in a final four. So I don’t think that pitch is gonna resonate all that much with them.

How many has he found that "want to be at UK" for next year? Yeah.. ZERO Good luck with that philosophy.🤡

chattanogawildcat said:

Pope wasn't here in 1998

No but his mentality is still in that time frame. His recruiting mentality is truly pathetic.

Only loser head coaches who can't recruit NBA talent take digs at players who care about more things than just the "Kentucky experience." Every one of these kids wants to be a pro someday. As @BlueSince92 said, even guys like Mashburn, Delk, Walker and even Pope himself came here to enhance their pro potential. Mark has jumped the shark. He's turning into a caricature.

Popes recruiting pitch probably sounds like this: “Hey kid, come play basketball on my team so I can base your playing time on analytics we use. Let’s not talk about the nba and all of UK’s former players there”