UNC and Zags ?

[westerncat]

Do you think UK can win both of these games ?

[South jones]

I think they can IF they come to the games with an attitude to be aggressive on defense and willing to play for their teammates.
the effort they gave against ul and mich st. Gives them two more in the loss column

[Helix]

I too really want to see some aggressive defending -- zone presses, for example, that require our opponents to think about every pass, and some risk taking and trapping in our man defense in an attempt to speed up the Heels and Zags. We have depth. Let's use fresh bodies to wear down our opponents.

[BlueHeaven]

Gotta be aggressive on D as has been said. Seems we have some dudes that shine against sub par comp but struggle with good opponents. It has to start with defense against those teams being we don't have our PG and C.

[Pobilly]

Mich State beat up on UNC and I think the Zags were beat as well. No telling which teams show up on which nights. But for right now until I see UK play a good game against a legit team (with an actual chance to win), I will say No UK does not have a chance. So here is to hoping my view changes quick fast and in a hurry on this team in its current form. Get JQ back and we will see where we are. Lowe I think is done for the year or at best will play 1 game and miss 2 or 3 the rest of the year.

[KentuckyWild2020]

Pope wants to mimic 96 with 5 in 5 out and a 1000 different combinations.

Newsflash, this ain't 96 and we don't press for 40 minutes, difference is nobody's seems to know their role unlike 96.

Pick 5, pick the subs, play basketball.

As for the free for all fire at will offense, scrap all that.

Offense runs through Oweh first and foremost 1st option, like every other good team you watch. Who’s number two,who's number 3?

Nc and Gonzaga are not as powerful as some teams right now but off the top of my head, teams like Uconn Michigan BYU would run us out the gym. Duke Michigan St. Illinois Arkansas Purdue and others perhaps the same.

Something needs to change starting this week.

[westerncat]

I really hate to say this but I would not be surprised if UK losing these these two games. Hope I am wrong.

[KentuckyWild2020]

I really hate to say this but I would not be surprised if UK losing these these two games. Hope I am wrong.

I still think we actually have a good team and great potential but the team players and Coach all need to dig deep down and bring it every day.

I do think Pope is a red bull drinking 24/7 worker and obviously he's a very intelligent person but I wonder about his "feel" for the game as it plays out.

Is the POPE system just to complicated for players to grasp at this point?

What is up with all these substitutions? It's your system, you should know what you want on the floor right?

Analytics coaching or real time feel, the new world of sports.

[bucsrule8872]

Likely 0-2 this week. Maybe if we can get healthy, we can make some noise in March. Right now, this team is barely treading water with three projected starters out.

[blueheretic]

NOPe!

[blueheretic]

Why have Pope's teams been so injury riddled?

[SportsFan]

Why have Pope's teams been so injury riddled?

That's exactly what I've been wondering. It's either they're being overworked, under worked, or he's just plain unlucky/snake bit in that regard. Or maybe he's bringing in players that are a bit soft and not used to/capable of adapting to the physicality. Who knows...but I've wondered the exact same thing.

[SportsFan]

I still think we actually have a good team and great potential but the team players and Coach all need to dig deep down and bring it every day.

I do think Pope is a red bull drinking 24/7 worker and obviously he's a very intelligent person but I wonder about his "feel" for the game as it plays out.

Is the POPE system just to complicated for players to grasp at this point?

What is up with all these substitutions? It's your system, you should know what you want on the floor right?

Analytics coaching or real time feel, the new world of sports.

Maybe he's missing his analytics guru, Keegan Brown, from BYU more than we realize. Who knows.

I will say this - I'm not really all that surprised. I thought we'd be good, and potentially REALLY good...even capable of competing for #9. But I knew it wouldn't be easy. Everything would have to fall into place. Unfortunately, it almost seems like everything is kinda falling apart. Even with the depth ....if key starters are going to be hurt and miss major chunks of the season....that's almost impossible to overcome. Especially when the shooting took a major down tick this off-season.

[westerncat]

Johnson in my opinion is not playing like a 5 star . Not great handling the ball. It just takes some kids longer to get used to playing the next level.