Pope

[Matt Dillon]

What I want to see, is a team that has confidence, has IQ to play the game, has the heart to play 40 minutes. Rick would throw these guys to the wolves to start games this way day in day out. We need a team that wants to be a Cat!!

https://youtu.be/4rrXR6n0RTY

I don't know what the problem is but I'm not so sure they don't want to be Cats. Otherwise, why would they claw and scratch to come back in the second half like they have the last two games?

[Pobilly]

I don't know what the problem is but I'm not so sure they don't want to be Cats. Otherwise, why would they claw and scratch to come back in the second half like they have the last two games?

I agree but it is like when I boxed as a youth. My father was a boxer and a darn good one. Me I won every match I was in (not many though). My dad stopped me boxing as I did not really start fighting proper till I was hit hard or hurt. I would then go into fight mode and take is seriously. Now these CATS have the tools, have the ability but they do not listen evidently until they are down 15. That is no way to play. You can win but you will end up losing when it counts most. That is probably best described as an IQ issue more than the fight issue, although we have seen 2 games (1 for me) where they did not have the fight, did not care to be out there and the proof is from that one eyed monster that records the games. So that is the fight I am talking about. It could be locker room distractions (meaning guys fighting over something) or it could be that every day each guy is not looking in the mirror and the want is not always there. We might be witnessing (me by means of here or in yesterdays case the last minute of the game watching and highlights). But this team is dysfunctional at its core. That comes from Staff down to players. I am hoping it totally gets resolved but I fear it will not. I always take off for the first week of March Madness and watch. This year the season has made me so not care that I have not watched any games (besides UK womens). I have not watched SEC ball (which I always have), I have not watched the big games or anything. As of January 18 2026, I will not take vacation or will not plan to even watch the tourney. I hope by end of January or early February this funk I am in will be over.

[CATHYnKY]

Pobilly, last weekend I was thinking about passing on the SEC tourney, which I dearly love. Like someone said when I was being wishy washy about going, it is their adult spring break. I am going to wait and see how the next couple of weeks go. I already have a big trip planned in April.

[blueheretic]

Your post here is full of the assumptions that you seem to call out in others.

I'll say this, if you aren't pretending last season didn't exist, then last season should buy Pope even more grace than if it didn't exist. And you don't seem to be giving him any.

I think about the only thing we agree about is that Cal should have been allowed to leave for UCLA.

I don't believe in grace. I'm not going to be polite and courteous about losing in Kentucky Basketball. You can be that person. Good for you. You're a mountain of a fella. Coolio.

Pope is an employee who was hired to do a job. Losing isn't a successful outcome. Losing is losing.

Cal, Pope, Tubby, BCG, Joe Snuffy....they all got paid a lot of money or are getting paid a lot of money. They're being paid to do a job. If they can't do it, they need to be moved out so someone else can do that job.

If I got the same results in my job, I'd be fired and rightfully so.

I'm not calling for him to be fired at this moment. I'm saying that if next year proves to be the same, he should not get a fourth year.

I don't need you to agree with me. It's immaterial.

People are rationalizing losing. That is what it's called when you make excuses for losing. It's called rationalizing. That deserves to be called out. I didn't call out anyone directly. I made a general statement. It would seem that you feel guilty of doing it. Therefore, you are reacting to the post.

Grace? lol As if. Freakin' hell. I'm dying. I woke up my dog laughing at that one.

[Semi-OldEvilleCat]

If he, Pope, gets all the criticism for the losses and the bad first halfs (deservedly so) does he get the credit for the wins and the 2nd half adjustments? Or do we just crucify him for the losses?

[Trueblujr]

I think Pope can coach. last season obviously proved that. We dealt with injuries all throughout last season and still managed to win more games against top 10 teams than anyone in history and made the Sweet 16. This all with a roster that was cobbled together from scratch. So there is some coaching ability there. What I think he did this year was sort of in response to all of the injuries last year and trying to react to the physicality of the SEC by just recruiting a bunch of dudes. He wanted depth and he wanted physicality and in recruiting to that, he failed to really build a team that fit his system. That and he failed to recruit depth at the PG spot. Now this team just doesn't have a ton of chemistry. We're starting to see some chemistry forming as of late, and hopefully it keeps developing from now through March. This season has been loaded with too many distractions. Is Lowe going to play or not, When will JQ be ready, Rumors of locker room in-fighting. All of those seem to be resolving for now, with the exception of JQ's availability.

What I think Pope has to do this off-season is get back to what he did last year and recruit to his system. Find another Kobe Brea type, Maybe Hawthorne can be that guy, he's supposed to be in the mold of Tayshaun Prince. We need a big who can handle and pass the ball like Amari Williams. Hopefully Moreno comes back for one more year and becomes a lottery pick. If Pope can get back to structuring his roster to fit his system, then I think he can be successful. I just think this year has been a learning curve for him. He's a smart guy, I hope he can realize where mistakes were made and can put a plan together to address those.

[bthaunert]

If he, Pope, gets all the criticism for the losses and the bad first halfs (deservedly so) does he get the credit for the wins and the 2nd half adjustments? Or do we just crucify him for the losses?

Of course he does. It is a part of the entire body of work. The entire body of work says he is 34-18/13-10 at UK and 21-18 against power programs. He has a .654 overall win percentage and a .565 SEC winning percentage. Outside of BCG, that's the worst winning percentage at UK since 1927.

He has to do better.

[blueheretic]

It seems like Pope was gearing the team towards a Lowe run team until Lowe was permanently sidelined.

Now, the strategy seems to have changed to push towards the talents of Aberdeen and Moreno whilst giving Oweh more free reign.

That seems to be working better.

[blueheretic]

If he, Pope, gets all the criticism for the losses and the bad first halfs (deservedly so) does he get the credit for the wins and the 2nd half adjustments? Or do we just crucify him for the losses?

I don't get this question.

The coach is responsible for all. Therefore, he gets criticism where deserved and praise where deserved.

It's just that everyone ignores the praise and concentrates on the criticisms. I've made plenty of posts on here saying "Great game" or "Great win". So have others. Hardly anyone comments on those.

I guess they save all of their energy for butthurt.

[Semi-OldEvilleCat]

I don't get this question.

The coach is responsible for all. Therefore, he gets criticism where deserved and praise where deserved.

It's just that everyone ignores the praise and concentrates on the criticisms. I've made plenty of posts on here saying "Great game" or "Great win". So have others. Hardly anyone comments on those.

I guess they save all of their energy for butthurt.

Not much to understand, that was kind of my point. When I said "we" I was referring to the fan base in general. No one person on here necessarily, just us collectively as a group as fans. Like you said everyone ignores praise and concentrates on the criticisms. Seems as if a lot of fans are just waiting to lose so they can jump in & criticize. I get it though, that's part of being a fan...and that's what this forum is for. I'll have to make sure and look for the praise posts.

With all that said, I agree with bthaunert. He has to do better.

[Pobilly]

If he, Pope, gets all the criticism for the losses and the bad first halfs (deservedly so) does he get the credit for the wins and the 2nd half adjustments? Or do we just crucify him for the losses?

If you are honest with yourself then yes. He and the staff make adjustments and guys play better and UK wins then yes. Even if they still lose by a point or two but was down 15 at half then they get their kudos for the adjustments.

[Pobilly]

1 bad review on anything has more weight than 100 good reviews. It is that way in the service industry, medical field, food or any other field. People love to look at the bad and ignore the good. A coach has a good year, wins most the games they are supposed to win, goes deep in the tourney and has a bad game at home against evansville (just an example) and it is a tarnished season for the people that look for the bad.