Overall grade for this season

[Tomcats1990]

Only watched 6-8 games this season but the team never improved and had the same issues all season. They did make and win a tourney game however so a generous C-. Pope has to have at least an A next year or I think he can’t survive.

[Pete Hogwallop]

If they really spent $22 million, injuries or no injuries.
D

We'll never if that number is actually true or how it was spent and divided. That's just a number someone threw out there and it was repeated enough times that some people think it's true.

[EKYCat]

D. I don't see how you can give the season a higher grade than that, EVEN factoring in injuries.

• We lost 14 games (only been done 4 times previously)
• We were a NINE seed in the SEC tournament and lost in the quarterfinal
• First weekend exit from tournament, getting embarrassed in second round
• We took 5 complete ass whippings, not counting any of the 3 games against Florida that we made look respectable despite never being a real threat, or the 11 point loss to A&M - that's 9 times we weren't even in the game
• We lost in Rupp 4 times

The only things keeping this from being an F are that we DID make the tournament, and that you have to factor in injuries

I agree with all your points, but I still give it an F. This is not Kentucky Basketball. I'm tired of watching this program get left in the dust while the other blue bloods continue to thrive. I blame Pope for his coaching but this ultimately rests with Mitch Barnhart for saddling the program with at least one more year of this.

[Majoga]

F+ .

[Pete Hogwallop]

This is not Kentucky Basketball. I'm tired of watching this program get left in the dust while the other blue bloods continue to thrive.

I agree it's not Kentucky Basketball. However, which blue bloods are actually thriving at this point? Duke for sure, but I don't think you can say Kansas or North Carolina are. Maybe UCONN, but they are pretty late to the party.

Times have changed. The advantages the blue bloods had are diminishing if not gone.

[EKYCat]

I agree it's not Kentucky Basketball. However, which blue bloods are actually thriving at this point? Duke for sure, but I don't think you can say Kansas or North Carolina are. Maybe UCONN, but they are pretty late to the party.

Times have changed. The advantages the blue bloods had are diminishing if not gone.

UCONN and Duke are both blue bloods. UCONN has won six titles since 1999. Late or not, they're thriving. Kansas won a title as recently as 2022 and were in the Final Four in 2018. UNC has been to three final fours since UK has been there. It's not just the NIL era where UK has struggled. It's been the past several years. UK is an afterthought these days. Who actually thought we had a shot at winning yesterday? Iowa State was without their best player and effectively ran us off the court after we were up 12 points. I'll put it this way. I chose to golf instead of watch UK in an NCAA Tournament game.

[Semi-OldEvilleCat]

D+ It was pretty disappointing (the + is for at least beating IU). I'm glad its over, they were hard to watch. I dont think Pope is as bad of a coach as everyone else, however he's not that good either. The players (as a team) just weren't very good, missed a lot of layups, way too many TOs, lack of effort, just not smart. I don't blame all that on the coach, but that is what he assembled. I tried to watch every game with an open mind and think "OK what'd they do in the game that makes me look forward to the next one". There wasn't one game...NOT ONE that got me excited for the next game. Maybe the home game against Vandy, but I think that was more of Vandy sucking than UK playing well. I suspect we will have more of the same next year...maybe we'll only end with 11 losses. Please, PLEASE prove me wrong.

[WeWant9]

D+ It was pretty disappointing (the + is for at least beating IU). I'm glad its over, they were hard to watch. I dont think Pope is as bad of a coach as everyone else, however he's not that good either. The players (as a team) just weren't very good, missed a lot of layups, way too many TOs, lack of effort, just not smart. I don't blame all that on the coach, but that is what he assembled. I tried to watch every game with an open mind and think "OK what'd they do in the game that makes me look forward to the next one". There wasn't one game...NOT ONE that got me excited for the next game. Maybe the home game against Vandy, but I think that was more of Vandy sucking than UK playing well. I suspect we will have more of the same next year...maybe we'll only end with 11 losses. Please, PLEASE prove me wrong.

I do not think I've seen a team miss so many lay ups, dunks, or close shots. When their shots fell, they looked like a different team but that rarely happened. It was a kick in the gut to read the Iowa St player say (paraphrasing) that the film showed this UK team would just give up when the pressure got turned on and sure enough, that happened yesterday.

I thought Pope did fine in year 1, but any positives from then are now long gone. UK basketball is in a weird spot. I expect a long, drawn out summer followed by another up and down season. Just hope we really hire the right AD who can right the ship, but fear that will be kept in house, too.

[EKYCat]

I do not think I've seen a team miss so many lay ups, dunks, or close shots. When their shots fell, they looked like a different team but that rarely happened. It was a kick in the gut to read the Iowa St player say (paraphrasing) that the film showed this UK team would just give up when the pressure got turned on and sure enough, that happened yesterday.

I thought Pope did fine in year 1, but any positives from then are now long gone. UK basketball is in a weird spot. I expect a long, drawn out summer followed by another up and down season. Just hope we really hire the right AD who can right the ship, but fear that will be kept in house, too.

Any team looks a lot better when their shots are falling and I'm 100% with you on the new AD. I'm worried it's going to be more of the same.

[South jones]

D +

[Pete Hogwallop]

Have thought about this a little and here's what doesn't compute for me.

- I think it's fairly common knowledge that Pope is a smart person.
- I think most people feel that he's very motivated to win at UK.
- He doesn't seem to have any character/moral faults or flaws that would derail him or the program.

In my life experience, when you combine smart and motivated people with adequate or even healthy resources like UK has, the result is almost always success.

This is why - outside of the injuries to 3 key players - I can't understand why this season was so bad. And further, why the team looked like they weren't on the same page as each other almost all the time they were on the court. It feels to me like there has to be some other reason that hasn't been fully disclosed.

I've even considered fairly outside of the box reasons that I don't want to list because they are just wild guesses and I don't want to start rumors. It doesn't take much imagination to figure out what some of those wild guesses are.

[Matt Dillon]

Any team looks a lot better when their shots are falling and I'm 100% with you on the new AD. I'm worried it's going to be more of the same.

Pres. Capilouto said no candidate would be excluded from consideration either in house or nationally.

[EKYCat]

Have thought about this a little and here's what doesn't compute for me.

- I think it's fairly common knowledge that Pope is a smart person.
- I think most people feel that he's very motivated to win at UK.
- He doesn't seem to have any character/moral faults or flaws that would derail him or the program.

In my life experience, when you combine smart and motivated people with adequate or even healthy resources like UK has, the result is almost always success.

This is why - outside of the injuries to 3 key players - I can't understand why this season was so bad. And further, why the team looked like they weren't on the same page as each other almost all the time they were on the court. It feels to me like there has to be some other reason that hasn't been fully disclosed.

I've even considered fairly outside of the box reasons that I don't want to list because they are just wild guesses and I don't want to start rumors. It doesn't take much imagination to figure out what some of those wild guesses are.

Not trying to sound sarcastic here, but it really could be that Pope is coaching to his average, winning 64% of his games and is in way over his head.

[Pete Hogwallop]

Not trying to sound sarcastic here, but it really could be that Pope is coaching to his average, winning 64% of his games and is in way over his head.

I get that. However, my thought is he SHOULD be more motivated here at UK. Also, he SHOULD have more resources than he's ever had before. So in my small brain, that means he SHOULD be able to be above his average. Intelligence+motivation+resources should raise the percentage up.

[Cawood86]

I get that. However, my thought is he SHOULD be more motivated here at UK. Also, he SHOULD have more resources than he's ever had before. So in my small brain, that means he SHOULD be able to be above his average. Intelligence+motivation+resources should raise the percentage up.

Good thought. I hope you're right. Next year should show us who he really is as a coach.

Needs to have learned how not to build a roster after this season.