Moreno on Pope: “We’re going to change a lot”

[EKYCat]

He has had more wins against ranked teams the last 2 seasons than any other coach in Div 1. All while having his teams severely handicapped with injuries.

This is where he's baffling to me. He has had some crazy good wins. The Cooper Flagg game where he pretty much told his guys exactly what was going to happen was masterful. He's handled UT well. Beat Golden. But, there's a lot of duds in there too. Losing by 20 to Ohio State is as bad as any. Then, Gonzaga. Mizzou at home where they should have had it in the bag. Smooth those out and he will make me a believer.

[Jaxcat]

I'd like to see a lot more changing of the defense, throw in a press at unpredictable times, some hybrid/matchup zone at times. Seems like we played defense the same way every possession every game (and not very well in most games).

I want to see a lot more of the the 1st year offense than the 2nd year offense: A lot more movement, more extra passes to an open shooter, etc.

[bucsrule8872]

I'd like to see a lot more changing of the defense, throw in a press at unpredictable times, some hybrid/matchup zone at times. Seems like we played defense the same way every possession every game (and not very well in most games).

I want to see a lot more of the the 1st year offense than the 2nd year offense: A lot more movement, more extra passes to an open shooter, etc.

Agreed.

I want to see some 1-3-1 and 2-3. Maybe a 2-2-1 zone press leading into those. I always loved running a diamond (1-2-1-1) zone press, but not sure about this team running that. Seems better built for a 2-2-1 to me. But I haven’t really watched a lot of film on the new guys. And most college teams can beat a diamond press and get easy baskets anyways.

[WeWant9]

I would really like to see the slow starts fixed. I am not sure what the pregame routine was last season, but lets throw that away.

[KentuckyWild2020]

He has had more wins against ranked teams the last 2 seasons than any other coach in Div 1. All while having his teams severely handicapped with injuries.

True but he's also had some beat down losses that make you shake your head, total embarrassment...

Anyways, last year was total team chaos. We may never know the real truth behind the scenes but that was wild, worse than Tubby Carruth team, mad chaos, something just wasn't right.

You know it's bad when it was reported Pope had a nervous breakdown.

As a fan, yes I am critical of Pope at times but really it goes deeper than that, unfortunately Pope is having to deal with a lot of CARRY OVER frustration from fans the past few years of the Cal era.

Again, it's been a good 10 years since we have been relevant and our name to other teams doesn't carry as much weight, they sure don't fear us anymore. They will use our name for ticket sales and ratings and probably play a little harder against us to just drive that nail in the coffin and kick us while we have been down but I do believe that Pope is hell bent on making Kentucky that MAN again....


To land Mom and then get a HS commit, i feel a helluva lot better than I did a few weeks ago. Can actually say I am about half a$$ excited again. No real crazy expectations but it does feel good to get some positive news for once...

[bucsrule8872]

True but he's also had some beat down losses that make you shake your head, total embarrassment...

Anyways, last year was total team chaos. We may never know the real truth behind the scenes but that was wild, worse than Tubby Carruth team, mad chaos, something just wasn't right.

You know it's bad when it was reported Pope had a nervous breakdown.

As a fan, yes I am critical of Pope at times but really it goes deeper than that, unfortunately Pope is having to deal with a lot of CARRY OVER frustration from fans the past few years of the Cal era.

Again, it's been a good 10 years since we have been relevant and our name to other teams doesn't carry as much weight, they sure don't fear us anymore. They will use our name for ticket sales and ratings and probably play a little harder against us to just drive that nail in the coffin and kick us while we have been down but I do believe that Pope is hell bent on making Kentucky that MAN again....


To land Mom and then get a HS commit, i feel a helluva lot better than I did a few weeks ago. Can actually say I am about half a$$ excited again. No real crazy expectations but it does feel good to get some positive news for once...

I hate to keep making the “injury excuse” for Pope, but injuries have been the biggest issue for him.

He has had a completely healthy roster for a grand total of 7 games. Those were the first 7 games of the 24-25 season. Butler got hurt in the Clemson games (first loss). Kriisa was lost for the season the next game. He won all 7 games including a big upset of a Cooper Flagg led Duke team.

Last season, JQ was never 100% and Lowe was hurt in the Blue White Game.

Other than those first 7 games of the Pope era, he hasn’t had a full complement of players.

I want to see what he does with a fully healthy roster. I know injuries will happen, but I want to see a season like most other teams usually have where if they have a guy out, it’s for 1-2 games then he is back. We’ve been snake bitten by season ending injuries and lingering injuries for long enough. Let’s see what happens in a season with a “normal” amount of injuries and no more season ending/lingering stuff.

[EKYCat]

I hate to keep making the “injury excuse” for Pope, but injuries have been the biggest issue for him.

He has had a completely healthy roster for a grand total of 7 games. Those were the first 7 games of the 24-25 season. Butler got hurt in the Clemson games (first loss). Kriisa was lost for the season the next game. He won all 7 games including a big upset of a Cooper Flagg led Duke team.

Last season, JQ was never 100% and Lowe was hurt in the Blue White Game.

Other than those first 7 games of the Pope era, he hasn’t had a full complement of players.

I want to see what he does with a fully healthy roster. I know injuries will happen, but I want to see a season like most other teams usually have where if they have a guy out, it’s for 1-2 games then he is back. We’ve been snake bitten by season ending injuries and lingering injuries for long enough. Let’s see what happens in a season with a “normal” amount of injuries and no more season ending/lingering stuff.

I think there's some validity to the injury "excuse." And I also want to see what it looks like with a healthy roster full of players suited to the system he wants to employ. I think last year was a combination of devastating injuries and a coach that built a roster that wasn't put together very well. Add in the substitution patterns and whatever went on behind closed doors and you get a 22-14 type team that doesn't really compete for anything of consequence.