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.
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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.Comment
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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.Comment
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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.Comment
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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...Comment
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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.Last edited by bucsrule8872; 3 days ago.Comment
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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.Comment
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Here's hoping for some good luck (finally) on the injury front, and some fun and high flying basketball in '26-'27.Comment
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Im not going to argue with that and yes POPE has had to deal with it for two years, crazy to be honest.
Actually, I feel like a A hole towards Pope the past 7 to 8 months, just want to win and be that TEAM again, been a long time for faithful Cat fans and yes we are passionate.
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Only thing about the injury ordeal last year was JQ was hurt going into it, and that being the case, I don't think a roster spot should've been used on him. Yeah his potential was great, but I honestly didn't think it was worth it at the start to bring him in and hope he can play at some point at 100% and that apparently was the case. I have no ill-will toward JQ, but Pope having some medical background should've known to stay away and figure out other options this time last year for his spot. I am also not going to call him Shaedon Sharpe 2.0 as others have throughout the socials (not here necessarily) as I actually can appreciate the fact he tried to play 3 or 4 games.
I am also of the opinion that we should be hopeful that the bad injury luck is behind us going forward.Comment
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No lofty expectations. That said, Do NOT have to play on Wednesday in the SEC tourney!Comment
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I am about to say something kind of hateful, childish and all of the above. I am ready to stand up and talk some sh$$ when Kentucky is back on top of college basketball, it's been too long.
Still I don't like to be the brag and boast type, not my style, more of a stay humble stay hungry type of mentality but still, I want to jump off the seat of my couch point the finger and talk smack to the TV gain, I aint gong to lie lol lol lol....Comment
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Need to break some of these current droughts UK is in.
- Last SEC regular season title: 2020
- Last SECT title: 2018
- Last NCAAT 1 seed: 2015
- Last FF: 2015
- Last NCAAT title: 2012
Heck, even the last E8 was 2019.Comment
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I understand that.....still, I just want the smile to return. I want to win a national championship so that I'm able to smile, be happy, and have some pride when it comes to Kentucky basketball. As a Cowboys fan, I never expected to say "It's been 30 years since we won a Super Bowl" after the last Super Bowl win 1996....but here we are. As a Reds fan, I never expected to say "It's been 36 years since we last won the World Series"....yet, here we are. Now, I'm saying "It's been 15 years since the last time we won a national championship" for the Wildcats.... and I'm ready to put a stop to it. I don't need to talk smack, I just want to be able to buy a T-shirt that says "KENTUCKY WILDCATS.... NATIONAL CHAMPIONS", wear it with pride and a smile on my face, and let the shirt do the talking for me.Comment
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