Next years team will not be any good....

[Kyfan96]

For the sheer fact that Pope wants our returning players to be the core of next years team. None of those players that are starting material. Chandler, Williams, Moreno, Garrison, Lowe (possibly) should be coming off the bench.
The fact that Pope thinks these players are the key to having a dominant team, tells you that the guy literally has no clue what he is doing. We will never be any better than what have been with him.
Knowing that UNC is now searching for a coach and will probably end up making the right hire, had just made this whole thing even harder to swallow. Maybe it's because I'm not gambler or a risk taker, and I usually don't make a decision unless I'm almost guaranteed to come out better than I am, but I really don't understand the point of another year of Pope.
The evidence suggests that his 63% is what will be the norm for next year and the odds of him turning it around and being a top 10 team are super low. So why risk it?

 

[NociHTTP]

You have no idea what Pope is wanting for next year. Three players have already hinted at leaving. . Rage-baiter.

 

[MonsterMash79]

We wanted kids to stay longer, and that’s what he’s doing. But he’s gotta be able to coach (develop) in order for his plan to work. He’s yet to show me he’s capable of doing so

 

[BlueSince92]

You have no idea what Pope is wanting for next year.

Pope has spoken pretty passionately this week saying his most important recruiting job for next season is to get current players to return.

 

[Dr.LutherSan]

You have no idea what Pope is wanting for next year. Three players have already hinted at leaving. . Rage-baiter.

Hypothetically speaking, he ends up getting the players he wants and they fit "his system". What has he done with the teams that FIT his system?

Double digit loss seasons, CBI tournaments, NIT, and early NCAA tournament exits are not acceptable in blue blood programs.

While I admire your ever-present optimism and glass half full mentality, at some point you have to admit that this particular glass contains rotten milk.

 

[BlueSince92]

Kam, Moreno, and Dioubate as a garbage guy sixth man are the only guys I could see us using to build a title team even if we bring in serious studs to join them. Lowe is a fine pg backup injury free, but even injury free he doesn't have the defense or the shooting or the extreme speed and handling he'd need to compensate for his tiny size and low strength that he'd need to start. With Chandler I hope the third time's the charm but we just watched two seasons where he started out good, rose to great midseason, then slowly faded to being basically okay in the post season. Not at all a guy you wouldn't take back. But planning to build a team around him as a starter is asking for trouble even if you weren't on the hot seat, imo. So I see two starters---that is, if Moreno packs on weight and learns a post move or two and Kam has a great summer. If we're really talking the kind of turnaround Pope needs to have to belong as HC. This program can't take more "progress": we're six inches from being Indiana right now.

 

[Dward13]

Moreno and Jelavich showed enough as freshman to give me hope that they have good long term college potential and want to hang onto them.

Kam was playing well before he got hurt and in limited minutes after returning seemed to at least be a positive.

Dioubate is a tweener but has a high motor and played well down the stretch. I’d keep him too.

I think we could get away with 1 or 2 of those guys starting. But we need big time play makers at the other 3 spots.

everyone else can go

 

[NociHTTP]

We wanted kids to stay longer, and that’s what he’s doing. But he’s gotta be able to coach (develop) in order for his plan to work. He’s yet to show me he’s capable of doing so

I wonder if he's about to start busting chops. If any of those who he hinted at not playing the way he wants returns, his hot seat is going to result in a less friendly Pope.

 

[catsfan9234]

When cal was here everyone wanted good junior and senior vets. Now we get players that could be high quality players with time and the fanbase hates them. If not here kam and Moreno are both guys that will make a huge impact for someone next year

 

[Anon1679859502]

We wanted kids to stay longer, and that’s what he’s doing. But he’s gotta be able to coach (develop) in order for his plan to work. He’s yet to show me he’s capable of doing so

Only three or four players I would keep, the rest can find better deals elsewhere. You’re not going to develop a junior or senior into something they are not.

His plan sucks and now former players from alway back to Joe B and Pitino days are questioning what the hell is going on.

 

[kyhankypanky]

When cal was here everyone wanted good junior and senior vets. Now we get players that could be high quality players with time and the fanbase hates them. If not here kam and Moreno are both guys that will make a huge impact for someone next year

The fans are not the problem.

 

[philstat]

He truly has no other choice, he’s missed out on a good 30+ players he’s gone after, nome of the kids will make more money elsewhere and at this juncture no one wants to come in and play for him. I anticipate another 14 loss season, at minimum. We have one title in 25-years, we have become Indiana, rather people want to admit it or not.

 

[Kyfan96]

When cal was here everyone wanted good junior and senior vets. Now we get players that could be high quality players with time and the fanbase hates them. If not here kam and Moreno are both guys that will make a huge impact for someone next year

I never said not to bring anyone back. I just said the guys who could come back don't need to be the core of our team. Yes, we want multiple year players, but the ones that we do have show no signs of ever being stars and Pope is not a good enough coach to develop them either. So we need to get multiple studs from the portal this year, plus someone like Stokes in order to make the risk of keeping him another year worth it. Pope has showed no signs that he's capable of doing that, so I don't think the reward will be worth the risk.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

Pope needs high level talent to win anything that matters. Can he recruit said talent?

 

[Beatle Bum]

The we hope UK is no good next year before we know the lineup thread!!!

 

[Monday Nitro]

When cal was here everyone wanted good junior and senior vets. Now we get players that could be high quality players with time and the fanbase hates them. If not here kam and Moreno are both guys that will make a huge impact for someone next year

It”s not the entire fanbase. Its a group that sets up a straw man (“I’m miserable”) so they can knock it down every waking moment of every day. It’s a wild phenomenon.

 

[MonsterMash79]

I wonder if he's about to start busting chops. If any of those who he hinted at not playing the way he wants returns, his hot seat is going to result in a less friendly Pope.

My dad is all for Mark. He wants him to succeed more than anything, something we all wanted to see ourselves. Maybe he’ll get some guys that buy in to his system and it makes for an eye opening season 3.. I can ***** till I’m blue in the face, that’s not gonna change anything though. I can hear popes voice cracking trying to be hard lol..

 

[Kyfan96]

The we hope UK is no good next year before we know the lineup thread!!!

Obviously you missed the entire point of what I was saying. You're correct that we don't know what the roster will look like next year, but the odds of it being a team that is head and shoulders better than this years team are low. Pope would need multiple star level talent out of the portal, plus some recruits to go along with returning players. Right now he has no recruits and the likelihood of getting multiple star players from he portal is low, and the returning players are more role/supporting players and not some you build a team around. Most likely we won't be better than a Round of 32 or sweet 16 team anyway so why "wait and see"? That sounds like gambling and we don't need to possibly set ourselves back another year on a gamble.

 

[Vek96]

For the sheer fact that Pope wants our returning players to be the core of next years team. None of those players that are starting material. Chandler, Williams, Moreno, Garrison, Lowe (possibly) should be coming off the bench.
The fact that Pope thinks these players are the key to having a dominant team, tells you that the guy literally has no clue what he is doing. We will never be any better than what have been with him.
Knowing that UNC is now searching for a coach and will probably end up making the right hire, had just made this whole thing even harder to swallow. Maybe it's because I'm not gambler or a risk taker, and I usually don't make a decision unless I'm almost guaranteed to come out better than I am, but I really don't understand the point of another year of Pope.
The evidence suggests that his 63% is what will be the norm for next year and the odds of him turning it around and being a top 10 team are super low. So why risk it?

Pope will have a very good roster next season. Just need to have better luck with injuries.
Believe it or not, players can improve from year to year. That’s actually the way it’s supposed to work

Chandler improved dramatically this year. We saw what Garrison is capable of against Santa Clara. I expect Moreno to improve a lot. Lowe can really handle the ball, and even if he’s not the starter, uh, as we witnessed this season, you have to have more than 1 good ball handler.

Williams is a solid contributor. That doesn’t mean he’s going to be a starter, but you have to have solid players like him.

Add 3-4 portal studs, and a great HS recruit, along with these returning players, and it’s all systems go.

I’m not actually sad to see Oweh go. He did a lot of good things, but, honestly, he played hero ball all of the time, and I’m just not sure he made everyone around him better.

 

[TommyMansky]

He better get at least 3 guys who can shoot threes well or else there is absolutely no point in his offensive system.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

Pope will have a very good roster next season. Just need to have better luck with injuries.
Believe it or not, players can improve from year to year. That’s actually the way it’s supposed to work

Chandler improved dramatically this year. We saw what Garrison is capable of against Santa Clara. I expect Moreno to improve a lot. Lowe can really handle the ball, and even if he’s not the starter, uh, as we witnessed this season, you have to have more than 1 good all handler.

Williams is a solid contributor. That doesn’t mean he’s going to be a starter, but you have to have solid players like him.

Add 3-4 portal studs, and a great HS recruit, along with these returning players, and it’s all systems go.

I’m not actually sad to see Oweh go. He did a lot of good things, but, honestly, he played hero ball all of the time, and I’m just not sure he made everyone around him better.

Players do improve if they play for other coaches. They do not playing for Pope and in his second decade of coaching and in his mid fifties he’s not changing who he is.

Next season he will lower his already terrible winning percentage.

 

[Kyfan96]

It”s not the entire fanbase. Its a group that sets up a straw man (“I’m miserable”) so they can knock it down every waking moment of every day. It’s a wild phenomenon.

No, it's just that we've been in a downward spiral for several years now and we are ok with cutting ties with something if doesn't seem to be working, rather than waiting around and hoping that it changes.

 

[Farsight Clone]

When cal was here everyone wanted good junior and senior vets. Now we get players that could be high quality players with time and the fanbase hates them. If not here kam and Moreno are both guys that will make a huge impact for someone next year

Yes that was a valid complaint. However, you must focus on Pope over Cal for this. Pope clearly can't coach players who don't fit his "system". This year proves that. We saw very little to no player development. Only at the end did Aberdeen and Mo D play better. I do too wish Kam and Moreno to come back, but the problem is that Pope has yet to prove he can coach guys and develop them.

 

[Monday Nitro]

No, it's just that we've been in a downward spiral for several years now and we are ok with cutting ties with something if doesn't seem to be working, rather than waiting around and hoping that it changes.

How many accounts with 96 and/or blueblood do you have ready to go. Morgflopsky? It’s pure lunacy and your army of aliases doesnt speak for the fanbase even though you try to create the illusion that it does. Madness, lmao.

 

[Bluegrass79]

Nl

 

[Kyfan96]

How many accounts with 96 and/or blueblood do you have ready to go. Morgflopsky? It’s pure lunacy and your army of aliases doesnt speak for the fanbase even though you try to create the illusion that it does. Madness, lmao.

What? Because someone agrees with me it means I have multiple accounts and I'm faking it?

 

[TotheMoon88]

How many accounts with 96 and/or blueblood do you have ready to go. Morgflopsky? It’s pure lunacy and your army of aliases doesnt speak for the fanbase even though you try to create the illusion that it does. Madness

You gotta be a fan from another team, don’t see any explanation otherwise as to why you would want a terrible coach to stick around

 

[DelkBowl]

Nothing will change with his offense. Putting your 7 foot players constantly at the top of the key? No other coach does this and for a good reason. Not sure why he thinks this will ever translate to a natty.

 

[Pygmy Sasquatch]

I wonder if he's about to start busting chops. If any of those who he hinted at not playing the way he wants returns, his hot seat is going to result in a less friendly Pope.

He is who he is. I seriously doubt he's going to morph into Gunny Hartman.

 

[megablue]

Pope needs high level talent to win anything that matters. Can he recruit said talent?

Yes. It really is that simple. He needs to bring in MUCH BETTER talent to field a TOP TEN team.

 

[MegaBlue05]

Welp. This guy said it. Gotta be true

Guess I’ll go ahead and give up now even though we’re a couple months out from knowing next year's roster.

See y’all in 2027-28!

 

[cornbreadnmilk]

If Lowe. Kam,CC,Mo and Moreno are our starters it will be a nightmare season. They are fine as backups but people thinking this will compete for anything but an NIT are living in a fantasy world.

 

[OliverSimmonsTwinBrother]

For the past 15 years we have all wanted players to stay longer. Two years of Bledsoe, Reed, Cousins etc

Now we get a 3rd year of Noah.

Fate is a cruel mistress indeed.

 

[TFCat11]

Hypothetically speaking, he ends up getting the players he wants and they fit "his system". What has he done with the teams that FIT his system?

Double digit loss seasons, CBI tournaments, NIT, and early NCAA tournament exits are not acceptable in blue blood programs.

While I admire your ever-present optimism and glass half full mentality, at some point you have to admit that this particular glass contains rotten milk.

Bingo! The Pope Cult’s signature move is to kick the can down the road, until they reach the can, and then they just kick it further down the road again, and the same worn out arguments get recycled over and over again.

 

[UK BasketballFan]

Kam, Moreno, and Dioubate as a garbage guy sixth man are the only guys I could see us using to build a title team even if we bring in serious studs to join them. Lowe is a fine pg backup injury free, but even injury free he doesn't have the defense or the shooting or the extreme speed and handling he'd need to compensate for his tiny size and low strength that he'd need to start. With Chandler I hope the third time's the charm but we just watched two seasons where he started out good, rose to great midseason, then slowly faded to being basically okay in the post season. Not at all a guy you wouldn't take back. But planning to build a team around him as a starter is asking for trouble even if you weren't on the hot seat, imo. So I see two starters---that is, if Moreno packs on weight and learns a post move or two and Kam has a great summer. If we're really talking the kind of turnaround Pope needs to have to belong as HC. This program can't take more "progress": we're six inches from being Indiana right now.

Kam is a spot up shooter that has to be wide open to hit his shot because his release point is so low. Against the power conference teams he averaged 1 rebound and .5 assist per game. He is unable to take his man off the dribble. I don’t get all the love he receives from UK fans.

 

[megablue]

I am not sure that we can be a TOP TEN team with Chandler and Moreno playing as many minutes next year. I think they should be recruited over, as they can be serviceable back-ups. We MAYBE can be a TOP TEN team with our weakest position being shared by Williams, Jelavic and Dioubate, but I'm not sure of it. When I say a TOP TEN team, I'm talking about no less than a 3-seed and either the SEC League Champion or the SEC Tourney Champion.

That is how I see it, regardless of who returns. Pope has to massively upgrade the talent level on our roster. He cannot count on vast improvement from returning players. He needs a core of 7, maybe 8, players that can consistently contribute at a high level for us to be the kind of team people want and expect.

 

[TFCat11]

Moreno and Jelavich showed enough as freshman to give me hope that they have good long term college potential and want to hang onto them.

Kam was playing well before he got hurt and in limited minutes after returning seemed to at least be a positive.

Dioubate is a tweener but has a high motor and played well down the stretch. I’d keep him too.

I think we could get away with 1 or 2 of those guys starting. But we need big time play makers at the other 3 spots.

everyone else can go

This is how I view this through a lens… Would/ could any of these returning players start for Duke, Kansas, or UNC? No, and they shouldn’t be starting and playing major minutes for UK!

We naturally want to believe that they are UK material, but with Pope’s recruiting and roster construction, it’s the best he can get, so we are stuck trying to justify why they are UK level talents! When in all fairness, they are barely reserve level UK players.

 

[IH8bluedevils]

I have little to no faith, at this point...

 

[TFCat11]

If Lowe. Kam,CC,Mo and Moreno are our starters it will be a nightmare season. They are fine as backups but people thinking this will compete for anything but an NIT are living in a fantasy world.

Now, we are at the point where some fans can’t gauge talent when they see someone wearing a UK jersey!

I’m 5’9 and 54 years old, but I’m in damn great shape for my age, but Pope could trot me out there wearing a UK jersey, and these same fans would swear I was a white Tyler Ulis!

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

Pope has spoken pretty passionately this week saying his most important recruiting job for next season is to get current players to return.

Because he can’t convince anyone good to come instead.