NCAA Photo
A fun season for Kentucky basketball certainly did not have a fun ending.
Tennessee turned Kentucky “Every Which Way but Loose” — my old guy reference to a 1978 Clint Eastwood movie — and ended UK’s season with a 78-65 loss in Indianapolis in the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen that never really was in doubt the last 28 minutes.
Considering Kentucky had beaten Tennessee twice during the season as an underdog both times, maybe it was time for the Vols to play their version of “Tennessee basketball” and just pound the Cats with their physicality, and that’s what they did.
Kentucky coach Mark Pope tried a lot of things, including a zone defense, but nothing really helped. The Tennessee exposed UK’s inability to stop penetration into the lane over and over to set up shots at the rim or passes to open 3-point shooters.
“Whew,” Pope said, shaking his head to start his postgame press conference. “It’s hard to talk about basketball right now. Mostly, we are just sad this is over.”
Pope brought Lamont Butler, Andrew Carr and Koby Brea to the postgame podium with him. All three transferred to UK for their final year of college basketball and all were visibly emotional as they expressed their gratitude to Pope and BBN for being at Kentucky.
“A lot of us a year ago never thought we would be at Kentucky,” Carr said. “For Coach Pope to believe in us all is pretty special. I am super excited to see the next 10 to 15 years and what kind of dominant run he builds.”
Brea believes UK baseball is in “great hands” with Pope.
“He is a life changer. He has helped us grow so much on and off the court. It is going to be really special to see what he continues to do for this university,” Brea said.
Butler said what Pope has been has been “incredible” considering he had an entirely new roster.
“He built something great and inspiring. Just playing at Kentucky is a dream come true,” Butler said. “I am grateful to him for bringing us here and letting us experience something we have not experienced before.”
Former UK All-American Jack Givens developed relationships with Pope’s players in his role as a mentor and UK Radio Network analyst. He knew the players “loved” being at Kentucky.
“Every one of them was just ate up with Big Blue Nation and being part of the program,” Givens said on the postgame radio show. “That makes it tough just to have them for one year. Those guys didn’t want to talk about themselves. They wanted to talk about what it was like playing on this team.
“None of them know what it was like to play at Kentucky. You come to a place like Kentucky, and everything is magnified 100 times. Every guy appreciated it.”
However, good things came to an end, and Friday night, Tennessee just outplayed the Cats from start to finish to end UK’s year.
14 Responses
To me, it just looked like they had run out of gas.
agree Sandy
After playing for UT for 9 years, Zeigler has exhausted his eligibility.
it does feel that way Larry
What exactly is playing for each other? Pope starts talking about all of that kind of stuff and I know the team, will soon come out and play as soft as a marshmallow man. Why not just worry about guarding your man, trying hard as heck
I have no idea what produced such an embarrassing performance, but suspect it leaves with the players who are not returning. Now for next season. Who is leaving, who is coming back? Establish the culture and do not play those who don’t buy into it both in practice AND in the game. Pope ball requires constant movement, screens, back cuts, and quick, crisp passes. If you don’t have the ball, you should be screening and cutting to receive the pass; not standing around waiting for the pass. When you get the pass, shoot it if you are open or immediately pass it to someone else who is open. It moves fast and gets off an open shot, either a 3 point shot or a layup, in the first 15 seconds. When a shot goes up, EVERYBODY rebounds. It often requires 2 and sometimes 3 passes to be made giving up an ok shot for a better shot. There is no reason why this team should not put up at least 35 three point shots a game…that is the expectation. Alabama put up 51 against BYU and made 25 of them. With that being said, these kids are going to have to be in super conditioned shape. They are not going to play 30 minutes a game. They are not going to look for their shot first. They are not going to be able to pace themselves in order to stay in the game. They are not going to play hero ball. They are not going to dribble the ball to find a shot, they are going to pass the ball to find a good shot and that could come back to them if they move, screen, and cut after making the initial pass. The ball has to move faster than the defense can. If a prospect does not like the sound of that they don’t need to come here. Pope really didn’t get a chance to define that in his first year, he had to scramble and take what he could get. This puts the onus on the coaching staff. MOST kids will not be attracted to that style of play because they are used to playing hero ball and WANT to play hero ball. Pope ball wins as a team, not as one or two hotshot stars. The next two things to get straight are if you cannot stay in front of your man on defense and you can’t or won’t rebound…don’t come here. As for passing, you don’t have to make impossible passes…make one or two more easy, quick passes to find the OPEN man. NO LAZY PASSES. Everyone must commit to making free throws…a guaranteed unguarded 15 foot shot. You run extra suicide line drills until your made average reaches 80%. Practice shooting free throws at the end of practice when you are tired and have to focus on the mechanics of the shot. Shoot 200 three point shots a day until you are making 35% or better. Practice back stepping and side stepping to get the open 3 point shot. Anyone who comes back must commit to this style of play. Anyone being recruited must commit to this style of play. It will take 2 to 3 times longer to fill a roster with this type of kid. If you don’t want to expend the time and effort to find that kind of kid, don’t be a coach at Kentucky. Do not settle for anything less.
There’s nothing embarrassing about the game Barry, Tennessee just outplay us and wanted more. Cats gave us a great ride more than imagining from the beginning of the season to end. Thank you Pope and the team
How can anyone in BBN not be embarrassed by that first half debacle? We were not ready to play in a game for a spot in the Elite 8! Again, Pope is the right man for this job, but he dropped the ball big time. What’s done is done, but he cannot afford to drop the ball like that ever again!
A lot of good points, once again, Mr. P. Basketball fundamentals never seemed to get inculcated during the year. That is why I often questioned what this team really did in practice. It will be evaluated as a good year for the quickly constituted team, and we showed flashes of greatness during the year but just couldn’t show consistency. We had as many quality losses as we did quality wins. Two of the biggest lowlights were last night and the loss to ex coach on home court. You just can’t let that happen. I like coach very much and you have to admire his humbleness and wanting to be right where he is at, but I think he needs to alter his DNA to show a little tougher side and more player accountability for performance.
You get it Kahuna. Coaches coach. Pope can’t be one of the guys anymore. He has to hold himself and his staff accountable first and then he has to hold his players accountable when they don’t follow the game plan or don’t come ready to play.
No sense in quibbling – 63 teams go home just like us.
exactly right Paul. It happens. just glad it was third round, not first round
Tennessee forced UK into hero ball last night.
UT played an almost game – plus every ball bounced their way. Reminds me of how we played against UF.