Mark Pope said Kentucky was too hyped, too early against Louisville. (Vicky Graff Photo)
After letting speculation go on for nine days and rumors spread rapidly through Big Blue Nation, Kentucky coach Mark Pope decided to explain what went on in the locker room before UK lost at Louisville in a game it once trailed by 20 points.
Pope said after the Louisville game there was something before the game that disrupted his team but would not say what. Two days later he said he was “teasing” a story the way iconic singer Taylor Swift might do.
Finally on Thursday he explained what happened — and believe what you want.
“There’s nothing there. Literally, we flipped the switch early,” Pope said Thursday about the Louisville pregame disaster. “Like we came into our 40-minute meeting. And normally, our 40-minute, we try and keep it really calm and really relaxed because we’re trying to manage our emotions, and it didn’t work.
“Like the guys were kinda like, ‘Nah,’ essentially, ‘We’re ready to flip the switch now.’”
Come on Coach. If that’s true, why make such a big, mysterious deal out of it and basically encourage UK fans to let their imaginations run wild with stories about what happened inside the locker room.
Speculation only intensified after the Cats looked pathetic against Tuesday night in New York in a one-sided loss to Michigan State.
“There was no — I wish there was more drama to make it more exciting, but there just wasn’t,” Pope said Thursday. “But the management of your emotions is really important to what we do. So I’m sorry that that’s a dud. I wish I had more salacious material for you.”
Then why tease and create this drama? Could something more really have gone on in the locker room and Pope had second thoughts about saying anything and said what he did Thursday to make the speculation stop?
It’s hard to watch this team play and not sense chemistry issues. The team lacks a sense of urgency and intensity. Sure, point guard Jaland Lowe is out with an injury but the team — and Pope — look lost. The individual pieces just don’t seem to fit, especially on offense where shooting from long range is a real problem.
However, Pope emphasized Thursday that chemistry was not a problem despite how poorly and uninspired the team played most of the time against Louisville and Michigan State.
“I think our guys love each other. They care about each other. I don’t think that’s our issue at all right now,” Pope said about UK’s chemistry. “I wouldn’t say that’s even close to our issue. I don’t think it pops up on my radar at all.”
Maybe it doesn’t, but then again maybe it should.
17 Responses
The acid test is on the court. It does not matter if the players get along off the court if they are a total disconnect in the court.
Last season the entire TEAM played in sync FOR each other and FOR UK during the 2 Exhib games & the first 5 to 7 games of the season, before yielding to individual interests around game 10 and beyond.
This season, the disconnect was evident in the 2nd Exhibition game & keeps popping up again and again. This GROUP of players are not making any real effort to play as a team!
A long season is ahead with too many players in pre-Pro Ball focus and not an ear for TEAM 1st ball.
To add insult to injury, Oweh & Lowe are near 0.00 ANE this season. That is sad.
ONLY those who have high ANE values can impact and initiated any change in the rest of this season.
The players don't have to love each other as Pope keeps expressing, but they should like each other and want to ball together for the name on jerseys. We didn't get a early signee in recruiting window but Pope said he likes where we are in recruiting?? Huh?
That's bs in my opinion you can't fool the fans that the players body language doesn't tell there's something going on. Come on Pope we know better than that
I suspect that he doesn't lie very much, or ever. He's not good at it. At all.
That is true everyone knows there are chemistry problems on and off the court. That's what happens when you have 14 millionaires. There egos are killing the chemistry of the team. Johnson is better than I thought he was at running the point. I would play Aberdeen/Johnson Chandler/Noah Oweh/Williams Mo-D/ Garrison Jelavic/Moreno. That would be my starters and my backups next to the starter. Play the 5 guys who hustle the hardest.
There shouldn't be any switch to flip. An athlete should wake up on game day chomping at the bit to punish his opponent. It's sad that former great players like Jamal Mashburn are saying Ky are more like kittens than wildcats.
Now the greatest Wildcat of all times is speaking up. Dan Issel is saying that Ky is not even a "descent" team. He said how about a goal of hitting 10/12 three's instead of a goal of shooting 30.
I don't know what's going with the Cats, but Pope does and he better get a grip on this team. If he doesn't, he might as well quit because he won't be able to get a player worth a crap. Talented players don't want to play with a bunch of scrubs.
Who would have ever guessed that after whooping Purdue as convincingly as we did that 2 losses later the team and Pope would be on "life support" in both play and recruiting.
Mo-D is "injured" and will sit out tonight. What is really going on behind the scenes? Last year we lose both of our PGs and Kriisas injury I do believe now was to retain his last year of eligibility. It's fishy how he played exactly just enough games to redshirt. The exact number. Lowe has the same exact injury that Butler had last year. It's like these players come in with excuses for why they don't play good is because of a injury. Im starting to get tired of this and supporting all this. When John Calapari was here I thought our players were soft. They are know where near as soft as Popes players. They were tougher than Popes players and most of them were freshman. I've never seen so many Injuries in basketball. I'm going to go ahead and call it. Watch this come to fruition. Garrison will be the next wildcat hurt. Remember me saying this it's almost like you can call it. Whoever is playing bad is always "hurt". Pope is very smart but he dont understand toughness. All his teams going back to before BYU are all considered soft. It doesn't take analytics or percentages to figure that out bub. You need to get tougher so the players play tougher. If someone doesn't pass the ball and throws up a shot everyone knows won't go in the basket take there ass out of the game. If someone isn't listening to his instructions take them out the game. It's not hard. He just has to be more tough. Coming from the Pitino tree this should be a given. Pitino expects perfection. That is how you have to coach
I'm sick of hearing how they love each other. I don't think they give a rats a"" about each other.
The Oakland A's used to have a fight amongst themselves every other week. They won league championships and World Series.
Well.. is their differences in monies being paid out ? I assume so. Is that a wedge factor? Only speculation on my part. On chemistry. You cant force people to sing Kumbaya. Here's why I think its not chemistry. Many many championship have been won by teams that didn't love each other up and down the line. Probably more that haven't than have. This team once it steps on the court does not play for each other. They gotta get theirs. I see a ton of selfishness. This could get really really bad.
If we lose one or both of these two upcoming cupcake games, that will be the death knell for this season. If you don't have the want to, all the talent in the world is useless. In addition to the want to, you better have some pride and hate to lose. We got bitchslapped by Louisville and Michigan State because they didn't have any of this. There is nothing more wasteful than selfish, unmotivated talent.
If the goal is to compete for national championship, this season is already done.
Pope needs to focus on winning basketball games that count and contending for championships. That is his job. Like others, I applauded Pope's hiring. However, 1 year and 5 games in, I am not impressed by his teams. Like Little Baron recounted, last season was defined by selfishness after the first few games. This team is plagued by selfishness.
I don't know if it is a fallout from all the money swirling around these players, or about differences in the amount that each one gets to call his own. I don't care about any of that stuff.
These are highly paid professional athletes. They are paid to win. If this were a real business, though, the owners would be changing personnel, starting with the head coach.
You may not care about the amount of money , that doesn't mean they don’t.
Well ladies and jets sports are pretty much over. Gambling in all sports has pretty much ruined everything. You have players fixing games behind the scenes. Or if there over under on the game is 13 points they are faking a injury and telling there buddy to place the bet for them. It's starting to happen more and more often. Pretty soon it will be the downfall of college athletics.
Probably pretty prevalent.
I agree with Terry Wren, the present condition and future of college sports is dubious at best.
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