Cats Having Stubbornness, Reluctance To Buy Into System

22 Responses

1. Sounds more like "I have a problem and don't know how to solve it". Again, what has this staff and team been doing all along. Pope needs to start coaching and stop doing all this talking and trying to over analyze things. They looked fine up to Purdue.

2. Pope has failed to define roles for this team, therefore the kids are defining their role as they want it to be. He is also trying to play too many kids. He should name 5 starters and those guys should get 30+ minutes per game. That means the next 5 will only average 10 minutes give or take, of which they will not be happy with. But that leaves 2 who will only get mopup play. That is the game of basketball…there are 5 positions and one ball, period. Pope hand picked this team; he better get control of it. It's no wonder he has no 2026 signings. The dysfunction of this team is apparent to everyone and these high school hotshots are saying No Thanks. A basketball team needs a floor general, a couple of colonels, a major, a captain, a lieutenant, a sargeant, a corporal, and five privates. On this team, everyone wants to be the general or at least a colonel…that won't work. Pope needs to quit talking with the media so much and start laying down the law with this team. You play his way or you don't play. Pope had better understand that yes, the kids play the game, but the coach will be the one who faces the ire of a pissed off fanbase. If Pope wants to be here another year, he better get this year turned around and quick.

   1. Tend to agree with most of your comment.

3. Pope did good last year because he had 7 super seniors on the team. Guys who played college basketball for 5-6 years. It shows that we don't have the experience and leadership that we had at times last year. There were still a bunch of games last year were I said what the heck is pope doing? Let me say this very fast. When I was 12 years old I had a basketball goal that would lower to 7 feet. I would lower it and act like I was Kentucky playing different teams. I would dunk constantly. I went up for a dunk and my foot landed on the edge of the driveway bending all the way over and spraining my ankle so bad it swelled up where it was hard to take my shoe off. It was black and blue the next day. I was playing in the championship game the next day at PrP youth league which is pleasure ridge park in south Louisville off Dixie highway. Would you know It took me almost 30 mins just to put my shoes on I taped up my ankle in the most excruciating pain and still played in the championship game and could barley walk. I was the best player so I didn't want to let my teammates down. We lost because of my injury. But I say that to say this. They have the best medical staffs money can buy. Players are missing multiple weeks over a sprained ankle. I know time is what heals it but dang 4-5 games for a ankle sprang is what basketball has become. Our team is soft. There is always multiple players hurt at the same time how is this even possible it's basketball. Not football. Either Pope has them out of shape or he runs them to much or something ive never seen so many basketball players hurt. How do you not know when players are ready or almost ready. He said Lowe might play tonight. What does that even mean? He's ok he's not ok . If he can play and don't what does that even mean? The coach don't know if his own players are ready that's kinda scary. That tells me that JQ will probably not play for a long time. If he was real close to being ready like a game or 2 from being ready we would know about it. Will he be ready January first? What happened to September first he will be ready to practice full strength. I knew it was all lies. He's already more than 3 months past the date they set. If he does come here by SEC play how long will it take him to be all the way back? All that he's 17 or 18 he will heal fast is thrown out the window. I'm thinking this is almost the same as Shaedon Sharpe. He got paid to come here and basically have good doctors and practice and get ready for the draft. He might not play at all this year if his agent tells him not too. These agents are in every players ear telling them what to do. I know we paid more for JQ and Oweh then anyone else on the roster. I think we paid more for JQ. Someone who hasnt even played a game. We could have gotten 3 great point guards for the price of him. Pope isn't as smart as everyone makes him out to be. He might be book smart but he has no common sense whatsoever.

   1. I agree with everything Terry is saying! Pope is just not who we need. He wasn’t one of those players that didn’t need a coach. He was coaching in a weak league and no way is he a coach that will take us to #9. Did He not understand in the years he was here playing that awesome Point Guards are the Main Players. Where was he at when so many has came through Here that took us to all the wins?? He is Book smart but not Basketball Smart.

4. It's going to be ok.

   NashVegas love can heal wounds. Knock off the Zags and get right before the Hoosiers.

   1. Is Cats79 your father?

      1. Easy Barry!

      2. Hey, I can be optimistic too.

         1. Wildwest, they live in doom in a gloom life. Nothing wrong being optimistic and im with you.

            1. Now there is the 79 that we all know and love!

   2. It’s going to be OK, WildWest ?
      I think it’s possible, just based on the start of last season.

      A year ago Coach Pope & his staff instantly deployed a great TEAM 1st effort in which the players dished out excellent A:TO ratios & soundly beat some good teams , including Duke.

      THEN, SOME players who had earned a lot of minutes began to revert to their selfish shoot-first past. So, UK began to break down its dominant start the first 5 to 7 games and started losing nearly 1/2 their games. I think UK was 11-1 and then went 13-11 the rest of the way. All the accolades for Oweh for scoring a lot of points overlooked his poor 3-point shooting, very low assists and frequent TO’s. There was no TEAM in his play.

      This season the NIL rich players dished out excellent not listen and play the way Coach Pope & staff taught them for more than ONE game.

      Travis Perry was a rare KY native which a lot of VV fans wrote off and were glad to see him go. He just hit 4-7 (3-5) FG for Ole Miss, tying the game high 11 points in 23 minutes of play. That’s 60% from 3. That sure tops 1-13 which the current no-ties-to-Kentucky group of players with UK on their jerseys hit bs an average NC team.

      Those good ole KY natives can hit the 3 and always play TEAM 1st ball,’including Noah who for some reason seldom gets to touch the ball at the offensive end of the floor. Just a coincidence that these street ball style players don’t share the ball with the best 3 pt shooter of the entire group.

      Not sharing the ball is stage the start of any loss. SOME players need to ride the pine if they refuse to pass to Noah (and also Chandler, who usually hits the 3 very well).

      1-13 from 3
      8:9 A:TO ratio

      And even with such pathetic play, UK was tied with an average NC team in the final minute.

      Yes, beat the Zags & it will help turn the tide a bit. Share the ball and let Noah &
      Chandler shoot 3’s behind good screens and UK can win a lot of games.

      Rebounding? Just caring about the UK on their jersey and playing as hard as they were used to playing street ball before it became a routine to play it inside buildings. Work hard & rebounds will find you!

      1. Perry is averaging 4.1pts, 1.6 rbs, 1.3 ast, shooting 25.6% at 15.3 mins per game.

         1. Get a life. See a therapist and quit stalking my posts!!! So, you hate players from the great state of KY. Maybe childhood issues, maybe a reject when in school, so many things could be addressed if you sought professional help. I’ve been told that some folks who harass someone could get help if they would just seek it. Some who had stalkers were finally able to convince them to get help & it worked.

5. Heading to Nashville in the a.m… love to see a victory

   1. May the Lord grant you safe travels and may key players actually SHARE the ball so Noah & Chandler get good views for making 3’s. Having the heart to rebound is also needed and then you can watch the Cars turn the corner

      1. Amen!

   2. The CATS also need to turn the corner and pick up a WIN!

   3. Get down there and get us a W Grant.

      1. Well… I went hook line and sinker after Purdue game.. I'm a little less excited currently.. But on the bright side one of my 2 boys are going so thats always a plus.

   4. Some of these comments are delusional, if you can't put up with bad, ugly with the good your blood is not blue. Im hoping once we get JQ, Lowe and mo on the floor this team will be different, but my concern is the chemistry its not there as of now. Be patient folks. It's still early in the season.

      1. I wish you would give me a pair of your rose colored glasses for Christmas. JQ is not going to play this season; he has already been assured of being a top 10 pick if he doesn't get hurt again…so he won't take that chance. Lowe is a liability on defense and reverts back to playing hero ball when things get tough. This team still has the personnel to turn things around without those 2…even without Dioubate. Pope is supposed to be a pretty smart guy. If he will pay attention to the analytics, he will know who to play and at which positions. He needs to stop trying to keep everybody happy and focus on winning games. Johnson, Chandler, Oweh, Jelavic, and Moreno are the best starting 5. Aberdeen, Noah, Williams, and Garrison are more than capable as backups if they will accept that role. Dioubate could help if he will accept a bench role and stop shooting 3s. The rest will either go pro or transfer and that's ok. Pope can win with that group of 9 if they all accept their roles. There will be no problem from Noah and Williams. Aberdeen will be pissed but will get over it and I can't read Garrison just yet. He needs to accept that he is not NBA material and use this season and the next to see if he can develop into such. Dioubate should do the same.

         Oweh is the only pro in that group and Noah will take his place in the 2026/27 season. Aberdeen and Dioubate will hit the portal again with Garrison being a question mark. Hawthorne and Potter will join the 26/27 team. The starting 5 for that team is set. Any recruit from high school or the portal will need to understand that. Their time to shine will come in the 27/28 season. If Pope had defined those roles for this season, we would not be 5-3…I dare say we would have been 7-1 with the loss coming from Michigan State…we never were in that game from the jump.

         We need to win the next 10 games to become relevant again and be poised to make a run at an SEC title. That would include road wins at Bama and Tennessee and give us a 5-0 start in SEC play. That would erase the damage that has been done to our seeding and give us the confidence to take on the SEC gauntlet…Bama and Tennessee are not the toughest teams. If we win the SEC regular season and the SEC tourney, we could still end up with a 2 seed in the Dance which would give us a decent shot at a regional final if not a Final 4. Listen to me…I already sound like I have received those glasses from 79, LOL!

Comments are closed.