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Sporting News columnist Mike DeCourcy admits he was shocked when Kentucky coach Mark Pope was so hard on himself and his team after an early season loss to Michigan State when the Cats did not play well.
“I thought maybe he would just say something about this is not who we want to be or are going to be and the next time you see us we will be better or something like that,” DeCourcy said.
Pope and his players have seemed discombobulated at times this season but DeCourcy, one of the nation’s most respected college basketball writers, has no doubts about Pope’s coaching ability.
“He just needs to be Mark Pope. I think he is a fantastic coach and good person and that combination is going to serve Kentucky well for a long time,” DeCourcy said. “What bothers me is the number of people who have this idea that he was never the right guy (for Kentucky), should not have been the coach and needs to move on.
“Last March he was this guy who did wonderful things and everybody in the state thought he was great and wonderful. Then suddenly in the offseason he got dumb and forgot how to coach. That is not logical thinking and now how life works. You can lose confidence, but you don’t lose intelligence.
“Kentucky fans just need to give him a chance. Even if the whole year does not work out, thinking no one (recruits) will want to come to Kentucky next year is not realistic.”
The national basketball columnist also doesn’t think Kentucky’s failures so far this season have been due to the team’s payroll.
“That’s too easy just to say that. I think it is more a fracturing of confidence. Confidence changes everything in sports but that is the least understood and least appreciated part of the game. Maybe Kentucky has not been making shots because the players’ confidence is broken,” DeCourcy said. “I don’t think players have stopped caring. I think some have just had a dip in confidence. The team’s confidence dipped when things did not start off well. You even see that happen at the professional level.
“I don’t know why anybody cares what they spent on the roster. We don’t know exactly what they make. The roster is what it is. What they spent is immaterial now. It’s just an easy weapon to use against them and that bothers me way more about the criticism of this team than anything else.”
Kentucky is 9-4 and coming off wins over Indiana, St. John’s and Bellarmine going into Saturday’s SEC opener at Alabama.
9 Responses
Coach Pope & his new staff quickly built a REAL TEAM last season and the players bought in and showed how fluid and powerful UK was in the exhib game & the first 5 to 7 regular season games.. Then the great success of the TEAM no longer interested SOME of the players who were getting a lot of minute & thought they should be the star. That fracture caused by SOME selfish olayers led to the crumbling of a powerful TEAM causing it to become mediocre for the rest of the season & finished 13-11, barely better than 0.500. The run to the S16 was nice but the fracture remained and it stopped there.
This seqson most of the olayera only bought in to the Coach Pope system for ONE GAME – the exhibition win over Purdue. Then, sadly, SOME players immediately decided to be the star of this TEAM which beat #1 Purdue.
Just look at the start of two seasons and it’s obvious there are SOME playera who are SELFISH and their A:TO ratio compared to how many shots they take is one way to identify them! Add the scum style life that SOME players resorted to by carousing late at night before 2 big road games (LOSSES!) and toss in the bickering of those who bring their immoral life style of sleeping with women, and the UK locker room becomes a real mess! It won’t just clean up until those who stayed out late and those who are fighting because of some woman without a moral compass are sent packing.
Good ole boys from the state of KY will play FOR UK every game if recruited and given the minutes in games. The portal has brought in mediocre players who think they are stars – not a good combination.
Why don’t the players look for Noah, Chandler & Williams since they are genuine 3-point shooters! That is not a REAM when the best shooters are neglected by others. Pass the ball !!! Or get benched – come on Pope; get tough!
Coach Pope has the chance to set the record straight on that now that we are into the SEC segment of our schedule.
Does Pope have pix?
It be interesting to see how we will fare the SEC schedule. I don't think it's not as strong as it was last year.
We will be fine. Not having two starters all year has killed us. Not only two starters but two of the best players on the team. This team is very deep but has two guys redshirting and two stars of the team out. That left us with 10 guys. 10 mostly role players. I would even argue that Oweh is a great role player and nothing more. When he plays as a role player it makes the whole team better. He should be chasing triple doubles instead of trying to score 20 ppg. If he would get his game were he gets damn near a triple double every game that is what gets his drafted. Not averaging 16-18 ppg with 2 rebounds and 1 assist. His stat line should be 13-14 ppg 6-7 rpg 3-4apg 2-3 steals per game. Improving on everything but scoring he can actually take his game to another level. Pope needs to explain this to him. Get everyone involved and your game will come. I like Oweh and what made me love him wasn't scoring 24 points it was effort. He gave the most effort on last year's team. One player that I'm extremely high on that nobody else talks about is Mo-D. The last 2-3 games he's played excellent. Grabbing rebounds playing physical and he's the best scorer around the basket on the team. Pope needs to tell him that's where his bread and butter is under the basket. Williams has been on fire from 3. Chandler has cooled off since the start of the season. Noah has been getting less and less playing time. Which would habe happened all year if we would have had JQ and Lowe healthy. I would start Lowe/Oweh/Mo-D/JQ/Moreno if Lowe is healthy. I know JQ wants to play the 4 and Mo-D wants to play the 3. We would have one of the best starting 5s in college basketball. With the deepest bench in college basketball. We are about to see a totally different team during conference play. I think we win the SEC regular season. I think Arkansas come in second with Alabama and Florida and Vanderbilt trailing behind. Vanderbilt might be the most complete program in the SEC. In both football and basketball right now.
Duske now has 3 of the Top 17 players for 26 and rated with #1 class. UK still running O-fer.
Kentucky won't sign a single top recruit until it proves that it is relevant again.
What is going on with Mark Pope? I just read an article where he had JQ play at the 4 spot all practice long. Dioubate and Jelavic are the better fits for the 4 spot with JQ playing the 5 with Moreno and Garrison. If anything, Garrison could split time between the 4 and 5 spots. If anything, Pope should state that whichever guard can get the ball to the bigs in the post will be the point guard. We will need to face guard Bama's guards to keep them from getting hot from the arc, but that will require rim protection as well. We have no excuse for not controlling the paint, cleaning the glass, and protecting the rim with the bigs that we have. Has Pope forgotten how to coach? Oh, I almost forgot…Rah Rah Rah!!! Go Kentucky!!!
Pope said he is still not worried about recruiting….might be the only one.
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