Kentucky Basketball

cjb5656

cjb5656

Well-known member
It will be interesting to see how Pope does at UK, especially his recruiting philosophy. Will he load up on the one and dones like Cal did, or will he try to build longer term roster…to the extent that can be done today with the portal and NIL?

The amount of NBA talent, high level talent, Cal had at UK is staggering. Yet he never got the expected results. I’m surprised he lasted as long as he did, but there is little doubt he has an eye for talent.
 
 
I think they are in the midst of some enormous philosophical changes between recruiting and style of play.

Recruiting I imagine you're going to see more of a blended approach, but the type of high-end blue chip players they'll chase is going to change dramatically from ball dominant/iso scorers to motion offense off-ball movement guys that can shoot it. Fewer top-25 type players with more top 50-75 multi-year guys and regularly raiding the portal for mid-major guys that can really shoot.
 
In the exhibition last night, UK put up 123 points and hit 50% from 3. It was an offense I had not seen at UK since Pitino was there. 34 assists on the night, very crisp passes and they shoot the ball quick. It's only an exhibition but I'm excited about this season. Mark Pope continues to do and say the right things.
 
I have been a die-hard UK basketball and Ohio St football fan as a birthright. My dad was the same, as was his dad. There are a ton of those dual-school fans in southern Ohio and northern Ky. Truth be told, I think we simply like to be winners through the football and basketball seasons. Lol. But growing up, the local TV and radio stations only covered UK hoops and Ohio St football.

I was angry the last 5 years of Cal's tenure. The talent was always alluring and exciting, but he was playing little boys against men, and when it comes to SEC reg season, SEC tourney, and NCAA championships, grown-arse men win those. But more infuriating was Cal making the program about the players and hanging banners was secondary, maybe tertiary. I couldn't even keep track of who was on the team because they came to UK for a 6 month NBA prep camp and then left for the draft.

What I love about Mark Pope is that he is going to give me a UK team that is playing for UK more than themselves.

He has put together an eclectic group. It's about 25% BYU, 60% other transfers, and a couple of Ky prep stars. How quickly they come together and can play together will determine how well they do this year. They are more talented than many people think.

But they will defend and play an exciting style of basketball. That style allows teams to look great when they can execute well on both ends, but it also allows you to lose by 40 when you aren't executing. Regardless, I'm looking forward to having a real team of Wildcats playing for the University of Kentucky - for the first time in a long time.

I only ask one thing of Coach Pope: beat the living brown out of Arkansas.
 
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IVCguy said:
I have been a die-hard UK basketball and Ohio St football fan as a birthright. My dad was the same, as was his dad. There are a ton of those dual-school fans in southern Ohio and northern Ky. Truth be told, I think we simply like to be winners through the football and basketball seasons. Lol. But growing up, the local TV and radio stations only covered UK hoops and Ohio St football.

I was angry the last 5 years of Cal's tenure. The talent was always alluring and exciting, but he was playing little boys against men, and when it comes to SEC reg season, SEC tourney, and NCAA championships, grown-arse men win those. But more infuriating was Cal making the program about the players and hanging banners was secondary, maybe tertiary. I couldn't even keep track of who was on the team because they came to UK for a 6 month NBA prep camp and then left for the draft.

What I love about Mark Pope is that he is going to give me a UK team that is playing for UK more than themselves.

He has put together an eclectic group. It's about 25% BYU, 60% other transfers, and a couple of Ky prep stars. How quickly they come together and can play together will determine how well they do this year. They are more talented than many people think.

But they will defend and play an exciting style of basketball. That style allows teams to look great when they can execute well on both ends, but it also allows you to lose by 40 when you aren't executing. Regardless, I'm looking forward to having a real team of Wildcats playing for the University of Kentucky - for the first time in a long time.

I only ask one thing of Coach Pope: beat the living brown out of Arkansas.
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I was the same way. Growing up here in Cincinnati, UC was awful, just terrible. The Tony Yates era in the 80's prior to Huggins was just abysmal. My older brother had followed UK hoops so I naturally gravitated toward the teams he liked, looking up to him the way I did. I became a big fan during the Sutton sanctioned days. Not sure how, I was just drawn to the aura of UK basketball, even during their darkest days. I quickly became a student of the program and read up on all the success of the previous years. Once Pitino was hired, I remembered him as the Providence coach who went to the final 4 and knew they hired the right guy to turn the program around. It was especially etched in my memory because Providence kept me from nailing all final 4 teams that year in 1987.
 
When UK basketball is good... the college game overall is better. The same could be said for all of the blue bloods.

I just hope that the UK fans give him a chance to build a program over the next few years. We are an instant gratification society right now though.
 
Did Kentucky upgrade their on the court product? 👀 Cal always brought in high high level talent but this is some great team basketball being played.
 
Gutsy win. A different kind of basketball is being played in Lexington this year. Team ball, unselfish ball. So far, UK has assisted on 69% of their made shots. A far cry from the iso game we are used to from guys acting like they were still on the AAU circuit. Defense was the difference last night. They stopped turning the ball over in the 2nd half and forced some of their own. Signature win for UK.
 
Kentucky adjusted in the second half and let Duke shoot outside with little pressure. Kept them from getting destroyed inside like the first half. Flagg made so many awesome shots at the end I thought it just wasn’t going to happen for UK but they kept chipping away. A Caliapri coached team would’ve lost by 10 or more bc he would’ve had iso ball like Duke did with Flagg at the end. The young man carried his team the whole game. Scheyer has to get him a screen or coming off a screen instead of one on one at the end.
 
JackEd said:
Kentucky adjusted in the second half and let Duke shoot outside with little pressure. Kept them from getting destroyed inside like the first half. Flagg made so many awesome shots at the end I thought it just wasn’t going to happen for UK but they kept chipping away. A Caliapri coached team would’ve lost by 10 or more bc he would’ve had iso ball like Duke did with Flagg at the end. The young man carried his team the whole game. Scheyer has to get him a screen or coming off a screen instead of one on one at the end.
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Calipari would also have much more talent on the floor than what they had out there the other night.
 
Yes he would’ve but he would’ve lost that game also. Us Kentucky fans want to win these types of games. We don’t care about how many UK guys are in the NBA. Kentucky had only won one championship classic game since 2015.
 
Schedule, save Duke, has been soft thus far. Begins to kick it up a couple notches with Clemson in the SEC/ACC challenge and Gonzaga this week followed by an improved Louisville squad and Ohio State over the next couple weeks with a couple cupcakes sandwiched in between before the grind of the SEC schedule starts. Biggest challenge for Pope is keeping these guys grounded. Touch to do when they average almost 100 ppg and have made things look real easy so far. Last week they didn't seem to have the focus with so-so shooting and turnover issues. Curious to see how they look tonight in a true road game environment.
 
Will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow with the PG position. Is Butler healthy enough to go or do you rest him in a game you should win, against Colgate, to make sure he is ready for the UL rivalry game on Saturday? I want to see if freshman, KY Mr. Basketball, Travis Perry will see more minutes or does Robinson work as the backup PG primarily?
 
OldSchoolDC said:
Will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow with the PG position. Is Butler healthy enough to go or do you rest him in a game you should win, against Colgate, to make sure he is ready for the UL rivalry game on Saturday? I want to see if freshman, KY Mr. Basketball, Travis Perry will see more minutes or does Robinson work as the backup PG primarily?
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Recently ohio state owns kentucky.
 
Spartacus1987 said:
Ohio State owns Kentucky in the NCAA tournament and as of recent
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I wish I could agree, but I watched a heavily favored veteran Thad team, that should’ve won it all, lose to a very young UK team in the Sweet 16. That loss still stings. Boy, looking back the Thad years were a lot of fun. Big Ten championships, Sweet 16s, Elite 8s, Final 4s, championship games. I just wish Thad got a natty one of those years.
 
cjb5656 said:
I wish I could agree, but I watched a heavily favored veteran Thad team, that should’ve won it all, lose to a very young UK team in the Sweet 16. That loss still stings. Boy, looking back the Thad years were a lot of fun. Big Ten championships, Sweet 16s, Elite 8s, Final 4s, championship games. I just wish Thad got a natty one of those years.
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Right but that's the only loss OSU has had against them in the tournament. I believe we are 5-1 against the blue cats.

Thad didn't win titles because he wasn't a good coach. Watch his teams, it was glorified street. He was a great man ( met him in person when he came to my school to recruit somebody, got his autograph and spoke about living in Ohio, a moment I will never forget) the players played ultra hard for him, he recruited the best in OSU history (was an elite recruiter) but he couldn't coach to save his life. Always showed up against the big time teams in the tournament
 
Spartacus1987 said:
Right but that's the only loss OSU has had against them in the tournament. I believe we are 5-1 against the blue cats.

Thad didn't win titles because he wasn't a good coach. Watch his teams, it was glorified street. He was a great man ( met him in person when he came to my school to recruit somebody, got his autograph and spoke about living in Ohio, a moment I will never forget) the players played ultra hard for him, he recruited the best in OSU history (was an elite recruiter) but he couldn't coach to save his life. Always showed up against the big time teams in the tournament
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There was one aspect of strategy Thad might have been the best. He was killer on set out of bounds throw-in plays, especially under the basket. The Buckeyes were money every time.
 
Spartacus1987 said:
Ohio State owns Kentucky in the NCAA tournament and as of recent
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By the record this is true. But they have only played twice in the modern era of the NCAA tournament. In 1987 and 2011 and split those games. OSU has owned the regular season matchups since 2015. This is one of those matchups that should be annual but for some reason they don't play except for Champions Classic or NCAA. Since 1980 they have played 9 times and the series is UK 5 OSU 4
 
OldSchoolDC said:
By the record this is true. But they have only played twice in the modern era of the NCAA tournament. In 1987 and 2011 and split those games. OSU has owned the regular season matchups since 2015. This is one of those matchups that should be annual but for some reason they don't play except for Champions Classic or NCAA. Since 1980 they have played 9 times and the series is UK 5 OSU 4
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I agree OSU and UK should do home and homes between the neutral site game every three years. Other schools that should make regular appearances on the Ohio State schedule are Notre Dame, Dayton, Cincinnati, Xavier, Louisville, Marquette, Pitt and West Virginia. Not all in the same season, of course, but in a rotation that gets them together every few years.
 
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