1 hour ago, TheDeuce said:

I’m not gonna lie. This is one of the more corny things I've ever seen and that says a lot when considering BBN shenanigans over the years. ?

Scoreboard!!!

23 hours ago, nikeman49 said:

Kelsey cried on every call from start to finish, watching the game live the outcome was never in doubt from start to finish, Kelsey kept crying and Ville was getting 70% of the whistles, but he just couldn’t stop begging!!

I was in attendance as well. The complaining was not bad until the end of the game, just as every other losing coach does. "70% of the whistles" is insane. I thought it was a very evenly officiated game the whistle going each team's way a few times on a couple of bad calls.

However, it did feel like this game was over from the jump. I was sitting beside two guys and we talked about this throughout the game. It felt like it should have been a 15-20 points game all night. It would jump out to 10-12 and Louisville would make just enough shots to keep it somewhat close. Overall, great game with a phenomenal atmosphere. 

The rivalry felt almost back to what it was when these two teams hated each other (and both teams had a chance to win). Looking forward to the many Pope and PK matchups in the future!

15 minutes ago, Adrian Woj Burner said:

I was in attendance as well. The complaining was not bad until the end of the game, just as every other losing coach does. "70% of the whistles" is insane. I thought it was a very evenly officiated game the whistle going each team's way a few times on a couple of bad calls.

However, it did feel like this game was over from the jump. I was sitting beside two guys and we talked about this throughout the game. It felt like it should have been a 15-20 points game all night. It would jump out to 10-12 and Louisville would make just enough shots to keep it somewhat close. Overall, great game with a phenomenal atmosphere. 

The rivalry felt almost back to what it was when these two teams hated each other (and both teams had a chance to win). Looking forward to the many Pope and PK matchups in the future!

Completely agree with your assessment. It was going to take darn near a miracle for Louisville to win with the depleted roster, but they did well to fight off what seemed to be an inevitable blow out at times. 

Looking forward to the rivalry being competitive again. 

It’s ok buddy. You have a year to recover before it happens again.

7 hours ago, Adrian Woj Burner said:

I was in attendance as well. The complaining was not bad until the end of the game, just as every other losing coach does. "70% of the whistles" is insane. I thought it was a very evenly officiated game the whistle going each team's way a few times on a couple of bad calls.

However, it did feel like this game was over from the jump. I was sitting beside two guys and we talked about this throughout the game. It felt like it should have been a 15-20 points game all night. It would jump out to 10-12 and Louisville would make just enough shots to keep it somewhat close. Overall, great game with a phenomenal atmosphere. 

The rivalry felt almost back to what it was when these two teams hated each other (and both teams had a chance to win). Looking forward to the many Pope and PK matchups in the future!

We must have watched two different games because Kelsey reacted to every whistle and Lville definitely got 70%!

I'm not saying Kelsey is the next coming of John Wooden, but it is amazing the level of improvement this UL team is compared to the prior two years. They at least resemble a basketball team with a game plan and look organized.

3 hours ago, bugatti said:

I'm not saying Kelsey is the next coming of John Wooden, but it is amazing the level of improvement this UL team is compared to the prior two years. They at least resemble a basketball team with a game plan and look organized.

I’ve not coached above the 1st grade level and I could look like an improvement over the last 2 years for UL. 

Nowhere to go but up when you’ve won 8 or 10 games over the last couple of seasons…

 

4 hours ago, nikeman49 said:

We must have watched two different games because Kelsey reacted to every whistle and Lville definitely got 70%!

20 fouls called on UL

18 fouls called on UK

If Kelsey reacted to every whistle, it most likely is something he learned watching Bob Huggins as he was growing up in Cincinnati. No one whined about refs more than Huggins.

8 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

20 fouls called on UL

18 fouls called on UK

If Kelsey reacted to every whistle, it most likely is something he learned watching Bob Huggins as he was growing up in Cincinnati. No one whined about refs more than Huggins.

Would agree with that.

Great win for Kentucky! Louisville may have had a couple players missing but when a team comes in with the firepower they did, and the program is clearly re-energized this season, this is a big win.. While Kentucky has had some discontent especially over the last couple of seasons, but during those last two seasons combined Kentucky had seven more wins than Louisville has in its past four seasons combined. Coach Kelsey has reignited the fan base and brought back a lot of determination to the point where many Louisville fans looked forward to competing against, if not hoping to pull out the win against Kentucky. The program has a lot to be proud of with how they have come in such a short time. Numerically, it may be a 6-4 team coming in but I think it was a nice win for Kentucky for the reasons mentioned above.

Pope has brought a lot of energy to the position at UK and it's his style of ball that is the perfect fit for UK and the fan base. They want a team that shoots a lot of threes, that runs the court and brings the excitement the fans had in the 1990's. This team has already scored 100+ four times this season - something that (not counting last year's high scoring team which did it six times) was only done four times between 2017 and 2023. The base loves the high scoring, run and gun type offense and it's truly amazing, the job Coach Pope has done with this team. This man had 206 days between April 12 and his first game in November 4 - during that time he practically had to construct an entirely new team, then get all these guys assimilated. Change always happens under a new coach, but you think back to Tubby Smith who had some players returning from the 96 and 97 teams his first season, then Billy Gillispie had some of Tubby's players like Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford returning to bring stability with prized recruit Patrick Patterson deciding to keep his commitment to UK while John Calipari had players like Patrick Patterson, Darius Miller, and DeAndre Liggins returning from Gillispie's squad which helped with stability. Mark Pope had to go out and get an entirely new team. They start out with a big momentum booster with the Duke win on a comeback and would go on to make another big comeback on the road, down 16 at halftime against Gonzaga. That is toughness. Then they pull out a win at home against a gritty Louisville team. UK is leading the country in scoring and have moved up 141 spots compared to last season in points allowed per game. It will be so exciting watching these guys continue to grow.

Looking forward to plenty of exciting games between these two schools in the future. Coach Pope, if you haven't met him and attend a game I encourage you to go down and do so when he sets up afterward for the meet and greets. I have not had the chance to do so but did meet him this summer and it was a memorable experience. He definitely has a gift with people. Coach Kelsey is also pleasant. I only have one time around him, at that same event, but was around him for a long time compared to Coach Pope. He has a laid back, warm personality although many are used to seeing his upbeat, fiery personality he brings to the court. Both great coaches and hopefully this will reignite what is one of college basketball's elite rivalries.

15 years ago Mark Pope quit medical school in order to start coaching.
 

A caller calls into Mark Pope’s call-in show last night and says he’s been thinking about all that he’s thankful for this year, and says, “I’m super thankful you didn’t become a doctor.”
 

Pope: “There’s a lot of patients around America that are saying the same exact thing as you, my friend.”