1 hour ago, sportsfan41 said:

They finished last year ranked 211th in that category. I'd say they're trending in the right direction. 

Trending in right direction since they are in the 100s? So basically they flat out sucked Defensively last year, and now this year they are just bad on defense even though they have an older team with 3 defensive players of the year on it. I’m not sure how anything on defense can be considered trending in the right direction right now. 

2 hours ago, Randy Parker said:

I don't know what last year has to do with this year's team playing lousy defense.  

I'm pointing out that the defense is MUCH better under a first year head coach who had 3 months to create a team primarily out of the transport portal. A transfer portal that was already ran through for several weeks before the coach took over. A team that everyone was hoping could get to .500 W/L in June. But if you want to pout about defense not being good enough, have at it. 

1 hour ago, futurecoach said:

Trending in right direction since they are in the 100s? So basically they flat out sucked Defensively last year, and now this year they are just bad on defense even though they have an older team with 3 defensive players of the year on it. I’m not sure how anything on defense can be considered trending in the right direction right now. 

Not worth banging my head against the wall. This team, we were hoping to be a .500 team because the coaching changed happened at just about the worst time and UK retained ZERO recruits. Hell, they retained ZERO players period other than a walk on. How anyone can be mad about this teams play is beyond me right now. Just unbelievably naive and arrogant. 

1 hour ago, sportsfan41 said:

I'm pointing out that the defense is MUCH better under a first year head coach who had 3 months to create a team primarily out of the transport portal. A transfer portal that was already ran through for several weeks before the coach took over. A team that everyone was hoping could get to .500 W/L in June. But if you want to pout about defense not being good enough, have at it. 

How is it pouting to point out that this team struggles mightily on the defensive end?  That's the only point I have made.  We give up a ton of points.  Opponents are shooting 48% against us.  I made the exact same observations last year when there was no defense.  I don't know why highlighting this reality is so bothersome to some of you.

57 minutes ago, Randy Parker said:

How is it pouting to point out that this team struggles mightily on the defensive end?  That's the only point I have made.  We give up a ton of points.  Opponents are shooting 48% against us.  I made the exact same observations last year when there was no defense.  I don't know why highlighting this reality is so bothersome to some of you.

I'm a glass half full kinda guy and a realist. This team is exceeding all expectations. I don't see the point in putting them down. Sure there's work to be done but NO ONE, not a single "expert" imagined this team would have as good of a season as they are. Louisville and UK were in the same exact boat coming into this season, new coach ENTIRELYdifferent team. Yet folks act like their lack of defense is mind boggling.

For the hell of it. I'll just note a few teams in the top 50 of defensive efficiency, because that's how much that stat matters right now.

#13 VCU

#16 Georgetown

#21 Grand Canyon

#23 Vanderbilt

#24 UC Sandiego State

#27 Stephen F. Austin

#29 Arkansas

#31 LSU

#32 St Bonaventure

#33 South Alabama

#36 Wake Forest

#39 Liberty

#40 North Texas

#41 Lipscomb

#43 Oregon State

#44 BYU

#45 Texas Tech

#46 UC Irvine

#48 Texas Christian

#49 Mcneese State

#50 San Francisco 

Do you think any of those top 50 defenses beat UK? 

1 minute ago, sportsfan41 said:

I'm a glass half full kinda guy and a realist. This team is exceeding all expectations. I don't see the point in putting them down. Sure there's work to be done but NO ONE, not a single "expert" imagined this team would have as good of a season as they are. Louisville and UK were in the same exact boat coming into this season, new coach ENTIRELYdifferent team. Yet folks act like their lack of defense is mind boggling.

For the hell of it. I'll just note a few teams in the top 50 of defensive efficiency, because that's how much that stat matters right now.

#13 VCU

#16 Georgetown

#21 Grand Canyon

#23 Vanderbilt

#24 UC Sandiego State

#27 Stephen F. Austin

#29 Arkansas

#31 LSU

#32 St Bonaventure

#33 South Alabama

#36 Wake Forest

#39 Liberty

#40 North Texas

#41 Lipscomb

#43 Oregon State

#44 BYU

#45 Texas Tech

#46 UC Irvine

#48 Texas Christian

#49 Mcneese State

#50 San Francisco 

Do you think any of those top 50 defenses beat UK? 

Also, on a side note, 1 or 2 of those teams are expected to make the NCAA tournament this year, I left out the borderline teams for the most part from the Big 10, Big 12, and ACC. 

4 hours ago, sportsfan41 said:

I'm a glass half full kinda guy and a realist. This team is exceeding all expectations. I don't see the point in putting them down. Sure there's work to be done but NO ONE, not a single "expert" imagined this team would have as good of a season as they are. Louisville and UK were in the same exact boat coming into this season, new coach ENTIRELYdifferent team. Yet folks act like their lack of defense is mind boggling.

I get they were not thought of as a top team, but that had as much to do with UK landing its what, 3rd or 4th option as a coach? They started the season ranked 21st and had what most believed was a top 5 transfer portal recruiting class (Arkansas was 1, fwiw). This isn’t exactly the little engine that could. Yes, they’ve exceeded preseason ranking expectations and I’m bullish about their long term prospects, but at this point I would say they’re marginally better than UK was at this point last year. Definitely more depth, better vibes, and certainly have the experience, which is why I like their prospects.

1 minute ago, bugatti said:

I get they were not thought of as a top team, but that had as much to do with UK landing its what, 3rd or 4th option as a coach? They started the season ranked 21st and had what most believed was a top 5 transfer portal recruiting class (Arkansas was 1, fwiw). This isn’t exactly the little engine that could. Yes, they’ve exceeded preseason ranking expectations and I’m bullish about their long term prospects, but at this point I would say they’re marginally better than UK was at this point last year. Definitely more depth, better vibes, and certainly have the experience which is why I like their prospects.

This. They're not supposed to be better, not this year, next year or maybe the year after. Acknowledgement is one thing, expectations should be far apart right now. And I've already heard people saying, Pope can't teach defense. I think this program is trending in the right direction. Next year may be bad, it may be awful, but we will see how it plays out. 

I want Travis Perry to succeed, but unless he is knocking down shots, I’m not sure what he brings to the table. Kudos to Pope for giving him a chance, but against better foes he looks way overmatched.

23 minutes ago, bugatti said:

I want Travis Perry to succeed, but unless he is knocking down shots, I’m not sure what he brings to the table. Kudos to Pope for giving him a chance, but against better foes he looks way overmatched.

Did anyone with a basketball IQ expect otherwise?  Perry can pass and he can score, but he was made against half the athletes he sees in practice and the SEC,  no one thinks otherwise. 

Love the attitude this team has, love the changes made defensively against other teams, love the timeout usage, love scoring coming out of a timeout, love this coach and loving Ky basketball again!!! Program is in great shape and will only get better with time!

10 hours ago, sportsfan41 said:

Not worth banging my head against the wall. This team, we were hoping to be a .500 team because the coaching changed happened at just about the worst time and UK retained ZERO recruits. Hell, they retained ZERO players period other than a walk on. How anyone can be mad about this teams play is beyond me right now. Just unbelievably naive and arrogant. 

What? What fans were hoping for just a .500 type of season? Most people about a day or two later were very excited about the Pope hiring and they wouldn’t have been excited if they were thinking at best may be a .500 type of season.

As for talking about how it’s all new players and everything brought in. You would be 100 percent right if this was 10 years ago, UK would have been in a very bad spot with zero recruits and all players leaving. That simply isn't the case anymore with how things are set up. Rosters get completely flipped almost every year now because of the transfer portal. It was not like this was just a UK/Pope thing having to put a whole new team together. A lot of teams are having to do that now. Which on the flip side you are able to do easier because of the transfer portal. So I’m not sure where the hoping for a .500 season you mentioned came from, teams are very capable of completely flipping a roster with how things are. 
 

As for the teams play, I think everyone has loved watching this team so far. This team has shown they can probably play with and beat anyone because of how good they are offensively. This team has also shown they can lose to anyone and put themselves in bad spot getting down a lot, because when they have cold spells offensively the defense hasn’t been good enough to keep them close. So no one is really mad or complaining, just pointing out how they are bad defensively. If they do figure out the defensive end, then watch out they could be dominant then! 

23 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

What? What fans were hoping for just a .500 type of season? Most people about a day or two later were very excited about the Pope hiring and they wouldn’t have been excited if they were thinking at best may be a .500 type of season.

As for talking about how it’s all new players and everything brought in. You would be 100 percent right if this was 10 years ago, UK would have been in a very bad spot with zero recruits and all players leaving. That simply isn't the case anymore with how things are set up. Rosters get completely flipped almost every year now because of the transfer portal. It was not like this was just a UK/Pope thing having to put a whole new team together. A lot of teams are having to do that now. Which on the flip side you are able to do easier because of the transfer portal. So I’m not sure where the hoping for a .500 season you mentioned came from, teams are very capable of completely flipping a roster with how things are. 
 

As for the teams play, I think everyone has loved watching this team so far. This team has shown they can probably play with and beat anyone because of how good they are offensively. This team has also shown they can lose to anyone and put themselves in bad spot getting down a lot, because when they have cold spells offensively the defense hasn’t been good enough to keep them close. So no one is really mad or complaining, just pointing out how they are bad defensively. If they do figure out the defensive end, then watch out they could be dominant then! 

But Pope should get credit for completely flipping the roster and maintaining a top 10 team during the process, not all programs can say that.

1 hour ago, nikeman49 said:

But Pope should get credit for completely flipping the roster and maintaining a top 10 team during the process, not all programs can say that.

No doubt. He has done a great job. Literally the only negative things being said is the defense has been bad, which is has. Which the defense is the one thing that could possibly prevent them from possibly going on a run. The defense is why they have had a good amount of games this year where they end up down double digits. Basically this team can’t afford to have cold spells on offense, because the defense doesn’t get many stops unless they get a steal. Literally defense is the only negative thing that can be said about Pope so far. Which is why I know I even say if they can get the defense even halfway better, this team could be dominant. 

16 hours ago, sportsfan41 said:

Do you think any of those top 50 defenses beat UK?

We will see in the next 2 weeks as the Cats play the #23 and #29 ranked defensive teams.