19 hours ago, futurecoach said:

Your comment would hold more weight if Pope was actually deciding to play them, instead of basically forced to play them due to injury. If it wasn’t for injuries this year, neither of them was really going to see meaningful minutes once UK got to conference play. So let’s not act like Pope was playing them by choice, as much as basically having to play them. 
 

Which it is awesome seeing Noah and Perry take advantage of the opportunity and make big time plays when given the chance. Which I think Perry will look even better in future years, when he isn’t be forced to play the pg spot due to injuries. He would be a real threat playing off the ball, even though defense probably will always been an issue for him. Noah right now does all the little things well and shoots it well too. It’s been fun to watch, and definitely have earned the right to keep getting minutes now even if we eventually get fully healthy. 

Weren’t Perry and Noah both getting minutes from the beginning of the season with all healthy? Pretty sure they were and Pope saw the potential early on and began to increase the number of minutes for both, but injuries has definitely increased their minutes but Pope should get credit for the improvement of both players by actually giving them an opportunity. And the previous coach definitely would not have afforded the opportunity.

Just now, 16thBBall Fan said:

My point is UK and UL both started at basically the same point this year, the last few years of BOTH programs really have NOTHING to do with what is happening this year

Yes it does matter. While things may have gotten stale at UK with Cal, UK still wasn't looked at like a lost cause that has been doing horrible. They simply were underachieving once in the tournament. There were some that had no idea if a coach could get the UL program going again, and if so no one thought it would be within the first year. Pope has been great at UK, but in regards to coach of the year at least between them two, what Kelsey has done at UL in year 1 is even more impressive. Which I think the only ones that may try to say Pope has been more impressive is some UK fans. Hence, why everyone else's rankings have Kelsey ahead of Pope in that regard. 

For Pope if UK makes the tournament and ends up out the first weekend again, then he literally didn't do any better than the last coach has done the last few years. So for Pope can't really judge how much better he is doing until the tournament comes and hopefully making a run. While Kelsey on the other hand, unless UL completely flops the rest of this year and misses the tournament. He would have gotten the team to somewhere they haven't been at in a few years. 

1 minute ago, nikeman49 said:

Weren’t Perry and Noah both getting minutes from the beginning of the season with all healthy? Pretty sure they were and Pope saw the potential early on and began to increase the number of minutes for both, but injuries has definitely increased their minutes but Pope should get credit for the improvement of both players by actually giving them an opportunity. And the previous coach definitely would not have afforded the opportunity.

Noah has played in 12 total games this year. In 5 of those 12 games he played 4 minutes or less. Once UK got to conference play, Noah didn't get in a game from 12/31 until 1/25 until injuries started to happen. With Noah, Pope made it pretty clear once conference play started that Noah wasn't going to play at all until injuries forced him to play him. 

Travis Perry was averaging just 4 minutes a game up through the Gonzaga game when Kerr went out with injury. Up to that point Perry was only put in for those few minutes against the lesser non conference teams. Pope didn't play him in the games against Duke or Clemson. If Kerr never got hurt, and the other injuries didn't start to happen. It was pretty clear based on how Pope wasn't using Perry against better teams, that Perry also would have not been used anymore come conference time. Just like Noah wasn't used the first few weeks on conference play until more injuries happened. 

It is great that both have taken advantage of getting these minutes, and now they have shown they deserve to be getting those minutes. However, if it was not for injuries Noah and Perry probably would not be getting this chance as Pope was basically forced to use them, and luckily now they have taken advantage of it. 

2 hours ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

Completely fail to see why that is irrelevant, seems very relevant to me!

You can't see how A.) One game is irrelevant in the COY discussion and B.) It's irrelevant when discussing the amount of injuries each team has had?

3 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

You can't see how A.) One game is irrelevant in the COY discussion and B.) It's irrelevant when discussing the amount of injuries each team has had?

Never said injuries were irrelevant, better go back and read

hiw can you say UL has dealt with injuries to more KEY players than UK?

2 hours ago, futurecoach said:

Yes it does matter. While things may have gotten stale at UK with Cal, UK still wasn't looked at like a lost cause that has been doing horrible. They simply were underachieving once in the tournament. There were some that had no idea if a coach could get the UL program going again, and if so no one thought it would be within the first year. Pope has been great at UK, but in regards to coach of the year at least between them two, what Kelsey has done at UL in year 1 is even more impressive. Which I think the only ones that may try to say Pope has been more impressive is some UK fans. Hence, why everyone else's rankings have Kelsey ahead of Pope in that regard. 

For Pope if UK makes the tournament and ends up out the first weekend again, then he literally didn't do any better than the last coach has done the last few years. So for Pope can't really judge how much better he is doing until the tournament comes and hopefully making a run. While Kelsey on the other hand, unless UL completely flops the rest of this year and misses the tournament. He would have gotten the team to somewhere they haven't been at in a few years. 

Again, Kelsey started out on the same floor as Pope, building a roster, the last 2 years didn’t help Pope 1 bit in what he’s accomplished this year 

16 minutes ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

hiw can you say UL has dealt with injuries to more KEY players than UK?

Do you even know the extent of the injuries UofL has had?

And I didn't say you said injuries were irrelevant. Pointing out that Louisville lost to Tennessee is irrelevant when talking about the injuries both teams have had. 

1 hour ago, TheDeuce said:

Do you even know the extent of the injuries UofL has had?

And I didn't say you said injuries were irrelevant. Pointing out that Louisville lost to Tennessee is irrelevant when talking about the injuries both teams have had. 

2 separate points, injuries and UL getting blown out at home by Tenn, but both are relevant and true

why don’t you list the KEY injuries UL has had

21 minutes ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

2 separate points, injuries and UL getting blown out at home by Tenn, but both are relevant and true

why don’t you list the KEY injuries UL has had

Since you obviously didn't know when you made your original statement, here is the list from another thread...

On 2/11/2025 at 11:12 PM, TheDeuce said:

Starting PF has been out for the year since November. Torn ACL.

Backup PG out for the year since November. Shoulder surgery. 

Another in the top six rotation was out for 10+ games with a broken arm, back now. 

Starting four man missed 5 games with a broken thumb, back last game. 

Starting Center left last game after having two teeth knocked out, should be back soon. 

Starting PG (and best player) currently out with a groin. Listed as day to day. 

 

37 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

Since you obviously didn't know when you made your original statement, here is the list from another thread...

 

Starting PG - missed 5 games and part of another and looks like he’s gonna miss more

Backup PG - has missed 15 straight games and maybe rest of year which made KY play 4 games without starting AND backup point guard both

starting 4 missed 1 game and was only able to play a TOTAL of 67 minutes in 5 others including 1 minute @ Tenn because of back problems 

starting 2 guard missed last Tenn games and looks like he’s gonna miss several more

backuo center out 1 game

Looks to me like both teams have been hit pretty hard

Ky has 8 quad 1 wins, UL has 4

2 minutes ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

Starting PG - missed 5 games and part of another and looks like he’s gonna miss more

Backup PG - has missed 15 straight games and maybe rest of year which made KY play 4 games without starting AND backup point guard both

starting 4 missed 1 game and was only able to play a TOTAL of 67 minutes in 5 others including 1 minute @ Tenn because of back problems 

starting 2 guard missed last Tenn games and looks like he’s gonna miss several more

backuo center out 1 game

Looks to me like both teams have been hit pretty hard

Both teams have had injuries, absolutely. 

One has dealt with significantly more. It seems pretty obvious, if I'm being honest. 

2 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

Both teams have had injuries, absolutely. 

One has dealt with significantly more. It seems pretty obvious, if I'm being honest. 

We’ll just agree to disagree on that 

18 minutes ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

We’ll just agree to disagree on that 

Fair enough!

3 hours ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

Again, Kelsey started out on the same floor as Pope, building a roster, the last 2 years didn’t help Pope 1 bit in what he’s accomplished this year 

Which once again none of that matters, as UK wasn't in as bad of shape as UL. Kelsey has UL on the verge of competing for a conference title (in a weak conference) but still better that what they have done, and also making the tournament. Pope on the other hand has some very good wins, and some head scratching losses. At the end of the day besides bringing some more excitement on the court, UK isn't much different in the regular season under Pope than they were under Cal. So literally Pope has done nothing yet to show he has elevated the program as a coach, especially if he doesn't get past the first weekend. If he doesn't do that, then it still exactly the same as it has been the last few years. While Kelsey has UL actually has the UL program in a ten times better spot than what he took over. As I said the only ones really that would have Pope ahead of Kelsey in regards to coach of the year is basically some UK fans. 

15 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

Which once again none of that matters, as UK wasn't in as bad of shape as UL. Kelsey has UL on the verge of competing for a conference title (in a weak conference) but still better that what they have done, and also making the tournament. Pope on the other hand has some very good wins, and some head scratching losses. At the end of the day besides bringing some more excitement on the court, UK isn't much different in the regular season under Pope than they were under Cal. So literally Pope has done nothing yet to show he has elevated the program as a coach, especially if he doesn't get past the first weekend. If he doesn't do that, then it still exactly the same as it has been the last few years. While Kelsey has UL actually has the UL program in a ten times better spot than what he took over. As I said the only ones really that would have Pope ahead of Kelsey in regards to coach of the year is basically some UK fans. 

Saying that UK and UofL were on the same footing would have to mean that UofL's reputation wasn't tarnished by the two (and even three) previous years. Everyone knows that isn't true.