10 hours ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

We were up by 5 at 69-64 with 3:36 to play and we gave up 18 points in the last 3:36. In that last 3:36 we gave up 5 offensive rebounds and had 4 turnovers.

I knew it was bad but not even close to this stat line. I forget what game but there was a lose ball and Brea didn’t even dive for it. I asked at that moment was he lazy. For a bunch of veteran guys they are so lazy in the final 5 minutes of most every game. There is no reason to not get boards on defense like they don’t. That comes with a mentality and I’m afraid it won’t change.

5 hours ago, Breds82 said:

I knew it was bad but not even close to this stat line. I forget what game but there was a lose ball and Brea didn’t even dive for it. I asked at that moment was he lazy. For a bunch of veteran guys they are so lazy in the final 5 minutes of most every game. There is no reason to not get boards on defense like they don’t. That comes with a mentality and I’m afraid it won’t change.

Agreed. Which is very surprising to see the lack of effort, and fundamentals at times with such an old team. That is the one area as mentioned before that I think Pope needs to get better at. Needs to be tougher on them and hold players more accountable. I know people didn’t like Cal yelling all the time, however I think it would be good to see pope get on the players more. 

On 2/16/2025 at 2:58 PM, futurecoach said:

Agreed. Which is very surprising to see the lack of effort, and fundamentals at times with such an old team. That is the one area as mentioned before that I think Pope needs to get better at. Needs to be tougher on them and hold players more accountable. I know people didn’t like Cal yelling all the time, however I think it would be good to see pope get on the players more. 

Pope has his own style of coaching and I’m willing to live with that style, the yelling and screaming at players has proven to be very ineffective, for the most part anyway.

38 minutes ago, nikeman49 said:

Pope has his own style of coaching and I’m willing to live with that style, the yelling and screaming at players has proven to be very ineffective, for the most part anyway.

That style took 3 different programs to final fours. That style traditionally led to good defenses, and a lot of tournament wins until the last few years. So I would say that style for the most part was effective until recently.

With that said I do agree a coach needs to be themselves and not try to be someone else. Which Popes style is good in many ways. With that said having a team full of older players, former defensive players of the years, etc. It’s very head scratching as to why the defense struggles like it does, and why effort has been hit or miss. Which does fall on Pope as a coach some at this point. I think getting on them a little bit more, may actually help hold them accountable more. If they can get that figured out, they have shown they are a team that can beat anyone. 

When I want to get mad at this group I think back and realize...We are playing with our 4th string point guard...Our best player the first 10 games of the season (Carr) is struggling to get up the court let a lone hasn't made a shot in a month.  

The only critism I have with UK was at the under 4 time out when we were up 5, our bench and everyone came flying out on the court and looked to be taunting Texas a little (refs stepped in)...

The last 3:36 of the game looked like a group who thought the game was already over and forgot to tell the other team.