Loved the video just now of Kentucky basketball to Dream On!

Is anybody hearing anything about player(s) being dismissed from the team?

11 hours ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

Is anybody hearing anything about player(s) being dismissed from the team?

I have not, but it wouldn't surprise me if true. As definitely seems to be some dysfunction within the team, as they definitely don't seem like a team that likes playing together so far. 

WCS had this instagram post about the team.

Which I agree with him. I love what he said about paying guys for hustle type plays. This current team definitely isn’t play for the name on the jersey, not playing for each other, not playing to win a title. It’s a bunch of guys who got paid, and now don’t have that fire in them. 
 

While a lot of people may not have liked Cal using the NBA as a selling point to get players to UK, and was open about helping them chase their NBA dream. The majority of the years, Cal also did a good job of getting them most of the years in getting them to also want to try to win a title to go along with chasing their NBA dream. Which WCS kind of hits on in this post. This current team doesn’t seem to care about anything. Don’t care about trying to win or even playing their hardest to try position themselves for the NBA. 
 

Pope with today’s college basketball world, is going to have to rethink how he coaches players like this. Also rethink exactly how he puts a roster together. Which I hope he does, because he is a great guy and can tell how much this program means to him. Guys like him you truly want to see do well, and I still think he can. Which if the UK coaching pattern holds, he will win a title here one day. As he is like Hall, and Tubby, the nice guys who are good coaches that followed legends. They both won titles, so hopefully that pattern follows with Pope. 
 

 

15 hours ago, futurecoach said:

WCS had this instagram post about the team.

Which I agree with him. I love what he said about paying guys for hustle type plays. This current team definitely isn’t play for the name on the jersey, not playing for each other, not playing to win a title. It’s a bunch of guys who got paid, and now don’t have that fire in them. 
 

While a lot of people may not have liked Cal using the NBA as a selling point to get players to UK, and was open about helping them chase their NBA dream. The majority of the years, Cal also did a good job of getting them most of the years in getting them to also want to try to win a title to go along with chasing their NBA dream. Which WCS kind of hits on in this post. This current team doesn’t seem to care about anything. Don’t care about trying to win or even playing their hardest to try position themselves for the NBA. 
 

Pope with today’s college basketball world, is going to have to rethink how he coaches players like this. Also rethink exactly how he puts a roster together. Which I hope he does, because he is a great guy and can tell how much this program means to him. Guys like him you truly want to see do well, and I still think he can. Which if the UK coaching pattern holds, he will win a title here one day. As he is like Hall, and Tubby, the nice guys who are good coaches that followed legends. They both won titles, so hopefully that pattern follows with Pope. 
 

 

What WCS has to say doesn’t really matter at all as far as this team is concerned, every team assumes a different identity and this team hasn’t really assumed one yet, Pope will figure it out and that’s a guarantee. Cal is gone and has his own identity at Arkansas so he doesn’t have anything to do with this current team.

1 minute ago, nikeman49 said:

What WCS has to say doesn’t really matter at all as far as this team is concerned, every team assumes a different identity and this team hasn’t really assumed one yet, Pope will figure it out and that’s a guarantee. Cal is gone and has his own identity at Arkansas so he doesn’t have anything to do with this current team.

It does matter when talking about the fight and effort of a team. Which is the biggest thing most people are disappointed with this team. So when not only just us fans notice it, but players who have had to play through it and understand life as a UK bball player it does matter some. 
 

Plus quite honestly hearing former UK players like WCS and Cousins questioning these players motivation and effort. May be something that helps get these guys to buy in more to what Pope is telling them. As Pope obviously knows what the standard here at UK is, but also being called out publicly by former players, probably doesn’t hurt in this situation to help light a fire under this team. 

There were bunches of times during WCS and Boogies playing days that their efforts were questionable as well, easy to be critical of teams when things aren’t going so well, positivity IMO would benefit just as well.

An interesting stat before last night's game through 45 games Pope's record was 29-16. Also through his first 45 game Billy Clyde Gillespie had the identical 29-16 record. ?‍♂️

51 minutes ago, nikeman49 said:

There were bunches of times during WCS and Boogies playing days that their efforts were questionable as well, easy to be critical of teams when things aren’t going so well, positivity IMO would benefit just as well.

No doubt, and usually it was early in their freshman seasons when they got questioned and Cal had to yell and push them to get that out of them. Sad part is some of these guys not giving effort aren't even freshman. Which seems like Pope also is fed up with it too, as he broke a clip board last night when yelling at them. Also bench a junior in Garrison after a turnover and not hustling to get back. So it seems that even one of the most positive people in the world in Mark Pope, has also realized that being nice and positive hasn't really worked well with this group. 

Just now, 16thBBall Fan said:

An interesting stat before last night's game through 45 games Pope's record was 29-16. Also through his first 45 game Billy Clyde Gillespie had the identical 29-16 record. ?‍♂️

The crazy part is Billy G probably pushed way past the line in regards to how tough he was on players. While Mark Pope up until last night, probably has not been tough enough and demanding enough of his guys. I liked how Pope really got into them last night, and was benching guys for effort, and even ripping into them breaking a clip board he got so mad at them for some effort plays. 

52 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

The crazy part is Billy G probably pushed way past the line in regards to how tough he was on players. While Mark Pope up until last night, probably has not been tough enough and demanding enough of his guys. I liked how Pope really got into them last night, and was benching guys for effort, and even ripping into them breaking a clip board he got so mad at them for some effort plays. 

I agree 100% but when I saw that stat I was really surprised and thought I'd share it.

UK and Pope will be fine. Millions of Dollars in Diobaute/Lowe/Quaintance have been sitting on the bench for a good portion of the season. Building your offense around a speedy PG who can create for others all offseason, then he gets hurt a week before the first game hurts a lot. 
 

Those 3 will cure a lot of problems. Specifically Quaintance/Lowe, they are gamechangers. 

On 12/10/2025 at 2:20 PM, LLS10 said:

UK and Pope will be fine. Millions of Dollars in Diobaute/Lowe/Quaintance have been sitting on the bench for a good portion of the season. Building your offense around a speedy PG who can create for others all offseason, then he gets hurt a week before the first game hurts a lot. 
 

Those 3 will cure a lot of problems. Specifically Quaintance/Lowe, they are gamechangers. 

Agreed definitely doesn’t help not having them. However, can’t put it all on the injuries as some of the blame then has to go to Pope for his roster construction. He put UK in this position by only having one true pg on his roster in Lowe. When you only have one real pg on your roster, you put yourself in a bad spot of that one pg gets hurt. 
 

Once again though I think the biggest issue people have had with this team is the lack of effort and desire. They have only lost to good teams, but the lack of fight in them in those games is the biggest issue. If those guys were healthy it would help, but still wouldn’t matter much if they still weren’t giving effort or fighting. If that part gets fixed, then still has the potential to be a special year when those guys get healthy. 

It is being reported now that one of the top prospects for 2026 Christian Collins who everyone thought was all but officially signed but he has announced now that he is reopening his recruitment. 

13 hours ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

It is being reported now that one of the top prospects for 2026 Christian Collins who everyone thought was all but officially signed but he has announced now that he is reopening his recruitment. 

Ugh. I know he could still end up signing with UK, it still is never good when a player then reopens their recruitment.