futurecoach

3 hours ago, 1&ONLY44 said:

Adam Hiedrich?

Who is that?

2 hours ago, Pi said:

Coach Hahn was a really good coach, and handled a difficult team extremely well.

 

Definitely odd.

Agree he is a very good coach! They will miss him! With that said what do you mean when you say he handled a difficult team? 

14 hours ago, Oldercoach said:

Just saw on ESPN that Cal is considering limiting his current and future teams to 8-9 players.  Seems his reasoning that everybody entering the portal makes him question why he should develop players for other coaches.  He wasn’t worried about depth and plans to fill the roster out with walk-ons.  Don’t I recall about 2 Cats out every game because of some injury or another?  What’s really going on her Cal?

Honestly I think he prefers having a shorter bench, this way doesn’t have to worry about how to manage minutes for everyone. This way don’t have to worry about players bringing down the culture by being upset with not playing. Plus, besides for 2015, to me his best teams were the ones where he usually only had 7 or 8 guys in the rotation at most. So I think he prefers having a shorter and so saying this, instead of announcing that he rather not play as many guys. 

1 hour ago, atm10 said:

I’m not sure anyone saw Reed as a one and done recruit. I certainly didn’t think he would play as well or as many minutes  as he did his freshman year. Wish I could have gone from high school to millionaire in 2 years! 😂

Ha I know. Cal actually had a decent amount of guys that were not suppose to be "one and done" type guys that ended up being first round picks after their freshman years. Yet many people always acted like Cal only recruited one and done type players. Sheppard was the latest example of a guy that wasn't thought of to be a one and done guy, but ended becoming one under Cal. 

9 hours ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

I'm glad Mark Pope did what John Calipari refused to do. 

If Kentucky would have let Trent Noah go to South Carolina, it could have been a replay of the Chris Lofton years. 

Now Travis Perry and Trent Noah go from playing at Rupp for the state championship to being teammates for the Cats. 

Let's go!

While I think Trent will be very good, that is a pretty high comparison comparing him to Lofton. Lofton was a third team all American as a freshman and a consensus all American his sophomore and junior years. I don’t see that for Trent, at least not right away his freshman year like Lofton did. 

2 hours ago, nikeman49 said:

Don’t sleep on this kid, heart of a warrior and will back down from nothing, great catch for Pope!!

I’m not sleeping on him. I even said I hope he comes here and I believe he could help this year and be a big time player for a few years. 

5 hours ago, Oldercoach said:

Pope was loving on his team in the Herald this morning, but said he needed one more piece.  Specifically a big guard that could make a play when it was really needed.  Sounded like Noah Fant could fit that need perfectly.  Really exciting to watch him for the first time during Sweet Sixteen.  Noah checks a lot of needs for either UK, Tennessee or Louisville.  Hope you can get him Coach.

I don’t think Noah Trent is necessarily that guy in regards to going to make a play for you really need it, at least not as a freshman. Great shooter, and good basketball player. However, IMO what they are missing is a guy that can truly go create his own shot when things may be breaking down. I don’t think that is Trent next year. With that said I absolutely hope he comes here, because I do think he can help this year and will be a big time player for us over the next few years. 

8 hours ago, Seckatary said:

How will we ever replace the 2 points he put up against Oakland?  

   

For years people were begging to have three and four year players. Yet when you have three or four year player, some fans make comments like this. 

16 hours ago, theguru said:

I assume this is accurate. 

In a perfect world Thiero would come back, and also get Jaxson Robinson. I would love a starting lineup of. 
 

Butler

Oweh

Robinson

Thiero

Williams

That lineup would be great defensively, and then bringing shooters in off the bench with Brea and Kriisa. Then Carr, Chandler, and Garrison. 

15 minutes ago, FrankNicodemus said:

Agreed, plus the X-factor in the incoming class is WAY better defensively coming in. 
 

I like it….

Definitely have some older good defensive players in this group. 

5 hours ago, Oldercoach said:

Cal got his big contract for what he had accomplished prior to its signing with full expectations that more of the same would follow.  Didn’t happen or even come close.  His reluctance to change led directly to time for him to move on and for BBN to hope for different post-season results.  Reminds me a lot of my favorite player, Joey Votto.  What have you done for me lately?

Which is I why I have acknowledged that the last 4 years hasn’t been good, and have even said numerous times on here that it was probably best for both parties to move on. Just cause I may defend Cal when people say and act like he is a horrible coach, or say things that may not be true. Doesn’t mean I don’t think it was it was time to move on. I think Cal was right the first year he got this job, the Ky basketball job is a max life of about ten years for a coach. 

14 hours ago, nikeman49 said:

Why do you say they aren’t loaded with talent?

Because they aren’t in regards to pure talent. Now it is a bunch of guys that do specific things well, and have experience playing college basketball. So just because I don’t think they are loaded with talent, I do think the makeup of the team should make them a very good team. 

3 hours ago, MaddenCurse44 said:

This roster is loaded with talent! 

I wouldn’t necessarily say loaded with talent. But they do have a lot of experienced players, which is an important thing in todays college basketball world. 

7 hours ago, Oldercoach said:

Maybe you missed my comment that the analysis had to go back 6 years to include the last time Ky made more than a token post-season appearance.  Perhaps you prefer I went back only 4 years to where the post-season record would have been 2 wins and 7 losses for 22.2%.  It took the regional finals loss of 2019 season to up that percentage to 40% you claim is unfair.  If anything all the trends simply wore BBN down with continued annual optimism generated by great incoming prospects to annually going home early.  Simply we haven’t lived up to the polls, the expert opinions, NCAA seeding, nor Cal’s hype.

10 hours ago, Oldercoach said:

Valid and well made points.  But a 33.3% postseason winning rate over last 3 seasons and a 40% postseason winning % over last six pretty clearly evidences something needed to change.  Cal clearly admitted he wasn’t going to change how he did things.  

I read yours just fine, but maybe you missed my comment saying how you using the last “6 post seasons” in your argument is misleading. Considering one of those years the post season was cancelled and not even played. I know you narrative you are trying to tell. However, was just saying your numbers is over the last 5 post seasons, not 6. 
 

Which I even acknowledge the last 4 years was bad. So calculating the last 4 years is going to bring down the numbers for any other years you like to add with it. Just like the first 4 years overall would bring numbers way up. The best bet would be to take his first 4 years, and his last 4 years cancel them out. Then just look at the years in between. Which has a nice little mix. The 38 and 1 final four season, then a second round exit, an elite 8 loss on a last second shot to the National champs, then a sweet 16 loss, and another elite 8 loss in OT. Which then takes us up to the Covid post season cancellation year. 

1 hour ago, Oldercoach said:

Valid and well made points.  But a 33.3% postseason winning rate over last 3 seasons and a 40% postseason winning % over last six pretty clearly evidences something needed to change.  Cal clearly admitted he wasn’t going to change how he did things.  

Continuing to say 40% postseason winning % over the last 6 post seasons is very misleading. One of those post season's didn't even happen because it was cancelled. Which that was the year UK won the SEC by a record 4 games. The year before covid cancelled the post season, UK made the elite 8 and lost in OT. At the end of the day Calipari was very successful in terms of tournament play up until Covid. The last 4 seasons were bad though, so no argument there. 

6 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

 

 

I understand that Cal "under achieved" the last handful of years, but I just think that the people that pushed him out are going to look silly when Pope is no better, if not worse. 

Pope is not going to get the quality of players Cal did, he's just not. That being the case, you'd have to argue that he's a better coach than Cal. Can you really do that? What about his resume says that's the case? Pope has zero hardware in his trophy case. 

This feels like a serious case of "be careful what you wish for." Pope feels good to some, for now, but how long will that last? 

People always seem to get that Cal was winning at a great clip and having post season success long before he ever came to UK and had rosters full of one and done at UK. Before he was at UK he was winning with rosters that weren't full of NBA talent.  So he must be a lot better of a coach than some on here want to give him credit for, since it was successful long before he even came to UK. It is a reason why he along with Pitino are the only two coaches to take three teams to a final four. 

29 minutes ago, Oldercoach said:

As to your 1st paragraph, got to go way past 6 years to get Cal’s aggregate winning % up to anywhere near 75%.  Added to BBN’s disappointment is the fact that annually Cal had one of, if not, the top rated recruiting classes in the country.

Agree 100% with your 2nd paragraph.

40 minutes ago, Oldercoach said:

Maybe or maybe not, but after going to great expense to travel and support the team, BBN rightly expected more than token preparation for the SEC tourney and to not be so obviously out-coached in the NCAAs.  Cal has shown an undeniable ability to recruit top-flight talent and coach them to disappointing year end results.  Probably finally sealed his credibility this year after his  “this team is built for March” comments that were followed by a  1st round loss in SEC tourney and a 1st round loss in NCAA tourney.  Remembering the definition of insanity, it was time to take Cal’s hard headedness elsewhere.

If any fan had an issue with the results by Cal up until Covid hit, then I am not sure what more a fan base could want from a coach. Up until Covid hit, Cal was doing exactly what a fanbase should want from a coach. Now after the covid ended the one post season, after that it was definitely not what is expected here at UK. The last 4 years were bad, let's not act like it was a lot of year where it was bad under him. 

6 hours ago, Oldercoach said:

Historically most of BBN thinks UK, Kansas and Duke have generally been regarded as the elite long-standing programs in college basketball.  Recently UConn, Gonzaga and others could be argued, but my research has been limited to the original three in the last 3 year and last 6 year seasons.  I had to include 6 seasons to find more than a token post-season appearance by UK.

Post-season games/record conference tourney and NCAA tourney:

Last 3:  Duke - 18 (5-2) and 8-3; Kansas - 17 (5-2) and 8-2; UK 8 (1-3) and 1-3.

Last 6:  Duke - 27 (10-2) and 11-4; Kansas - 25 (8-3) and 10-4; UK - 15 (2-5) and 4-4.

Total season and post-season victories and winning %:

Last 3:  Kansas - 85 77.3%;  Duke - 86 77.5%;  UK - 71 70.3%.

Last 6:  Kansas - 170 78.7%; Duke - 156 76.5%; UK - 135 69.6%.

Post-season winning %:

Duke - 77.8%; Kansas - 72.0%; UK- 40.0%.

 

Early on Coach Calipari announced he ran a players first program and in so many words he inferred his program would focus on preparing and getting players to the NBA.  Mission accomplished with a google search revealing season opening rosters and 2- way contracts with Ky having 26 players, Duke with 24, and Kansas with 13.  It just hasn’t found our Cats being cohesive teams by the end of the season when it matters most (subjective, I know) and most of us assumed that his program would produce tourney victories and banners, which it has not for a very long time.  BBN frustrations were well earned.

Calipari has not produced in the last 4 years, no one can really argue that. Basically ever since covid cancelled the post season, when he had a team that won the SEC by 4 games. Ever since that year it went down hill. Basically covid seemed to be the end of his good run here, and the beginning of the bad. 

39 minutes ago, nikeman49 said:

More good players coming, Pope isn’t even close to being finished.

I would hope not, since we only have about 7 players on the roster currently. 

On 4/28/2024 at 1:50 PM, Voice of Reason said:

Player to keep your eye on out of this draft - Matt Lee. Especially those people who want to see a proven player with production out of college that might be able to jump in right away. He is a 5th year senior who did not allow a sack all year and only allowed one QB hit. One site called him an elite pass protector. 

Agreed. Plus also had a great RAS score which has been a good indicator lately of lineman that end up doing well in the NFL.

On 4/28/2024 at 1:04 AM, sportsfan41 said:

Still need some legit bigs.  I'd love for Thiero to come back but I think he ends up at PITT or North Carolina. 

I would absolutely love to have Thiero back. I think he would fit in perfect with this system. 

3 hours ago, Jumper_Dad said:

Cats added Guard Lamont Butler San Diego St. He was defensive player of the year in the conference last year. He hit game winning shot in the final four two years ago to send his team to title game.

They also added Otega Oweh Guard from Oklahoma. Known for physical play and ability to get to the rim. Was the number two scorer for Oklahoma last season.

 

So far Pope has added three very good tough defensive players. Now need a pg and a few more shooters for his offense. 

Not much production in regards to sacks, but suppose to be a good run defender. Some have said they believe he may do better in the NFL in converting pressures to sacks. 

8 hours ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

So the kickoff team is going to be lining up on the receiving team's 40 yard line, and the receiving team will have all of their blockers lined up 5 yards away on the 35 yard line, and none of the people at the 40 yard line or the 35 yard line until the ball is touched by a returner.

The kick landing zone is between the goal line and the 20 yard line. So if a kick is caught by a returner at the 5 yard line and returns it straight ahead (shortest distance between two points is a straight line). And let's say that that the kickoff team manages to advance, let's call it 10 yards forward with the kick return team trying to impede their way. So that puts the tacklers from the kickoff team at the 30 yard line while the returner has had 25 yards of running to get a full head of steam when they meet. That's a lot of kinetic energy on impact.

Granted, these rules DO reduce the number of people who are have 10+ yards worth of space to run before impact on the kickoff play, but man oh man, this seems really hazardous to the kick returners' health.

Which is any different than say a punt return with a punt team running full speed 50 yards down field at the punt returner?  I think you are over exaggerating this new kickoff rule anymore unsafe than any other play in a football game. The new kickoff rule allows more returns without the multiple huge collisions that caused many of the head injuries. Watching this kickoff done in the other leagues, there really wasn’t many big collisions at all between the returner and the kickoff team. 

4 hours ago, FrankNicodemus said:

I totally understand FC!  I love your thoughts. You’re like my straight man to my borderline over the top enthusiasm. I BLEED BLUE! 

I have faith that we will both be very happy come next March/April that UK made a great hire, I just feel it in down to my soul brother.

 

Love it! I can’t wait for the season! Go Cats!