futurecoach

Arizona has looked really impressive so far in this tournament. They are a complete team, and do many things very well!

College basketball reporter stated that Donovan is willing to listen to UNC pitch about the job. The same reporter said he would have also been willing to listen to UKs pitch two years ago, if UK was willing to wait until his season was over. So you may be right, but definitely more people seem to be thinking he is more of a possibly this year, than he was two years ago. As two years ago Chicago was still in the playoff chase when UK was open. Chicago isn’t in the playoff chase this year.

You probably are right, because he could end up at UNC. As Dusty May's buyout is a lot less than some of the other guys UNC is also looking at.

No doubt. Unfortunately I think he will end up at UNC or possibly Kansas this cycle, as Kansas may be opening up too.

With UNC getting rid of their coach. If UNC’s center Henri Veesar were to enter the portal. He needs to be one of Popes main targets to go along with point guard. Henry is 7 foot and 235 pounds. He averaged 17 points and 8 rebounds a game. He can also shoot the three as he shot 94 threes this year and made 42% of them. Pope needs his bigs to be able to spread the floor and shoot, which he didn’t have this year. Also Mingo who is UNC top recruit for next year is a 6 foot 5 pg. He is another one Pope should really go after if he decides not to go to UNC. Get Mingo and Lowe and start them together in the back court.

I personally hope it’s not Dusty May or TJ. As those two and Nate Oats are the three main guys I would want UK to target if UK were to open up next year.

The UNC job is now open. Who do you believe will get the job? A few names people in an article in The Athletic were: Mark Byington: Vanderbilt Billy Donovan: Chicago Bulls (apparently is willing to listen to their pitch) Tommy Lloyd: Arizona (the possible favorite) Dusty May: Michigan T.J. Otzelberger: Iowa State https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7138167/2026/03/24/hubert-davis-unc-mens-basketball-coaching-candidates/?source=user_shared_article

I think to many people are thinking to much into this. I am sure the Cooper job will get plenty of interest still, and from people with HC experience. Cooper should have one of the best rosters again next year with a chance to win the region. That is still hard for coaches to pass up. Plus as they say, you want to be the one who follows the one who followed a legend. Which Coach Holthaus winning 4 regional titles in a row, was a legend. So this past season was going to be hard for any coach to come in, and get complete buy in from parents and players, because they all would have been use to a certain way, and that certain way had produced four straight regional titles. Whoever, the next coach is I think will probably get a lot more buy in from both players and coaches. As that is just how it always seems to go, whenever a top coach leaves.

Here is the interview where he said these things. Also talked about the injuries and tough schedule.

From comments from Lowe's dad and Lowe himself it sounds like Lowe plans to be back. However, we know how that all could change very quickly.

Mark Pope definitely will be here, so while there should not be any discussion on if he should be back or not. Talking about Mark Pope in general is very relevant to next years team. Which Mark Pope yesterday on his end of the year radio show, came in with numbers ready to try to defend that the program is progressing. He talked about how his winning percentage in his two years here, is higher than the winning percentage the 4 years before he got here. He mentioned how they have won more SEC tournament games, and NCAA tournament games. Which is great, and all are facts, and I definitely see why he wanted to come in with these numbers. This is a tough fan base, and so he wants to try to get some positivity going. With that said, it also shows how easy it is to cherry pick numbers to go in your favor. Pope had to go back to the last 4 years of Cal's tenure in order to say he has had a higher winning percentage, because going back 4 years included the horrible Covid year team. If he went back 3 years, or even the last 2 years of Cal. Then it wouldn't show the progression he is talking about and would be a worse winning percentage. He also couldn't compare his two years at UK, to Cal's two years at Arkansas, because Cal has Arkansas trending in a better direction currently than UK. He is correct on the SEC tournament wins, but part of that is because Pope has finished 6th and 9th in the SEC, so he has been playing games on Wednesday and Thursdays to get wins. Now Pope has won games in the NCAA tournament, which obviously Cal's teams got upset in the first round 2 of his last 3 years. So that area has been a slight improvement, but still no where near what is expected here. As others have mentioned. Pope has to do a better job at constructing a roster, and getting better talent in here. As he has struggled to close on top players since he has been here. Next year is a make or break year for him, and I truly hope he can go out there and get it done.

I am not sure if he would be interested, as he just got the Brossart girls job last year. However, Aaron Stamm would be a good hire for this job. As he has coached in this district before, back when he was the Conner's girl coach. Another name, that I believe could be good if he is interested in getting back into coaching is Blake Clary. He was a long time assistant of coach Stamm at both Ludlow and Conner, and then also became the Ludlow girls head coach, when Stamm moved to the boys side. So he also has some head coaching experience now too. He needed to step down for family reasons, as his wife had twins a couple of years ago. So I am not sure if he is interested in getting back into it or not. However, he is someone else that could also be good based off some of the names mentioned here too.

No doubt losing Lowe really hurt, as I do believe Pope was right in brining him on. As I think Lowe would be really good. My biggest issue and question, and once again gets down to roster construction. Is why did Pope go into this year, with only having one true PG on the roster. With the transfer portal and all that out there these days, there was no reason to go into this season without Lowe being your only true PG.

The bolded part here is the biggest worry for me. It also probably explains why Pope has never even won a regular season or conference tournament title anywere, and why he has had double digit losses every year of his coaching career besides two.

UK allows retired numbers/jersyes in the rafters to still be used.

I like Pope the person, so I truly hope he proves he is the guy for the job next year. I just don’t know if he will. He has never won a regular season conference title as a head coach. He has had double digit losses in all but two of his years as a coach. Never has good defensive teams, and roster construction is a big question mark as he isn’t great as a recruiter either. In two years his teams have gotten down double digits in almost half of its games against P5 schools. This year alone they got down 16 or more in 12 games. So what is it that he does well? I would say he is good at drawing up plays out of a timeout, and his teams usually never give up. Other than that it’s hard to see what he does really well, that makes us know he can win at the level expected here. We will see what the roster he puts together looks like. However, unfortunately for now I have to put down a first round exit for next year.

I honestly really enjoyed watching the two teams that ultimately lost in the first round. Those teams were fun and could possibly have made a run. However, UK finally fell victim to the first round upset that everyone has had. Even coach K in 2012 and 2014 lost in the first round to a 14 and 15 seed like Cal. Unfortunately Cal also had the horrible Covid year to right before it, so it was like the perfect storm to bring the Cal era to an end here. I believe once Mitch struck out on a couple of the higher guys. He decided to settle and wanted a yes sir guy, who was complete opposite of Cal. Which is how we got Pope, even though he had done nothing to show he should get the job.

Same reason why Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss to go to LSU. At the end of the day coaches work to get to the highest level, and is a dream for most of them. So even if you have a good set up, it’s hard to say no when one of the top blue blood types of schools come calling. It may not be a smart decision to leave where you have it made it, but the majority of times coaches still will leave to get that chance at that big program.

Ok maybe panicked was the wrong word to use. Possibly settled is a better word, and took the easy route. As essentially he wanted to make sure he got the exact opposite of Cal. A good guy who wouldn’t really push back on things. As mentioned Pope has never even won a contender as a coach. He is only here because he was a former player, and Mitch wanted the opposite of Cal.

Simply put Mitch panicked after the first few top guys said no. Those top guys already won titles at their current schools, which makes sense why they said no. After they said no, he panicked and went with an alum with no track record of really ever doing that well.

The few top guys who already won titles at their current schools, yeah they turned us down. Which makes sense, as they already shown they can win it all where they are at. UK in this last search panicked after those first few said no. Instead went with an alum, who would have never even better considered if he wasn’t an alum. Shoot Pope has never even won a conference regular season anywhere he has been. So it’s not like a bunch of people said no, as plenty of other people with much better resumes probably would have came here. However, Mitch panicked and went with an alum with no resume of really winning anywhere.

Which gets back to, the championship game wasn’t on Wednesday, and silly to proclaim it as that. As we see with tournament play, anything can happen. I’m glad we’re in agreement.

That same argument is used anytime a coach is very successful at a program that is not a blue blood, but yet majority of the time a coach still would leave for that job. At the end of the day coaches usually like a challenge, and coaches usually dream of getting to coach at one of the elite programs. No matter the pressure that comes with it, it’s just to hard to turn down. With that said if Iowa State wins it all this year, then that may change things.

No doubt. I know I am a believer now, especially knowing they did this without one of their best players. I love their offensive sets, and I love their on ball pressure on defense. It is a very fun style to watch, and something we haven’t seen here in awhile. Especially in regards to defense.

I haven’t watched many Iowa State games. But man, I am a fan of the Iowa State coach. He has his team playing a fun style of basketball on both sides of the ball. Plus he is known to be a good recruiter too. He is someone I definitely would take a hard look at, if we do have to move on from Pope in a year.