Because I expect them to be better than a few teams that weren’t good?
Not with that roster.
Don’t worry, I probably will. While we’re at it, let’s bet on your prediction of KU finishing 3rd in the Big 12. You seem confident in that.
Sure
Well, he had most of you excited going into March. If he could beat Tennessee and Auburn on the road, he was obviously capable of beating Oakland. It just didn't happen. The players choked and didn't hit jumpers at anywhere close to the usual rate. Can't pile all that on the coach.
You can pile it on the coach when it keeps happening. There's one common denominator and he refused to play his best lineup knowing how good it was.
Also, he did zero work to prepare his team to play that game, zero. The entire team was confused, they acted like they had no idea Oakland was going to play a 1-3-1 and had no idea how to defend Gulkhe. Dude ran right through the entire UK defense on every play and nobody put a body on him.
That’s the issue here, Cal is too lazy to put in the work and he makes promises to the wrong players, so better players sit.
Also, he doesn't coach to win games, he coaches for the draft. Talent mostly overcame that, but he doesn't have that overwhelming talent this year. This is going to end badly, trust me, this is not a good combination.
Calipari might be good at squandering talent, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen every time, and obviously it hasn’t.
He lost 10 games with last years team, lost 5 games at home and lost to Oakland. 2 lottery picks on the team.
Lost to Saint Peters 2 years ago with the NPOY/generational rebounder on his team.
Lost to Wva with an absolutely loaded roster in 2010, lost to Kansas state twice in the tournament. The first loss was in 2018, he had 7 NBA talents on his roster, including Shea Gilgeous Alexander and Bruce Weber didn’t even need to play his best player more than 10 minutes.
But you think he's going to all the sudden do better with a roster that has 1 good player and 3 lower rated freshmen??? I thought you were smarter than this.
Seems like you would have a different take if you didn't kniw UK was the competing roster.
We just talked about this a few posts back. Good example of why I don’t trust your recollection of something that happened a decade ago. 😆
Oh I know, I just can't believe you're this gullible and I can't believe you're relying on bullshit projections.
The mock I saw had Fland, Knox, Thiero and Z in the first round.
I have oceanfront property in Nebraska I can sell you, no doubt in my mind.
So every player who isn’t ranked in the top 20 in the USA is automatically a project? And what if he’s a 5 star by one service and not another? Dismissing a player based on a high school ranking is ridiculous enough, but recruits in the 10 to low 20s range? LMAO. The list of players outside the top 20 who contributed or even starred as freshmen is a mile long.
Pretty easy really, as a UK fan, it's been my reality for 15 years. Those dudes aren't first rounders. When I see some services putting Fland at 20th… a 4* and the other 2 are behind him, it should tip you off. They’ll play in the NBA, but to go from 4* to first round in 1 year, is a rare feat. Sheppard and SGA did it, but I don't know of anyone else off the top of my head.
If this team was being coached by Hurley, Sampson, Pitino or Oats, I would change my take, but Cal has been exposed. He’s lazy, he thinks he's God, he plays favorites, he coaches for the draft first, he plays an outdated offense, he plays a bland defense that struggles with PNR and he's just not a good game coach. But you go ahead and buy the bullshit even though all the proof you need is right in front of you.
You can’t actually think you’re evaluating Kentucky’s commits by the same standards as Ark’s. Case in point: you hype Garrison as a McD’s AA (despite not putting up numbers on the worst team in the B12) but Arkansas’s two McD’s AAs are projects. And comparing the stats of a Drexel player to guys who played in the SEC? Seriously? 😆
Garrison.us a backup to Williams, now go check Williams' stats. If Garrison was the primary pf, I wouldn't be happy with that.
Fland and Knox are going to be starters and relied on to be great in year 1.
See the difference, or nah?
Z’s potential is astronomically higher than Carr’s or any of the other bigs, and players tend to make the biggest jump between freshman and soph year.
Based on what? Carr has actual positive stats, Z had 1 good game znd again, Cal won't use him the way he should. Guaranteed he’s going to make Z play with his back to the basket. He does that with every center he’s ever had until last year. He’s not going to let Z shoot 3's, John Welch isn’t on the staff anymore.
Like I said, I’m not necessarily predicting big things for Arkansas, at least not yet, but I see no reason to expect more from Pope and his roster.
That’s fair
Why do you act like he’s an automatic upgrade over Calipari?
Because Cal didn't coach for UK. He made it to where he was bigger than UK and again, he coaches for the draft, not to win games. No other coach plays BJ Boston 35 minutes a game, no coach plays Wheeler over 2 first round draft picks 2 years in a row and no other coach plays Edwards and DJ in front of Reed and Rob. Cal had the data, he didn't care, he had to get Edwards and DJ drafted.
Also, damn man, look at the results. Keep in mind, Cal was at UK with ten times the talent, Pope had major recruiting limitations at BYU. There's no way Cal gets BYU to the tournament. Cal us a shit coach that needs extreme talent to win.
I’m not knocking him, but if he were some kind of savant, he’d probably have won a tourney game by age 51. And there’s a lot of talk about his offense, but offense wasn’t exactly the problem. Kentucky had the best offense in the country and still lost to Oakland. Kentucky’s main problem in recent years has been defense, and Pope isn’t known for defensive prowess.
Pope had the 60th ranked defense at BYU last year with a bunch of unathletic white dudes. UK, with all the athletesism and length in the world, finished 109th.
Pope played on one of the best defensive teams of all time, he knows what a good defensive team is. He’s a better actual preperation and game coach than Calipari is, but that isn't saying much.
