Look, I’m not one to jump to rash conclusions here but we have now seen 120 minutes of action from this Mark Pope squad, his first at the University of Kentucky. And while I am fully on board with giving Pope time to develop these guys into a winning team, I am already seeing some red flags, which makes me wonder if it is time to up the heat from this fanbase on the rear of Pope. Because nothing makes a coach work harder and smarter than for fans to really up the pressure.
Let me give you, satirically, EIGHT things we’ve seen so far that have me concerned and should have Mark Pope on the hot seat.
There is a misconception about the talent on Mark Pope’s first Kentucky roster
1. MEETS WITH HIS INJURED PLAYERS AND LETS PUBLIC KNOW
Does Mark Pope not understand HIPPA? And now, the coach at Bucknell knows which players are nursing a bad hip. So you’ve given away all competitive advantage here. I’m not saying the previous coach did it better, but he simply took the approach of never seeing his injured players and then couldn’t let anybody know what was going on. Think Mark, think!
2. HAS MADE GAMES BORING
So far, UK has won its games by 71, 31, and 41 points. These games have been absolute snoozers for the last 20-30 minutes of each contest. How about we get back to good ol’ days when we were fighting for every bucket in a 4-point game against UT-Arlington on a Wednesday night in November? Those were the most exciting games in recent memory. It’s barely worth going now just to blow teams out that are inferior. Let’s get Pope on the hot seat and maybe we see some close games. Bang for our buck, right?
3. NOT PREPARING PLAYERS FOR NBA SHOTS
If we hope to continue sending loads of players to the NBA, can we please get these guys taking more 15-18-footers? All of these 25-footers being heaved up is not gonna translate when one of them wants to be the 8th man on the Charlotte Hornets. Sure, he might make more of the 25-footers than the contested mid-range shots. But he’ll also make more money in his 20s and 30s.
4. PLAYERS DON’T KNOW WHEN TO RUN
Frankly, we’ve gotten really lucky so far that our pace of play has been this fast. Because I haven’t heard a single peep from Pope after a defensive rebound on how fast our guys should get down the court. Freaking Charlie Chaplin wannabe over on the sideline just sitting silent. If on the next broadcast, I don’t hear an absurdly loud scream after 90% of rebounds to alert players to move it along (or maybe “GOOO”), I’m probably done with Pope.
5. TALKS TOO MUCH AFTER THE GAME
For someone who doesn’t talk during the game, this man sure talks a lot after. Why are we giving Tom Leach MULTIPLE questions after each game? Nobody wants to hear him talk. They want to hear you talk but only about one topic and that topic cannot be about what Tom’s question actually is. And that talk should end well before the commercial break should actually take place. So, Tom talks too much. And Mark talks too much. It’s a problem. And should get Pope on the hot seat.
6. WAY TOO MUCH WASTED MOVEMENT ON INBOUNDS
What is the point of all of these screens and cuts during inbound plays? Does Mark Pope not have the simple understanding all you need to do is take your tallest player, put him very, very close to the inbounder, and simply have him hold his arm in the air? A 6-year-old would understand that’s how you inbound a ball. I’m not sure Pope is anything but a “roll the balls out” kind of coach. Lots of energy is being spent unnecessarily.
7. THIRD-RANKED RECRUITING CLASS?
Do I need to explain this any further? Third-ranked recruiting class right now means two teams will be better than us next year. TWO! That is unacceptable. If we get paired in the same region as one of those other two, we’re screwed. Top-ranked recruiting class every year equals Final Four every year. Tale as old as time.
8. FRIENDS WITH REFEREES
How are you supposed to have a fair game called if you don’t bludgeon the people in charge of calling a fair game? That’s just logic. If you can’t let Tony Greene know he’s a sh** ref after 30 years, then what are paying this man for? I want to hear about a conspiracy amongst SEC refs to intentionally throw Pope out of games. If not, then Mark is not doing a good job. I think berating officials is in the contract.
Mark Pope is the following:
– Honest
– Boring
– Unprepared for the NBA Game
– Overprepared on Inbounds Plays
– Silent
– Talks too much
– Poor Recruiter
– Too Friendly
It’s time to put Mark Pope on the hot seat until he makes adjustments. I hear Billy Donovan might be interested if he doesn’t.
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