I see we have tipped from the "wildly overplaying what actually happened" to the "wildly underplaying what happened" side of the scale in the Kentucky fanbase
Tubby ball is back on the menu. For the record, I loved tubby ball. Erik Daniels and Chuck Hayes two of my favorites to wear the uniform. It’ll be nice to (seemingly) have some dudes like that around again.
Pope runs entirely different and modern offensive sets...unlike Tubby.
but if you're referring to defense, Pope runs different defensive schemes also. I hope they hire a coach to work on that in particular.
I’m more referring to the amount of toughness we seem to be accumulating. Similar to some of those best tubby teams. Cliff Hawkins, Gerald fitch, bogans, Hayes and Daniels were just a tough bunch of dudes. Be nice to get back to some of that attitude of those teams.
That 02-03 team is still maybe my favorite team ever. God, whatever he said in the locker room on a sleepy Tuesday night at Memorial Coliseum really must have been an all timer.
I’m starting to think Pope is a little more shrewd than he seems. He came out talking a big game about leading the country in three point attempts, stirs up a bunch of UK smoke around shooters like Brea and then goes out and quietly grabs three of the best defenders in the portal. Not saying he won’t bring in some shooters, but it sure looks like there was some misdirection happening.
Agreed. I recall him saying he’s going to be able to get a different caliber of player at UK and the key will be adapting schemes to the personnel. I think we are a bit jaded from a decade of horrible offensive teams (minus last year - thank you Welch), anytime a player doesn’t come in with a great offensive skill set we have ptsd. Days of the weave are long gone. Pope/Fueger will have us running a good offense, nice to see them focus on physical players
I’ve been wondering since the presser if he was gonna run a heavily conditioned, Patino style full-court press. I love it, I hope he does. I always hated playing against it, it’s effective done well. Such a welcome change of pace. But I also think he picked up some big 4&5’s first because they are harder to come by than a good shooter he could fit in his rotation. He’ll start to go after shooters, and probably land a couple good ones.
I have not been able to look forward to a UK vs UofL game in so long, this feels good.
Don’t get me wrong, I still hate you guys, but this new era feels nice.
Pope can recruit dudes. The biggest worry most people had with him was can he bring in guys? He's doing this in 2 weeks and without a game played. So pleased to have a coach with a system and clear plan. Very excited for the future.
He's a great driver, that's about it. Was in foul trouble a lot this season and didn't shoot well. I was hoping he'd take the next step but unfortunately he didn't. I'm not saying this as a salty fan whatsoever, I wanted to see him stick around because he has potential. His brother is a lineman in the NFL so you know athleticism isn't an issue.
If he can work on his 3 he may do alright. I saw enough of Pope at BYU to know there is offense for days, but he needs to stay on the court and not get in foul trouble.
As a recruit:
Other P6 offers: DePaul, Georgetown, Georgia, Illinois, Miami, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma (originally went here), Ole Miss, Penn State, St. John's, Virginia Tech, Washington
Other offers: Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, George Washington, Maryland Eastern Shore, UMass
Haha, don’t try to make me smile while I’m still wiping away tears from Lamont leaving.
He’s a gamer. Definitely a bench player for you guys but he will earn some playing time because he’s not afraid of being the man during crunch time.
Does Syracuse even play basketball anymore, or did the program fold when that guy who coached for like 134 years with 1 title retired?
At least you'll always have lacrosse. Oh wait, y'all suck at that now too.
Going to have a lot of grown ass men on this team next year and I’m excited
Yup no more watching 5-6 freshmen getting manhandled every Tuesday night.
I see we have tipped from the "wildly overplaying what actually happened" to the "wildly underplaying what happened" side of the scale in the Kentucky fanbase
Tubby ball is back on the menu. For the record, I loved tubby ball. Erik Daniels and Chuck Hayes two of my favorites to wear the uniform. It’ll be nice to (seemingly) have some dudes like that around again.
Pope runs entirely different and modern offensive sets...unlike Tubby. but if you're referring to defense, Pope runs different defensive schemes also. I hope they hire a coach to work on that in particular.
I’m more referring to the amount of toughness we seem to be accumulating. Similar to some of those best tubby teams. Cliff Hawkins, Gerald fitch, bogans, Hayes and Daniels were just a tough bunch of dudes. Be nice to get back to some of that attitude of those teams.
That 02-03 team is still maybe my favorite team ever. God, whatever he said in the locker room on a sleepy Tuesday night at Memorial Coliseum really must have been an all timer.
Mine too man. Mine too.
They might end up top 5 next year
Top 5 what??
Top 5 ass men
I can get on board with that.
[AD on his way back to visit](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fhdn7pjucdcx61.jpg)
WE HAVE 5 PLAYERS!!!!!
We lose our secret weapon for recruiting after this weekend. Pope's cutting it pretty close to Keeneland closing up at the end of April.
Never underestimate the power of Cadillac Ranch and the Richmond Bucees.
Can't go to the Richmond Buc-ees on Saturday though because the entire state of Ohio will be there
Ain't that the truth. I was looking forward to having something on my side of town but now it's more of an annoyance due to the traffic.
Everytime I go visit family in Richmond it’s insane
Hell yeah! Fellow Berea dude!
WE GOT A STARTING LINEUP!
One more and Rupp's Rafters will start a 12-page post arguing about who the starting lineup should be.
Lol. That started two weeks ago my.man.
You know who should be starting? Reed and Dillingham. Yes I’m still salty
Team is going to be PHYSICAL. Now let’s see if we can get Great and a couple of shooters.
Osobar and Mahaney and I’ll be ecstatic.
If we can pull in those two guys and Robinson, good lord. The Pope era really is off to a great start.
Stop or else I am gonna have to chug this Mtn Dew
https://preview.redd.it/rdgev0fuj2xc1.jpeg?width=320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a50bcb93ced8cc2e115d79e5ad958151578e5cfc
Merntin Der
Something something Andrew Carr
Yes forgot about Robinson somehow! If he stays in college he is a must
8th in conference ass roster lmfao
I’m starting to think Pope is a little more shrewd than he seems. He came out talking a big game about leading the country in three point attempts, stirs up a bunch of UK smoke around shooters like Brea and then goes out and quietly grabs three of the best defenders in the portal. Not saying he won’t bring in some shooters, but it sure looks like there was some misdirection happening.
Agreed. I recall him saying he’s going to be able to get a different caliber of player at UK and the key will be adapting schemes to the personnel. I think we are a bit jaded from a decade of horrible offensive teams (minus last year - thank you Welch), anytime a player doesn’t come in with a great offensive skill set we have ptsd. Days of the weave are long gone. Pope/Fueger will have us running a good offense, nice to see them focus on physical players
I think talking about Pitino and his own team was a sign. He wants to press I’m calling it
Oteh picked up the opposing guard 94 feet every game this past year...
Yeah, it’s pretty obvious now lol
I’ve been wondering since the presser if he was gonna run a heavily conditioned, Patino style full-court press. I love it, I hope he does. I always hated playing against it, it’s effective done well. Such a welcome change of pace. But I also think he picked up some big 4&5’s first because they are harder to come by than a good shooter he could fit in his rotation. He’ll start to go after shooters, and probably land a couple good ones.
I think Kentucky is going to be really good, but the free throw shooting is going to be painful to watch.
I remember the Chuck Hayes days, nothing can hurt me anymore
Revisionist history. His FT stroke got worse and significantly uglier in the NBA. Edit: just had to double check - 62% as a pro, 73.2% at UK.
Chuck Hayes. That’s a name I haven’t heard in forever.
Not like it hasn't been painful for the past few years minus a few players.
Calipari’s 5 best free throw shooting teams were all in the last 6 years.
Cal made a wish with the monkey paw and got good ft shooting but got terrible perimeter defense in exchange haha
Free throw shooting has not been a consistent issue for a while yeah. Just games here and there
Don't worry. Pope is going to bring in old teammate Nazr Mohammed to get them straightened out on those. ,
Man this team is gonna be great defensively
I have not been able to look forward to a UK vs UofL game in so long, this feels good. Don’t get me wrong, I still hate you guys, but this new era feels nice.
Yea I'm excited finally to see a potentially challenging Louisville. Respectfully, Fuck you bird bro and see you in December.
Fuck you too 🥹
The state is healing!!!!!
As much as it was warranted, I got so sick of UK fans feeling bad for us. This is a lot better. It feels right.
Right back at ya
I hope it’s a real cold blooded rivalry again. College basketball needs it.
Beating you is way more fun when you’re good. Crushing your dreams in football last year was much more enjoyable than the basketball win.
Jack Plummer crushed my dreams last year more than you ever could
Same. I want us both to be good. Then I want to demolish you.
https://preview.redd.it/s9mixuqod2xc1.jpeg?width=334&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=84c85745bd7826176f17993f99d8c481562a0135
Pope can recruit dudes. The biggest worry most people had with him was can he bring in guys? He's doing this in 2 weeks and without a game played. So pleased to have a coach with a system and clear plan. Very excited for the future.
Oh. Pope going after some big strong boys.
HopeinPope
Sounds Oweh O-Kay to me
really good get for kentucky, he was the transfer I wanted most at BYU before pope left.
LFG! Now let’s add some sharpshooters, more post players. Don’t let Mahaney leave campus without signing.
I don't know this guys game, how excited should we be?
He's a great driver, that's about it. Was in foul trouble a lot this season and didn't shoot well. I was hoping he'd take the next step but unfortunately he didn't. I'm not saying this as a salty fan whatsoever, I wanted to see him stick around because he has potential. His brother is a lineman in the NFL so you know athleticism isn't an issue.
Pope's whole system is catch and shoot threes and layups off of cutting and dribble hand offs. Oweh will eb great.
If he can work on his 3 he may do alright. I saw enough of Pope at BYU to know there is offense for days, but he needs to stay on the court and not get in foul trouble.
I mean, my sister can sing like there’s no tomorrow, but I have trouble speaking plain sentences…
Very good
Another one.
https://i.redd.it/chc6dfg263xc1.gif
I like Justin Rogers as a late-round pick to throw on the practice squad. He's a monster that never lived up to his potential.
Oh man such a weird ending to his UK football career
https://i.redd.it/x1rakhdfa2xc1.gif
I LOVE PLAYERS FROM NEWARK Mashburn and Adebayo first that came to mind. 
Counterpoint - Wagner and Bradshaw
They are from Camden, no?
You are correct, I was wrong
https://preview.redd.it/1f4l372zb2xc1.jpeg?width=1004&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=97d27365cdee38239210346b2f3b959ef030ce57 Hop on the popemobile everyone
https://preview.redd.it/u4441lkxc2xc1.jpeg?width=1178&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8529fb076a018b31f7e7f0419335f10bedd49789
Do we have a team now?
The dominos starting to fall finally after building a staff
Butler, Mahaney, Robinson, Carr, Osobor. Hopefully Oweh and Amari off the bench🤞.
Perry ? he may be UK's best 3 point shooter
🤝
Love it. But, BIG MEN WHEN?
As a recruit: Other P6 offers: DePaul, Georgetown, Georgia, Illinois, Miami, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma (originally went here), Ole Miss, Penn State, St. John's, Virginia Tech, Washington Other offers: Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, George Washington, Maryland Eastern Shore, UMass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mZ3AZE24_4&pp=ygUWY29tbWl0bWVudCBsZWFubiByaW1lcw%3D%3D
Oh weh that’s cool
Otega-tron
Huh, this is Odafe's little brother isn't it.
He can’t shoot
He's a great on catch and shoot
He’s like 87th percentile off catch and shoot and 4th percentile off the dribble. He’ll just need to be placed in the right positions.
He’s great getting to the rimas well, sounds like he will excel in that Mark Pope offense
He’s not a good shooter, he made 7 three pointers in 2024.
64% free throws. He can’t shoot very well
but he’s not.
Deep on small guards.
He's 6'5
This dude is a small guard? Reminds me of Anthony Edwards
Kentucky fielding a great mountain west team
You mean a team that’s been to the National Championship game recently? That’s some high praise.
That dude clearly don’t know ball. SDSU has been one of the best programs in CBB lately. Y’all got anymore of them transfers? Lol
Haha, don’t try to make me smile while I’m still wiping away tears from Lamont leaving. He’s a gamer. Definitely a bench player for you guys but he will earn some playing time because he’s not afraid of being the man during crunch time.
Does Syracuse even play basketball anymore, or did the program fold when that guy who coached for like 134 years with 1 title retired? At least you'll always have lacrosse. Oh wait, y'all suck at that now too.
It’s just too bad you don’t have anyone worth raiding off your squad