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Author
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Topic: Defense
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Trey Ball
Administrator
Member # 332
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posted 01-25-2025 07:39 PM
I only watched the first half because we had church and a birthday party.
I knew UK was bad against the Pick and Pop and the Pick and Roll, but had no idea where they ranked until Jimmy Dykes mentioned it during the first 10 minutes of the game.
UK ranked 350th against the Pick and Pop....there are only 352 division 1 teams I believe. ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
I think he then said UK was 250th against the Pick and Roll.
For having veteran players that is just so hard to believe. Wow.
It always seems as though they really struggle in the first half defensively and then they seem to pick up the defensive intensity the second half. It has been a real common theme this year.
If Carr is out an extended period of time this could get ugly real fast.
[ 01-25-2025, 07:40 PM: Message edited by: Trey Ball ]
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Wife's Mad. Told me we never talk anymore. And just last nite while watching super bowl told her 2 or 3 times to get me a coke and popcorn. Also told her not to forget to take out trash in the morning. Ain't that something. Also told me I was too indecisive. Can't figure out what to do about that. One nice thing I guess. She called me a pro crastinator. Don't know what a crastinator is but I guess I'm a good one for her to call me a pro. Gonna wait til tomorrow to look that up though. I love her but somrtimes can't help but thinking I should have told uncle Junior to keep his coon hound pup and stevens double barrel and also his youngest daughter.
redbone
Posts: 11839 | From: IN, USA | Registered: Dec 1999
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Trey Ball
Administrator
Member # 332
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posted 01-25-2025 08:53 PM
Still 100% behind Coach Pope though. Carr is just so important to the team.
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Wife's Mad. Told me we never talk anymore. And just last nite while watching super bowl told her 2 or 3 times to get me a coke and popcorn. Also told her not to forget to take out trash in the morning. Ain't that something. Also told me I was too indecisive. Can't figure out what to do about that. One nice thing I guess. She called me a pro crastinator. Don't know what a crastinator is but I guess I'm a good one for her to call me a pro. Gonna wait til tomorrow to look that up though. I love her but somrtimes can't help but thinking I should have told uncle Junior to keep his coon hound pup and stevens double barrel and also his youngest daughter.
redbone
Posts: 11839 | From: IN, USA | Registered: Dec 1999
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ukman
Player
Member # 3032
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posted 01-25-2025 09:21 PM
Our defense is horrible, and Pope needs to really be focusing on them getting better with their rotations and help side. Amari is terrible as a help defender, and Robinson should be much better. Butler was bad on both sides today. Amari just moved out of the way of a driver late in the game and just gave up a wide open layup. He did absolutely nothing and just moved.
Posts: 5765 | From: georgia | Registered: Jan 2009
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Bama Cat
Player
Member # 153
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posted 01-25-2025 10:09 PM
most of them are now playing like mid-major players. Throwing them all together is not making them better against top teams. We would never beat Duke now.
Posts: 14370 | From: berea, ky, usa | Registered: Sep 1999
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Trey Ball
Administrator
Member # 332
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posted 01-25-2025 11:33 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Bama Cat:
We would never beat Duke now.
Agree. Duke is a much better team now than when UK played them and Duke could follow the blueprint that has been laid out to beat UK.
That being said I am hoping that Duke win is what allows UK to slide into the tourney.
After dropping this game I still have UK at 7-11 in the SEC. So 4-8 the rest of the way. They are at 3-3 where I expected them to be however I had them beating UGA and Vandy and losing to A&M and MSU, so my SEC predictions by game off been way off.
[ 01-25-2025, 11:39 PM: Message edited by: Trey Ball ]
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Wife's Mad. Told me we never talk anymore. And just last nite while watching super bowl told her 2 or 3 times to get me a coke and popcorn. Also told her not to forget to take out trash in the morning. Ain't that something. Also told me I was too indecisive. Can't figure out what to do about that. One nice thing I guess. She called me a pro crastinator. Don't know what a crastinator is but I guess I'm a good one for her to call me a pro. Gonna wait til tomorrow to look that up though. I love her but somrtimes can't help but thinking I should have told uncle Junior to keep his coon hound pup and stevens double barrel and also his youngest daughter.
redbone
Posts: 11839 | From: IN, USA | Registered: Dec 1999
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handycat
Player
Member # 2323
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posted 01-26-2025 10:25 AM
I think Coach Pope has done an amazing job. He took over a team that basically had no roster, recruited good talent (not great) and turned them into a very competitive team.
There are fans on other sites that think he should be able to take a team with mid level talent and lead them to a National Championship. That’s obviously not going to happen.
Posts: 5490 | From: decatur ill. | Registered: Feb 2005
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Tiptree
Administrator
Member # 844
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posted 01-26-2025 01:21 PM
This team is unlikely to bring home number nine.
But, some context is important here. What this team (and this coach) have done is nothing short of remarkable -- almost on the scale of the Unforgettables.
Now...
UK basketball is fun to watch (most of the time).
We are never out of a game... we just don't win them all.
Pope has reinstated "program over player", a staple of UK's prolonged success.
Pope is palpably excited to lead this program.
So, a bunch of mid-majors, under new management, has come into the ridiculously talented and competive SEC and left its mark. Pope has a solid base of freshmen to return (hopefully), and some decent talent coming in. He will have to work the transfer portal pretty hard once again, but year-by-year, he is going to swap out the reliance on transfers for a base of recruits that he can build upon.
I think Trey is about right regarding the SEC record of this team. Can we make some noise in March? Sure! As long as we can shoot well, we can beat anybody. Improving defense would go a long way to give us a better shot for a mini-run in March. But April? No, I don't think so. But it is back in the conversation as Pope builds a team that we can be proud of.
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Tiptree
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” Thomas Jefferson
Posts: 13709 | From: Terre Haute, IN | Registered: Sep 2000
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Trey Ball
Administrator
Member # 332
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posted 01-26-2025 03:49 PM
Yep as I stated in another topic I am 100% behind what Pope is doing.
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Wife's Mad. Told me we never talk anymore. And just last nite while watching super bowl told her 2 or 3 times to get me a coke and popcorn. Also told her not to forget to take out trash in the morning. Ain't that something. Also told me I was too indecisive. Can't figure out what to do about that. One nice thing I guess. She called me a pro crastinator. Don't know what a crastinator is but I guess I'm a good one for her to call me a pro. Gonna wait til tomorrow to look that up though. I love her but somrtimes can't help but thinking I should have told uncle Junior to keep his coon hound pup and stevens double barrel and also his youngest daughter.
redbone
Posts: 11839 | From: IN, USA | Registered: Dec 1999
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ukman
Player
Member # 3032
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posted 01-26-2025 07:17 PM
My prediction for total wins at the beginning of the season was to be around 17-14 going into SEC play. My hope was to see us playing better at the end of the season and make it to the semis of the SEC tournament. Then make the tournament, and maybe win 1, but if not at least make a good showing against a higher seed. With the way we started I feel this team has the talent to win 5-6 of the remaining games. The way things have gone we may beat the higher ranked teams and lose to the lower ranked or unranked teams. Who knows.
The Vandy game was so frustrating because it's the first game where I felt we just didn't play hard, or focused in the first half. I, unfortunately, was at the game with my son and we looked so lethargic and just very complacent. That is a game we had no business losing. This team has set a higher standard than many expected because of their play. I understand they aren't going to beat every ranked team, but we should expect them to win games like this past Saturday. I am still very happy with Pope, even though I didn't feel he had a great game on Saturday himself. I thought his sub patterns were a little too much in the first, and that he should have never put Butler back in at the end of the game. I understand why he did, but you have to look at the way he was playing all game and keep him on the bench. We were better in the 2nd half when he was out. But, all I have to do is watch an Arkansas game to remind me of what we could be watching this season and that makes me very thankful.
I think the future is bright.
Posts: 5765 | From: georgia | Registered: Jan 2009
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Bama Cat
Player
Member # 153
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posted 01-26-2025 10:33 PM
I am also very happy with where we are. The early standings has us only dropping to #10 spot after losing 2 in a row. I yhink we have a lot of respect now from a lot of people. We just don't seem to be able to hit our shots like I was expecting. And of course the defense is not playing well either.
Posts: 14370 | From: berea, ky, usa | Registered: Sep 1999
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