Mark Pope and Kentucky basketball are about to CATCH FIRE

[@greatkentuckian9032]

Hey Lance, just wanted to remind you of my preseason prediction where I said that UK would only loses 6 or less games this season. We are almost done with the non-con slate and still feeling confident with my initial part of us only losing 2 non-con games (just hope no miracles happen in the next seven days). The only area i feel nervous about is that conference slate. Trying to lose only 4 games will be the biggest challenge for Pope this season, though it will be exciting. The 4 loses i am expecting are from: A&M on 1/14, at Tennessee on 1/28, at Texas on 2/15, at Alabama on 2/22. Additional loses that i would not be surprised about would be from: Florida on 1/4, at Mississippi St on 1/11, at Ole Miss on 2/4, at Oklahoma on 2/26, and Auburn on 3/1. In other words, I think UK loses between 4-9 conference games at the end of the regular season.

[@trippylights2736]

Yeah the SEC is insane this year. I think anybody could win the conference tournament

[@johnosborne7031]

Agree completely. Every SEC game between the top 12 teams could be either team’s game. They will be exciting to watch and I’m ready to get on with it.

[@ArlesNapier]

We Are. Watching. At This Time. Because. Of Our. Love. For. This. Team. And. Lance. Amen!!!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@scottsturgeon-kj4rg]

I am totally pumped about this team, this coach , and our potential I really love Coach's passion and in game changes Our last coach just refused to make changes during the game

[@davidrizzutojr4937]

Pope was coached by Pitino so at some point he's going to bring the full court press out

[@curtissimpson5156]

Very good job. Love ur channel. Fan for like. My grandpa is in their HOF

[@JaredAustin-j9q]

You can stop saying OSU isn’t going to do this or isn’t going to do that! What’s going to happen is a couple of there players are going to have the game of there lives and hit every shot they throw and give us a game like always!

[@danielhammond3012]

Ain't it the truth brother?😮😅

[@jt1765]

Pope has them staying at home on defense instead of gambling. Help d stays on their feet, they don’t take a lot of chances and instead make teams work to get a bucket. They don’t foul. They don’t have breakdowns. More turnovers would be great and help get out in transition but so does good rebounding and we’re not giving up a bunch of offensive boards either. It’s a solid defense, it’s not game breaking like the offense but it’s still solid and as long as the communicating gets better on ball screens I think they will do really good. Double O and The Butler can still get their hands in there and get some steals, but overall as a team these guys just aren’t athletic enough to pressure like you would want and I think they just need to rely on being real sound because that’s what this team is, they’re not a team that will cause havoc but instead will beat you by staying disciplined and being in the right spots and making the right plays at the right time.

[@scootchisme]

That’s my take on the defense as well. I don’t think it’s a significant issue (to Pope) that they should be forcing more turnovers, given that he’s proven that he’s a very deliberate, analytical, statistically-driven coach. To a brand new team that depends heavily on simple, repeatable actions, it’s far more difficult to teach the intuition, vision, timing, and coordination that it takes to “force more turnovers” if a group of players doesn’t individually do it well already. Instead, (as you mention above) it seems that he’d prefer to force opponents into bad shot-taking situations where yes, they may get more attempts, but those attempts are low percentage opportunities. It’s much easier to teach a team of already mature, mentally disciplined players how to apply pressure and discomfort consistently until the opponent makes a mental error or forces up a desperation shot. It’s different, but it is a type of chaos.

[@jt1765]

@ exactly

[@Benray86]

How many shot clock violations does Kentucky get compared to others nationally?

[@jt1765]

@@Benray86 i don’t know. How many top 10 wins do they have with clutch defensive plays at the end? Cooper flag, turnover, steal. Andrew carr against gonzaga, steal…they do what they need to.

[@jt1765]

EvanMiya has them at 28 on defense, they were up to 11 I think around the time of the gonzaga game. No surprise it’s gone down with butler and Kerr both out

[@jackiebyrd5854]

Johnson and Wales is a culinary school. I went there. That’s hysterical.

[@kevinhensley4643]

It doesn't matter that Kentucky is not stealing the ball from their opponents. This is not the Kentucky team with the speed to achieve this, so they have to play smarter than their opponents. It's not in their DNA. I'm not concerned with the #'s it's the finale outcome. Wins!! We will lose some games in this historical SEC

[@lb9181]

I agree. I actually like that they don’t just gamble for steals a ton

[@DeborahAnderson-d4v]

Love Coach Pope and our team❤❤❤❤

[@HollerTalk]

Must be crazy 🤪 to be watching this at this time of the night

[@LorrieC23]

Love this team. Their heart & their fight make up for where they are lacking. GO CATS!!!

[@GBBN89]

It's the kentucky effect Lance. Opponent's when playing Ky, raise the level of play thats why the numbers are confusing. Dont get caught up in analytics we have lost 1 game and im predicting about 5 or 6 losses by the end of sec play 2 seed going into the tournament. We're gonna be just fine.

[@ReedThomas71]

The biggest problem is defensive rebounding. BOX OUT and get the board!!!

[@Marshall_Weber]

Go Big Blue!!! #TimeFor9 #BBN

[@blakeballard6977]

Why is OWEH not in thumbnail

[@nickperkins8477]

The Ohio State coach, I think, has said that Aaron Bradshaw will play Saturday.

[@captainmarvel9610]

Bradshaw is playing is what I heard too.

[@CBB1981]

Absolutely right , Ky needs to cause some turnover action on defense, without fouls.

[@donpaige3034]

Sec play getting ready to begin that’s when anybody can beat anybody I figure we will be a little more humble when it begins because from the top to the bottom the sec is loaded

[@Harmsxway]

if i was bradshaw i wouldnt want to play in this game either lol

[@scotty666tt]

Florida is good but has not beat anyone,A bad UNC is there best win so far,but they look good we shall see against better competition

[@Nickk-ut5nz]

Go to bed then lol

[@randyspencer5937]

Lol

[@JohnnyYoung-wl1or]

This guy is not realistic

[@vernonkroark]

About to? A team that is 10-1, ranked 4th in the country, and has already beaten 2 top ten teams on neutral courts is "about to" catch fire? Sorry, but that's got to be the most out of touch title for a video I have ever seen. Also, I could do without the rampant speculation and rumor mongering.

[@LockedOnKentucky]

According to HaslaMetrics, “Kentucky has definitely not been as efficient as of late compared to earlier in the season and, consequently, the team is nationally ranked fourth from the bottom in positive momentum.” That’s fourth worst out of 364 Division 1 teams. Kentucky isn’t playing well. Evan Miya also shows this. Torvik charts this. Despite playing poorly relative to the start of the season, Kentucky is still 10-1. Anyone who has watched their last five games or so knows they’re not clicking like they were. The entire point of the video was identifying their weaknesses and explaining why they will start playing like they did at the beginning of the schedule. Otherwise, they’ll take more hits in SEC play than they want to. That’s going to happen if things don’t change. It’s wild to imagine that the team clearly still has such a high ceiling. They haven’t even played their best basketball yet. I expect them to.

[@jackiebyrd5854]

Johnson and Wales is a culinary school. I went there. That’s hysterical.

[@HollerTalk]

Must be crazy 🤪 to be watching this at this time of the night