Iowa State's damning Kentucky assessment couldn't be a bigger indictment of Mark Pope

What a complete and utter disaster! The Kentucky Wildcats were only down one point at halftime to a depleted Iowa State Cyclones team. Their best player in forward Joshua Jefferson did not even play. Instead, Kentucky threw up all over itself in the second half to lose by the final score of 82-63. To add insult to injury, here is what Iowa State guard Nate Heise had to say about Kentucky after the game...

This quote from Heise about Kentucky having no mental fortitude is why Pope should be out of a job.

"And I think that's something we kind of identified before the game, even the potential for them to do that. And the way that we just turned them over and played our defense to where it didn't look like they could do anything else. I think when you get them to that point, it's like, 'Let's just be done.' I think that's their mindset, so it was good to get them to that point."

The fact that Heise and the rest of the Cyclones knew that Kentucky could be broken is so damning.

No. 2 Iowa State will be taking on No. 6 Tennessee in the Sweet 16 after their domination of Kentucky.

ISU guard Nate Heise might as well hand Mark Pope his Kentucky pink slip

To think we were one half away from Pope falling ass backwards into back-to-back Sweet 16s is truly unbelievable. Bill Self might give up an arm to get into the second week of the tournament again... For now, Pope's failures this season have not gone unnoticed. Big Blue Nation wants him gone yesterday. They could not care less if he once played for the Wildcats back in the 1990s. He is not built for this...

The thing that is so troubling about Heise's comments about this particular Kentucky team is if TJ Otzelberger's players knew this, then everybody whose team is led by a quality head coach knows it, too. It is at this stage of the season where every little thing matters. Teams that are talented, but disjointed only get so far. At least Otega Oweh made sure Kentucky was not a first-round exit team...

At this time, Mitch Barnhart has a difficult, but obvious choice to make. He needs to move on from Pope as Kentucky's head coach. He may be the outgoing athletic director, but he cannot have his sucessor stradled with a head coach whose alma mater has completely turned on over the course of two years. It is in Barnhart's best interest to have Kentucky athletics heading in a positive direction.

While he might be able to sell someone on Will Stein, it is going to be a much harder one with Pope.