Mark Pope has had some great quotes during his tenure at Kentucky. He is a very thoughtful man, he has belief in his players and his system. That is a good thing, but man there are times when he just says something that will make you stop in your tracks.
That happened Tuesday night after Kentucky lost to Georgia.
The Cats' offense shifted back into hero ball mode. They wanted to take their defender on one-on-one, and it resulted in a team that had 13 assists and 13 assists. You are not going to beat very many teams with a 1-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. That is bad AAU ball.
And that is at times what Kentucky has looked like this season. You have 4 guys stand around and watch as Denzel Aberdeen or Otega Oweh drives to the lane and throws up a shot. This is not a team built for that style of play. You can do that when you have a John Wall or SGA. Aberdeen and Oweh are good players, but they are not Wall and SGA.
And then you have this quote from Mark Pope:
"These guys will compete. We didn't play well tonight and there were moments where we took some possessions off."
Keep in mind this is a team that has had it's leader publicly admit he struggles with effort.
How does Kentucky keep taking possessions off?
This Kentucky team has lost by 25 to Vanderbilt, lost by 15 to Alabama, lost by 35 to Gonzaga and they still want to take plays off? How does that make sense? These guys should know by now that they can not simply show up and win. Yet, that is exactly what keeps happening.
Collin Chandler touched on it with his interview with Goose after the game too:
"There’s just a few possessions where we would like to have back, where we weren't focused."
I just don't understand how that can keep happening. At some point, the coaches have to own it and put those players on the bench. If you are going to lose anyway, might as well lose with guys who are at least following the scouting report.
How many more times does Kentucky have to get down 10 before they actually show up focused? I get that there will be plays through a game where you do the wrong thing. That happens. But to do the same wrong thing all season long? That is why fans are nervous.
This team doesn't seem to want to learn, and we are almost to March. They are running out of runway, and things are looking dicey.