Jeremy Sharlow

@ScoopLexington We were told by the media and Barnhardt those weren't possible

UNC is gonna have a home run hire. How did we not approach any of these guys. TJ Billy D Golden May

@BRamseyKSR History of injuries you say? Sounds like Pope's type of player....

Dedan Thomas Jr. is an elite playmaker. Injuries derailed his junior season, but he was a consistent producer through two years at UNLV. High assist rate, high free throw rate guy. Definitely will be highly sought after once again.

@Eddielinks_ "Start that guy.."- I've never heard anything more delusional in my life

Jasper Johnson was setup to fail at Kentucky from day 1

@KyleTuckerCBB The media told Kentucky fans any of these guys would never happen and basically so did our AD by the whack hire he did make... So, who was lying?

My take on Dusty May, who I’d hire in a heartbeat just like my colleagues here, is he ought to stay right where he is.

It's gonna be really interesting to see which coaches the ADs at Kansas and UNC hire... Especially when Mitch and the media told us guys like Oates and Golden would never move in the NIL era....I'm going to bet both schools get premium coaches and we got Pope...

If Billy Donovan takes another blueblood gig this cycle, Kentucky fans might storm Mitch Barnhart’s office. The timing works better for Billy D to have those conversations this year than two years ago, but he would’ve listened then if UK was willing to wait.

@RealFakeBlake I know that now! But I'll bet you he's not coming to Kentucky

@jssharlow This is fake.

Pope wants you to feel good and the last blue chip has just cut him...

@Cats_Coverage Yep. He's a .500 coach

Throughout his entire career, Mark Pope averages this many wins and loss per season.

@nolanuky27 @_VinceCali It is actually pretty simple. Mitch made the lazy/easy hire. His only requirement was that the next coach was easy to manage... Enter Pope who checked all those boxes.

@_VinceCali If I could hook Mitch Barnhart up to a lie detector test and guarantee a true answer out of him on questions I asked, I’d have so many about the coaching search in 2024.

Here’s where I currently stand on the entire Pope situation at this point (we will talk endlessly about it on Breaking Blue for our season wrap up). Am I confident in Pope? No. I was all in coming into the year on Mark Pope as being our guy. After this year, I have serious worries about Pope not only on the court, but the overall management of the program. At the end of the day, Pope gets year 3. Should he? Based on performance, no. But based on the administration currently? Probably. When you consider Barnhart isn’t leaving until July, nobody is taking a job when they don’t know who the AD will be. So at the end of the day, I’m a Kentucky fan first and a fan of the coach second (maybe even third). If the coach succeeds, Kentucky succeeds. That’s all that matters to me. I am pulling for Mark Pope to get this right. Worst case scenario and he doesn’t, then Kentucky will move on this time next year and hire another coach.

@LockedOnUK He grabbed 4 years so he could include the 9-16 COVID year. By every other year comparison he's worse. And hey, how bout you stop recruiting little tiny guards and then you won't have to complain about injuries

Somebody on Kentucky’s staff giving Pope MAD notes for this radio show

@DickeyButtz Yes. At Lindsey Wilson college

Lots of Jasper Johnson hate on the timeline right now. God forbid kids aren’t ready their freshman year. He’s going to transfer and figure it out somewhere else.

@sbeatlefan @TerrellTres I like this name

@TerrellTres "Moral victory Mark" has spoken

Mark Pope: “Yes, the amount of losses were unacceptable, but there was one against a team outside the top-40.” “Only 5 teams can claim that.” Says they’d rather still be playing in NCAAT of course but says sometimes people let emotions get in the way between each game result.

@TerrellTres I am yet to meet a fan happy or excited for another minute with Mark Pope

Mark Pope subtly and finally throws a jab at what feels like the UK media to end his radio show. Says the loud “1%” vocal minority “looking for hits” are essentially the ones disappointed and the other 99% — who he meets out in public — are always showcasing excitement to him.

@Cats_Coverage Now compare it to the last 3 years so you don't get that convenient COVID year in your stats...

Mark Pope says the last 2 seasons under him have been more successful than 4 seasons before he arrived.

Mark Pope on Kentucky's recruiting efforts: "We're really excited about where we are. Just hang in there guys. I think recruiting is going to work out just great"

@Wildcat_wave Cool. How many of those teams lost 8 games by 15-20 pts?

Mark Pope: "UK was one of only five teams in the country with five or more top 20 wins and one or less losses to teams outside the top 40" "There's only five teams in the country that can claim that stat"

@DimRecess @JDrumUK Yes. That's why he went with 4 years and not 3.

@JDrumUK Does previous 4 years get to include the 9-16 year?

On his message to fans who are down right now... Pope cites growth and improvement the last two years. Says they've only played 5/56 games against P4 teams with a full roster. Notes that they still have a higher winning % in the last two years than the previous four, and it was done while playing a harder strength of schedule and facing really bad health misfortune. Clearly, we did not meet the standard, but we are making progress.

@TBrown_80 At this rate of "improvement" it will take 20 years to win a title...

1. He’s banking on the BBN’s hatred of the previous coach (smart move). 2. He’s also gonna have the lowest winning percentage of any third year UK coach since 1924 3. Talk is cheap. He needs to work to be the only 3 year UK coach without an Elite 8.