UofL Vs Uk
- Thread starter shadow force
- Start date
This team and year is one of the few times i feel good about this game. For whatever reason no matter the level of talent we have rather better than them . Which is not that often we are just for whatever reason cursed vs them.
Doesn't make any sense over the years we have no problem vs Duke,NC and Mich.St teams that have similar talent to them. And those teams handled them.
And i personally never thought Rick really put forth the effort to try and beat them nor wanted too. As he stated that place was Camelot those are strong feelings.
Doesn't make any sense over the years we have no problem vs Duke,NC and Mich.St teams that have similar talent to them. And those teams handled them.
And i personally never thought Rick really put forth the effort to try and beat them nor wanted too. As he stated that place was Camelot those are strong feelings.
Last edited:
I don't know what went on behind the scenes but for whatever reason there seemed to be massive pressure - either spoken or unspoken for him to beat UK and he and the team buckled under that pressure. It didn't help that Rick's issue was that his style of team building was not conducive to beating teams like UK. For basically the entirety of Rick's time at UofL, UK was the only team in the country building their program the way they were. Loading up on lottery picks and rolling the ball out there. Rick's teams could hang with and beat teams that 1 or 2 lottery picks but UK brought in 2-3 kids that could have gone straight out high school every year and he was convincing top 50 kids to come sit for a season or 2 as well. Rick's team utilized small guards that would almost always get dwarfed and bullied but UKs larger, more athletic guards. Old UK teams used to almost always have elite rim protection.
UofL typically relied on a "team system" that relied on pressing and turnovers to generate large chunks of offense and when long, tall athletic guards could just pass over it, it caused issues. UofLs lack of long athletic guards also caused issues because it became more difficult for our guards to get to the rim and even if they managed to they were typically met with an elite rim protector.
Rick choked a lot in those games and its most apparent in the 2013 game where our best team in 30 years beat an NIT bound UK team by 3 on our home floor.
As far as this years game goes - I wouldn't hold my breath. UK has multiple guards that I would wager all of our "forwards Kenny's calling guards" will struggle to stay in front of. Because we have no clue what sort of offense or defense we will see because - Kenny Payne - its hard to really determine anything. We will see who's healthy in UKs frontcourt but outside of Skyy Clark - who I genuinely think could be the best guard on the court that day - UK will have a major advantage at basically every angle. UK has multiple ball handlers, multiple rim protectors, capable shooting bigs, an elite 3 point shooter, the talent and ability to adapt/alter their lineups, a coach that wants to win and has some working knowledge of how to win a game. There's just nowhere that UofL has an advantage and I can't foresee a scenario where KP outcoaches someone - even John Calipari.
I disagree with your take on this team . We got players that have a skill set and mentality as a whole we haven't had here in long time. They are good and not going to back down to UK . Whom outside of DJ is way over rated.
We have yet to see what this team can do. We do know that the coaching staff is the exact same and as of now they should the responsibility for a 4-28 season. That does change until we see what happens when they tip it off. Are the reports of better talent and better effort encouraging? Yes. But until these guys go up against decent opposition we really know nothing.
We will agree to disagree. I don’t even know what that means. We have a set of players who seem to be jack of all trades and master of none. All of our guys can “kinda” handle the ball. Can “kinda” shoot. Can “kinda” play defense. We also have no idea how they play as a unit. When you have a roster with a single, true, ball handling guard on it and then 4-5 forwards who are all 6’5+ and 200lbs+ that you’re going to shove into ball handling and shooting roles and be expected to stay in front of quicker, lighter true guards with better ball handling skills it won’t matter what they’re “mentality” is.
Part of my thinking is based on how horrendous the staff looked last year. It’s nearly impossible to have any amount confidence in this staff with how thoroughly and completely they failed in every aspect of running of college program last year. I just don’t think “a bad roster” accounts for all of last years issues.
It’s not even JUST about the coaching staff. It’s the coaching staff AND the roster construction. You’ve got an unproven coaching staff. A staff consisting of a first time ever head coach, a very young and inexperienced associate head coach, a failed everywhere he’s been former head coach and a guy whose been working behind a desk for the last 15 years attempting to create a successful basketball team utilizing a roster design that almost nobody in the sport utilizes.
So you’ve got this coaching staff - with a roster with a single true guard - attempting to develop multiple wings and improve their shooting and ball handling while also developing a project Freshman Center and having no proven, dependable talent.
- You could confidently label: Koron Davis, Curtis Williams, Danilo Jovovich, and Okorafor major projects that have a higher chance of never seeing meaningful minutes than developing into a solid P5 player. That’s 1/3 of the roster.
- Then you’ve got Flowers, Evan’s and Glenn. Solid young Freshman that will take time and development but do have a solid foundation to work from. That’s 7 of the 12 scholarships right there.
- Then there’s Tre White, Mike James, BHH, Skyy Clark and JJ Traynor. Can Mike James actually play and defend at the guard spot? Will BHH actually improve and play with consistency? Can Tre White improve his shooting? Can Skyy Clark shoulder the massive load all year at PG? Has Traynor improved enough to be counted on?
This coaching staff has absolutely nothing they can realistically count on right now. There’s nothing they can sit down and confidently think “ok, I know we’re going to get this from player X.” Every player is in flux and needs to improve or develop in some way just for this team to not be horrible. Not for this team to be a top 25 squad. This staff needs multiple players to be better than they were last year and for multiple newcomers to quickly acclimate to the college game just to have a shot at a .500 season.
Its not personal. Its having two eyes and a logical brain.
Funny how different fans see this current roster and coaching staff compared to real BB coaches that have seen them. KP should hire some of our fanbase sure it would be a homerun hire.
Maybe we need to establish what you and I are meaning when we talk about improvement.
What are your expectations for this roster?
What does Kenny have to do this year in your mind to confidently get another season?
Maybe we're arguing from a similar standpoint and we just aren't aware.
One thing I never do with any coach is judge them their first year . As I like to give them a chance to mold the team into their likeness with a majority of players they want. The clock for me starts this year with him . Last year was not going to be good no matter what
No need to keep throwing up 4 wins well 3 or 4 games could went our way. Then we would have had 7 or 8 would that have made a difference with the KP hater crowd doubt it.
Only person that matters is Josh and he has pretty much stated in his interviews last year didnt matter to him .He kinda expected a bad year himself.
My expectations I cant put a number
on it nor can anyone else. I do know for certain they going to win way more than 4 how many tune in and see for yourself. KP going to get it rolling I'll be able to enjoy it cant say if alot of you will.
You shouldn't base your entire opinion of a coach on his first year. Agreed. But to totally ignore it isn't smart either. We all saw the previous season.
For the record I think this team will be much improved - I just don't think they'll be improved enough to really slow the building frustration and lack of interest from our fan base. Kenny has to at minimum have UofL on the bubble by March but my fear is that we'll be much closer to .500 than the NCAA Tournament.
I have no problem admitting that either. I want him to succeed. We need him to succeed. I hope he molds this roster into a winning team.
He's done himself no favors with his media interactions but if he wins fans will jump back on board.
I’d love to be as pumped for the MBB team as I am for the FB team. But, keep in mind that we fans did not dig the hole that KP now finds himself in. KP did that himself. Let’s see if he digs out this year. I, for one, remain skeptical and I have never wanted more to be wrong.
This roster is really young even by this era's standards. It could be one of the youngest rosters in P5. Maybe the youngest.
Going to see how they do before burying 'em. These players had a ton of options and they chose UofL so I'm going to appreciate 'em for doing that and give them a chance to show what they can do.
Going to see how they do before burying 'em. These players had a ton of options and they chose UofL so I'm going to appreciate 'em for doing that and give them a chance to show what they can do.
Let’s start by beating Bellarmine first before we do this yearly thing about “they’re not as good and this year is different.” stuff with this game.
I personally think Rick failed in the sUcKs series because of his teaching style. It was a game with a lot of of pressure. Because Kensucky used to have a poor SEC schedule, they schedule teams like Duke, Carolina, Kansas, and others before the game. They had to get their tough games in before it started. Not to mention their redneck fans are crazy.
The Kensucky players usually already had faced some pressure from national games with interest already more than we did with Rick. Rick liked to ramp things up once we got into Big East play. I think our guys would be a step behind when it came to playing in the December matchup. Big games are called tighter too, which people complained about the fouls but a lot of it was you’d have more eyes and we weren’t used to the Big Game whistle.
Also, Rick’s teams at that point usually played mainly teams we dominated athletically. Our press would just over match our opponents. Kensucky was usually the first team we’d face that had longer and more athletic guys that could run with us. We couldn’t just press them and scare them. It also hurt us in 2014 in March because the AAC outside of UConn(who wasn’t good in the regular season) just wasn’t a good level of competition and we weren’t ready for their athletes again.
But we always hit our stride late in the season. Rick’s process always worked. If the game was played in late January, we would’ve done much better as we would’ve been hitting our stride.
I personally think Rick failed in the sUcKs series because of his teaching style. It was a game with a lot of of pressure. Because Kensucky used to have a poor SEC schedule, they schedule teams like Duke, Carolina, Kansas, and others before the game. They had to get their tough games in before it started. Not to mention their redneck fans are crazy.
The Kensucky players usually already had faced some pressure from national games with interest already more than we did with Rick. Rick liked to ramp things up once we got into Big East play. I think our guys would be a step behind when it came to playing in the December matchup. Big games are called tighter too, which people complained about the fouls but a lot of it was you’d have more eyes and we weren’t used to the Big Game whistle.
Also, Rick’s teams at that point usually played mainly teams we dominated athletically. Our press would just over match our opponents. Kensucky was usually the first team we’d face that had longer and more athletic guys that could run with us. We couldn’t just press them and scare them. It also hurt us in 2014 in March because the AAC outside of UConn(who wasn’t good in the regular season) just wasn’t a good level of competition and we weren’t ready for their athletes again.
But we always hit our stride late in the season. Rick’s process always worked. If the game was played in late January, we would’ve done much better as we would’ve been hitting our stride.
If there's one thing that perfectly illustrates the rift and issues that KPs hire has caused in the fan base its posts like this.
When fans are deciding who's a real fan and who's a fake fan that tells you all you need to know about how well the current coach is doing.
Calling someone a fake fan and debating about someone's level of fanhood is the bottom of barrel IMO. Its the most disrespectful and idiotic thing a fanbase can do. We're all on a PAID LOUISVILLE SPORTS BOARD. We're paying money and using our time to discuss the university we love and support. Nobody on this board is a "fake fan." At least not on the paid boards. Fans decide how they support their program but everyone here is a fan. Every fan has a different level of expectation for nearly every aspect of whatever program/sport they're supporting. Every fan views the coach, the previous season, the roster - differently. Some look at this roster and think its a 20+ team and some look at it and see a 10 win team. Doesn't make one a fake fan and one a true fan. Being blindly supportive isn't the #1 aspect of being a fan.
Doubting the hire and/or the ability of a coach certainly does not make one a fake fan. If so, Cincy probably has a ton of fake football fans this year.
To make matters even worse - if there's any fanbase out there who the entire fanbase should be unanimously united on it being absolutely understandable to have reservations about the staff/program future/roster it should be UofL fans.
To sit through the media comments, the roster neglect, the blowouts, a season of the team looking clueless and lost, a season of the staff looking clueless and lost, a season where the staff was clearly unable to motivate or truly develop, and an off season where the staff missed on multiple high end players they were heavily implied to land, assembled yet another unconventional roster with only 1 true guard, made head scratching roster additions and continued to both deflect responsibility and provide absolutely nothing in the way of specifics on offense or defensive plans.......
If there's any fan base out there who is allowed to "wait and see" or doubt their staff its Louisville. No program has went through more over the last decade and no program has had it rougher over the last 2 years than Louisville. Blindly supportive fans should be grateful we're even still here.
To sit through the media comments, the roster neglect, the blowouts, a season of the team looking clueless and lost, a season of the staff looking clueless and lost, a season where the staff was clearly unable to motivate or truly develop, and an off season where the staff missed on multiple high end players they were heavily implied to land, assembled yet another unconventional roster with only 1 true guard, made head scratching roster additions and continued to both deflect responsibility and provide absolutely nothing in the way of specifics on offense or defensive plans.......
If there's any fan base out there who is allowed to "wait and see" or doubt their staff its Louisville. No program has went through more over the last decade and no program has had it rougher over the last 2 years than Louisville. Blindly supportive fans should be grateful we're even still here.
"No program has went through more over the last decade "
That part right their you stated . However for whatever reason it all got compiled on KP rather intentional or not. People just cannot understand or grasp the fact last season was the tip of the iceberg for that quote . Some just want to put blame on somebody other than actual parties who put the school in that place. Sad thing is we have so called fans that refuse to believe we are at this point because of Rick smh .And some of Mack whom was treading water because of Rick also. Just because the NCAA let him off doesn't absolve the crap that went on under his watch. I hate bringing up the past but it's the reason this program has to be totally rebuilt. In which KP is trying to do Rome wasn't built over nite.
Our fan base needs to come to realization we are not one of the prettiest girls at the party like we used to be. KP is getting us back we were never mentioned with the the type of players he has the program in on now facts undisputed . RIck couldn't attract NBA level guys!
That part right their you stated . However for whatever reason it all got compiled on KP rather intentional or not. People just cannot understand or grasp the fact last season was the tip of the iceberg for that quote . Some just want to put blame on somebody other than actual parties who put the school in that place. Sad thing is we have so called fans that refuse to believe we are at this point because of Rick smh .And some of Mack whom was treading water because of Rick also. Just because the NCAA let him off doesn't absolve the crap that went on under his watch. I hate bringing up the past but it's the reason this program has to be totally rebuilt. In which KP is trying to do Rome wasn't built over nite.
Our fan base needs to come to realization we are not one of the prettiest girls at the party like we used to be. KP is getting us back we were never mentioned with the the type of players he has the program in on now facts undisputed . RIck couldn't attract NBA level guys!
Last edited:
If getting back is 4-28 I would had to see failing 😂. KP shouldn’t be mentioned in the same sentence as RP.
You are the fake fan you don't like him okay find another team. Because he is not going anywhere. Yo obviously are not a fan because you refuse to move on with a new year and roster. Still talking about 4 wins it happened so what.
And i'm convinced some of yall are sneakily wanting and wishing for him to fail.Because you have personal feelings about the hire anyway. It shows in your comments.
Last edited:
Nobody is blaming the last 10 years on Kenny. Everyone on here understands that the program had a huge cloud hanging over it that damaged the brand.
You can both understand the program had issues and understand that even with those issues Kenny Payne's tenure has been problematic. Both are true. This idea that Kenny gets absolved for last year is absolute horse shit. He was hired in March. It was clear by July that there would be a major learning curve for Kenny because of how long it took him to assemble the staff, who he ended up hiring and how unsuccessful he was being retooling the roster. The reason UofL won 4 games last year was 30% player effort/attitude and 70% the fact that Kenny did nothing in the portal and he and his staff had no clue how to coach, motivate or develop the roster he ended up with.
Yes there were hurdles that Kenny inherited and yes almost every coach would have been slowed down and hindered if they were in Kenny's situation. But Kenny did nothing. Pick ANY coach in the country to drop into Kenny's place on in March 2022 and I'll bet every single dollar and asset I have to my name NONE of them would have done has poorly as Kenny. That's the issue we're talking about. Kenny was totally shut down last year - not just hindered. He didn't "have a bad year" he failed at a level unheard of at a program like UofL and he doesn't get a pass for that first year.
Yes this Summer has been a mixed bag of positives and more of the same. Confusing player additions, missing on numerous guys we're connected to, confusing roster construction but also adding impressive kids like Flowers, Evans, White and Clark. He's absolutely improved the roster but he's also built it very similar to last year. Until he shows us fans that he has a clue about coaching and developing and shows us that a roster of 1 point guard, 0 true shooting guards, 8 forwards and 3 Centers can work we're still going to have PTSD from watching last years team. Kenny has no built up clout for anyone to believe he knows what he's doing and if you're a fan that does then you're just as bad as the "fake fans" you want to call out.
Blindly and optimistically supporting your coach is not a prerequisite for being a "good" fan.
Yall are really against the guy plain and simple . Gonna be funny watching what is written this season . Because alot of yall cant be a fan.
I can’t break it down any clearer or more extensively. If that’s what you got from that then that’s on you.
I read a lot about 4-28, but no one seems to want to talk about how we finished 3-15 the year before.
I don’t like him because he’s a loser. I’m sure you didn’t like Mack and never got close to 28 loses in one season.
A coach at Louisville, a P5 tradition, who only wins 4 games in 1 season had all the chances he should get. Nothings going to change. He might win a couple more games but all this hype is just that. When the games begin we will see all the new players are human and need coaching and strategy to win games, not just talent. Look up the road and see what that 🤡 needs to win. Payne is his disciple 😂.
Maybe if yall messiah that put this program in the dumps would have hired KP when he inquired about a position. Then maybe he would have been a disciple of yalls god. Don't forget those little caveats KP and Milt and a couple other guys were turned down by Rick had no problem with some former UK guys.
Similar threads
Latest posts
-
Marty Smith--"Louisville is a great sports town--these fans are awesome"- Latest: Pervis_Griffith
-
-
-
