New Year, new beginnings…right? Wrong. Who would have thought that 17 games into the season the Cats would be 1-5 against ranked opponents. Additionally, UK started off Southeastern Eastern Conference (SEC) play 0-2 for the first time since the 2005-06 season. These just begin to describe the underwhelming success that Kentucky has had thus far, leaving fans all asking similar questions.
Was last year a fluke? Will we even make the tournament come March? Is Mark Pope still the guy for the job?
To start, I think that all of these are fair concerns. I would even go as far to say that they’re justified.
At the end of the day, to have a $22 million dollar Name Image Likeness (NIL) budget and be among the bottom five teams in the SEC is flat out unacceptable. Otega Oweh alone makes an estimated $3.5 million in NIL. Meanwhile, teams like Gonzaga who have $2-$3 million to spend in total and still beat us by 35. It is pathetic.
Our players are being paid NIL money that is given from fans, in hope that we can build a roster capable of bringing a national championship back to Lexington. That roster has six different players making more this year in NIL evaluation than Reds All-Star Elly Da La Cruz made in the 2025 season. That is insane.
I understand that we aren’t going to win every game, no one does. However, with coaching or playing for Kentucky comes great responsibility. There are standards that are in place, criterias that have to be met, and losses like those at home to Missouri meet absolutely none of those.
Mark Pope HAS to adjust. There is nothing worse than losing and hearing excuses on excuses. I understand our team would be better off with a healthy Jaland Lowe and Jayden Quaintance, but they aren’t. Still, Pope has yet to adapt.
Our team this year couldn’t be any more different than last year’s, and still everything we do and run is the same. On offense, Pope loves to run a five-out action, but with no real ball handlers to draw defenses and penetrate, no shooters to act as a threat from beyond the arc makes our spacing practically nonexistent. Last year, we had big man Amari Williams who excelled in these sets, as he was a phenomenal passer so he could pop out to the high post/three point line, and find guys who move off the ball. This year, we have nothing close to that. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
All in all, I think that it comes down to poor spending of our NIL money. We have a roster that has no consistent shooters, no real point guards now that Lowe is out for the year, and five guys that are 6’10” or taller. Put all that together, it makes running an efficient offense much harder.
I can’t help but think back to last year, Pope’s first year here, in which he took us to our first Elite Eight since 2019. Additionally, we racked up eight wins against top-15 ranked opponents, the most in college basketball.
Still, people question Pope’s ability to coach at this level and at times I have found myself skeptical as well. However, we should remind ourselves as fans that Pope is capable. He has done it before, he can do it again. I still have hope in Pope!
