[Old School Hound]

Here was the "Watch " list named by by the Naismith Awards back in February:


Greg Gard
Wisconsin
Big Ten

Dennis Gates
Missouri
SEC


Todd Golden
Florida
SEC


Penny Hardaway
Memphis
AAC


Tom Izzo
Michigan State
Big Ten


Pat Kelsey
Louisville
ACC


Dusty May
Michigan
Big Ten


Grant McCasland
Texas Tech
Big 12


Ben McCollum
Drake
MVC

Matt Painter
Purdue
Big Ten


Bruce Pearl
Auburn
SEC


Rick Pitino
St. John's
BIG EAST


Richard Pitino
New Mexico
MWC


Kelvin Sampson
Houston
Big 12


Jon Scheyer
Duke
ACC



Here are the four finalists, announced a day or two ago:


[Image: https://scontent.fosu2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v...e=67EA3675]





Kentucky and BYU are both having pretty damn good  , Sweet 16 or better, seasons and not even a mention on the "Watch" list.  Is this a conspiracy? I know it's a bunch of shit !!!  Kevin Young and Mark Pope have done fabulous jobs at BYU and UK this season but can't even crack the Top 15 . Bunch of bullshit !!! Only two teams in the history of the sport have more Top 15 wins than this Kentucky team.  And not since Jimmer Fredette played has BYU had this level of success ...  Ridiculous !!!

[4 Quarters]

Here was the "Watch " list named by by the Naismith Awards back in February:


Greg Gard
Wisconsin
Big Ten

Dennis Gates
Missouri
SEC


Todd Golden
Florida
SEC


Penny Hardaway
Memphis
AAC


Tom Izzo
Michigan State
Big Ten


Pat Kelsey
Louisville
ACC


Dusty May
Michigan
Big Ten


Grant McCasland
Texas Tech
Big 12


Ben McCollum
Drake
MVC

Matt Painter
Purdue
Big Ten


Bruce Pearl
Auburn
SEC


Rick Pitino
St. John's
BIG EAST


Richard Pitino
New Mexico
MWC


Kelvin Sampson
Houston
Big 12


Jon Scheyer
Duke
ACC



Here are the four finalists, announced a day or two ago:


[Image: https://scontent.fosu2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v...e=67EA3675]





Kentucky and BYU are both having pretty damn good  , Sweet 16  or better,  seasons and not even a mention on the "Watch" list.  Is this a conspiracy? I know it's a bunch of shit !!!  Kevin Young and Mark Pope have done fabulous jobs at BYU and UK this season but can't even crack the Top 15 . Bunch of bullshit !!! Only two teams in the history of the sport have more Top 15 wins than this Kentucky team.  And not since Jimmer Fredette played has BYU had this level of success ...  Ridiculous !!!

I really wish I hadn't read this at bedtime.  I'll be up all night worrying about this.

[-STAT-]

Have to take all things into consideration with what Pope had to do in a very short time as coach.

Had to start from scratch, had no returning player, and had just 1 player committed at the time that he didn't even recruit in Perry.

From building a staff, to hitting the portal hard and bringing in guys on the fly and asking them to gel and develop a great chemistry on & off the court was a tough thing to do, but everyone excelled at their responsibilities this season. Same goes for Pat Kelsey, seen his name on the list and have to give him all the credit in the world for doing basically the same at Louisville, but Pope definitely deserved to be on both the watch list, and one of the remaining finalists for COTY. I am sure he doesn't care one way or the other about it, but sure would've been a great honor and feather in the cap for him.

[plantmanky]

Have to take all things into consideration with what Pope had to do in a very short time as coach.

Had to start from scratch, had no returning player, and had just 1 player committed at the time that he didn't even recruit in Perry.

From building a staff, to hitting the portal hard and bringing in guys on the fly and asking them to gel and develop a great chemistry on & off the court was a tough thing to do, but everyone excelled at their responsibilities this season. Same goes for Pat Kelsey, seen his name on the list and have to give him all the credit in the world for doing basically the same at Louisville, but Pope definitely deserved to be on both the watch list, and one of the remaining finalists for COTY. I am sure he doesn't care one way or the other about it, but sure would've been a great honor and feather in the cap for him.

Why?
Ever coach has to rebuild new rosters every year now with the portal.


Finished middle of the pack in SEC regular season
Didnt even make semis of SEC Tournament
Lost in sweet 16 of NCAA

Thats not acceptable for Kentucky Basketball.

[jetpilot]

Have to take all things into consideration with what Pope had to do in a very short time as coach.

Had to start from scratch, had no returning player, and had just 1 player committed at the time that he didn't even recruit in Perry.

From building a staff, to hitting the portal hard and bringing in guys on the fly and asking them to gel and develop a great chemistry on & off the court was a tough thing to do, but everyone excelled at their responsibilities this season. Same goes for Pat Kelsey, seen his name on the list and have to give him all the credit in the world for doing basically the same at Louisville, but Pope definitely deserved to be on both the watch list, and one of the remaining finalists for COTY. I am sure he doesn't care one way or the other about it, but sure would've been a great honor and feather in the cap for him.

Why?
Ever coach has to rebuild new rosters every year now with the portal.


Finished middle of the pack in SEC regular season
Didnt even make semis of SEC Tournament
Lost in sweet 16 of NCAA

Thats not acceptable for Kentucky Basketball.

No they don't.

[-STAT-]

Have to take all things into consideration with what Pope had to do in a very short time as coach.

Had to start from scratch, had no returning player, and had just 1 player committed at the time that he didn't even recruit in Perry.

From building a staff, to hitting the portal hard and bringing in guys on the fly and asking them to gel and develop a great chemistry on & off the court was a tough thing to do, but everyone excelled at their responsibilities this season. Same goes for Pat Kelsey, seen his name on the list and have to give him all the credit in the world for doing basically the same at Louisville, but Pope definitely deserved to be on both the watch list, and one of the remaining finalists for COTY. I am sure he doesn't care one way or the other about it, but sure would've been a great honor and feather in the cap for him.

Why?
Ever coach has to rebuild new rosters every year now with the portal.


Finished middle of the pack in SEC regular season
Didnt even make semis of SEC Tournament
Lost in sweet 16 of NCAA

Thats not acceptable for Kentucky Basketball.

Well you're somewhat right in that every coach has to rebuild due to the portal, but not every coach has to start from scratch the way Pope did this past season. 

As for expectations not being acceptable? What were you expecting/accepting? A 40-0 season in the toughest conference in the country? Beating every opponent like the 96 team did? Sweeping through the SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament? I hoped more than anyone that this team could've made a deeper run in the tournament, but making the 2nd weekend was something that hasn't happened I think 1 time in the last 6 years, which for Kentucky Basketball standards, isn't acceptable. But for this season, to make it as far as they did with all the injuries that occurred, having to start from scratch, I think most fans are good with that, I would think anyways. Of course you're going to have haters/doubters that would expect more or better results, but like I said with everything that happened, this season was about as successful as you could've asked for.