Kentucky basketball fans are ball-knowers. We can be honest with one another about our Wildcats without getting out the torches and pitchforks, so please, keep your lighters far away from your torches when I state the following.
Mark Pope just had his worst week on the job at Kentucky.
It started with a loss at home to Alabama. There’s no shame in losing to a top-five team, but Kentucky let a late lead slip away thanks to a 9-0 run from the Crimson Tide.
A few days later, Pope took his first recruiting L as the Kentucky head coach. Even though the writing was on the wall down the stretch, losing a player of Caleb Wilson‘s caliber stinks. There’s no other way to put it.
After the recruiting loss, Kentucky went on the road and lost to Vanderbilt. I don’t care how good this iteration of Vanderbilt is, it stinks to lose to that school in any sport. Just like the Alabama game, Kentucky had a late lead and couldn’t close out the Commodores. Vandy students celebrated by rushing the court.
To top it all off, Lamont Butler and Andrew Carr are arguably Kentucky’s two most important players. They’re both injured to varying degrees that are currently unknown. Butler looked like a completely different player in Nashville and we just learned that he’s going to miss the Tennessee game. Carr was absent at Vandy and will be on the sideline for who knows how long.
These facts are hard to argue with. Mark Pope just had his worst seven-day stretch as the Kentucky basketball coach.
Good News: Two Kentucky Wins Can Erase The Bad Week
As bad as those seven days were, Mark Pope has an opportunity to be the equalizer this week.
Kentucky can win its first basketball game in 14 days by upsetting Tennessee on the road. That’s a rivalry game where their head coach has a winning record over you. As impossible as it may feel in this moment, these Cats have an incredibly high ceiling and have been at their as underdogs, winning all three games outright away from Rupp. When the offense is firing, they’re hard to beat and it’s really, really hard for Tennessee to score.
A win over the Vols would provide so much satisfaction to fans who hate that school so much. A win over John Calipari would deliver just as many good feelings, if not more, around Big Blue Nation.
Good wins do not completely erase bad losses, but this incredibly challenging SEC schedule gives you plenty of chances to forget about those losses. A 2-0 week would quickly put Kentucky fans back on Cloud Nine. Conversely, I don’t want to think about how we’ll feel if Mark Pope has an 0-2 week.
Got thoughts? Continue the conversation on KSBoard, the KSR Message Board.
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