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  • 4/17/2024
Transcript
00:00 [MUSIC]
00:05 >> Do you think that Pope will be successful there?
00:09 >> I think he will be successful there.
00:13 I just don't know what success is now.
00:16 I mean, I look at Kentucky, how quickly they became disenchanted with John Calipari.
00:23 Remember 2020, we have no tournament.
00:26 2020, the Kentucky team wins the Southeastern Conference by three full games.
00:33 They owned, I did a piece then, they owned the last eight minutes like maybe
00:37 no college basketball team had ever dominated the last eight minutes of games.
00:42 They just absolutely because of the three guard attack,
00:45 they had locked down games at the end and
00:48 won the Southeastern Conference by three games, then no tournament.
00:52 Then they come back the following year with a freshman oriented group and
00:56 they can't work with the freshman at all in the summer or the fall.
01:00 The freshman failed as they did at Duke.
01:02 And then they get upset and all of a sudden everybody's mad.
01:06 So I just don't know how,
01:09 like if you put together a Southeastern Conference championship team,
01:13 let's say in year two.
01:14 And then you lose in the second round because you get upset or
01:17 maybe you get a bad draw or maybe somebody gets hurt.
01:20 All of which happened to Calipari at the end.
01:23 I don't know how Kentucky fans react to that.
01:28 I hope that they have great patience with someone who is one of their own.
01:33 Someone who is a rising coach with a great offensive mind, but
01:36 I can't promise that.
01:37 >> They don't have patience there.
01:40 Those people are crazy.
01:42 And let me tell you something else.
01:44 I wanna see, and no, I have nothing but respect for Pope.
01:47 I thought he had a very creative offense at BYU.
01:50 I thought he did a great job in Provo.
01:52 I think he'll do a good job in Lexington.
01:54 I wanna see him win a national championship and go to four final fours.
01:59 Then we'll start judging him.
02:02 When he does those five things, then I'll say, wow,
02:06 this guy was really a great hire because that last coach, he really sucked.
02:11 The guy that won him a national championship and took him to four final
02:14 fours, and those fans there are so insane.
02:17 That going to the final four don't cut the mustard.
02:20 If you don't win at all, it's a failure.
02:23 >> I will say this, Scott.
02:24 One of the things that I pointed out after John was on the verge of departing.
02:30 At that stage, I said basically, the guy who's coaching in the championship game
02:35 tonight or tomorrow night or whatever it was, lost to a 14 seed,
02:42 a 15 seed, and a 16 seed in consecutive years.
02:46 And then in the fourth year played for the championship.
02:49 And there's nothing to tell me that John Calipari could not have done that
02:56 at Kentucky if he continued to be embraced by the fan base
03:01 in the way that he was in the middle 2000s.
03:04 I hear all the time things changed in 2015 when they lost with an undefeated team,
03:10 and it was never the same again.
03:12 Gosh, that's a pretty high standard, Scott.
03:14 They didn't win with an undefeated team, therefore,
03:17 you can't ever feel the same.
03:19 That disappoints me because the guy is a great coach.
03:25 They weren't going to get a better coach out there because there are very few of
03:29 them, and it's not easy to convince those who are.
03:34 I mean, maybe you could say right now Dan Hurley's a better coach.
03:36 He's got two titles in the last two years.
03:38 So yeah, he's better, but he's also not leaving UConn.
03:41 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:45 (bells chiming)

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