by LARRY VAUGHT
Sporting News columnist Mike DeCourcy admits he was shocked when Kentucky coach Mark Pope was so hard on himself and his team after an early season loss to Michigan State when the Cats did not play well.
“I thought maybe he would just say something about this is not who we want to be or are going to be and the next time you see us we will be better or something like that,” DeCourcy said.
Pope and his players have seemed discombobulated at times this season but DeCourcy, one of the nation’s most respected college basketball writers, has no doubts about Pope’s coaching ability.
“He just needs to be Mark Pope. I think he is a fantastic coach and good person and that combination is going to serve Kentucky well for a long time,” DeCourcy said. “What bothers me is the number of people who have this idea that he was never the right guy (for Kentucky), should not have been the coach and needs to move on.
“Last March he was this guy who did wonderful things and everybody in the state thought he was great and wonderful. Then suddenly in the offseason he got dumb and forgot how to coach. That is not logical thinking and now how life works. You can lose confidence, but you don’t lose intelligence.
“Kentucky fans just need to give him a chance. Even if the whole year does not work out, thinking no one (recruits) will want to come to Kentucky next year is not realistic.”
The national basketball columnist also doesn’t think Kentucky’s failures so far this season have been due to the team’s payroll.
“That’s too easy just to say that. I think it is more a fracturing of confidence. Confidence changes everything in sports but that is the least understood and least appreciated part of the game. Maybe Kentucky has not been making shots because the players’ confidence is broken,” DeCourcy said. “I don’t think players have stopped caring. I think some have just had a dip in confidence. The team’s confidence dipped when things did not start off well. You even see that happen at the professional level.
“I don’t know why anybody cares what they spent on the roster. We don’t know exactly what they make. The roster is what it is. What they spent is immaterial now. It’s just an easy weapon to use against them and that bothers me way more about the criticism of this team than anything else.”
