What a difference a few months can make.
This past April, Kentucky fans were largely unhappy regarding the program’s hiring of Mark Pope as its new head coach.
The frustration was somewhat understandable. How could the most prestigious program in the sport replace a future Hall of Famer in John Calipari with a BYU coach who had yet to win an NCAA Tournament game in his career?
Today, Pope’s Wildcats stand at No. 10 in the AP Top 25 rankings, finishing their nonconference slate at 11-2 as one of the country’s most notable surprises of the young college basketball season.
Not bad for a team that began the year unranked and was projected to finish eighth in the SEC preseason poll.
“... The fanbase seems to be all the way behind Coach Pope and this team,” wrote Ethan DeWitt of A Sea of Blue, one of the most popular Kentucky fan blogs. “... From many in the fanbase not backing the hire to it now looking like a potential slam dunk, Coach Pope has had about the best start to his tenure that you could wish.”
A former Wildcats team captain and national champion, Pope has his dream job at the helm of his alma mater, where the fans, alumni and boosters have now fully embraced his efforts to breathe life back into the basketball operation.
Back at BYU, Kevin Young has transformed the trajectory of the program by attracting unprecedented, elite-level talent to come play for the Cougars, such as Russian phenom Egor Demin and No. 1 consensus high school recruit AJ Dybantsa. Though his five seasons in Provo were solid, it definitely appears that Pope’s departure has been a major win for each side.
Similar to his BYU teams, Pope’s Wildcats share the ball well and score a lot of points. Kentucky ranks third nationally in scoring (89.0 points), is sixth in assists (18.7) and is making 35.5% of nearly 30 3-point attempts per contest.
Former Cougar Jaxson Robinson has contributed well as a Wildcats starter, averaging 11.9 points per game on 40.7% shooting. Onetime BYU commit Collin Chandler, fresh off two years of service as a Latter-day Saint missionary, has played 8.7 minutes per contest in the back of Pope’s rotation but should develop into a more prominent future piece for Kentucky.
The Wildcats’ 11-2 start has included an impressive upset win over No. 6 Duke and outlasting No. 7 Gonzaga in a West Coast overtime thriller. Aside from a narrow loss to Clemson and a questionable blowout defeat to unranked Ohio State, Pope’s life in Lexington has been rather sweet — but it’s about to become much more intense.
Kentucky opens SEC play Saturday against No. 6 Florida in one of the weekend’s best clashes. The SEC is a beast of a league — possibly the most formidable in the country, with a whopping 10 teams ranked in this week’s AP Top 25.
Pope’s initial tenure with the Wildcats has been encouraging, but nothing matters more than winning in conference play. He’s well aware of the challenge ahead.
“Man, it’s a great league,” Pope told reporters Thursday, referring to the SEC. “It was a fun league when I was here. It wasn’t quite this dominant, but I think most of the season, we had five, six or seven teams in the top 25. And it is unbelievable venues, it’s incredible fan bases, it gets super salty, and it’s just everything you want.
“And right now, you know this league is incredibly, incredibly special, and it’s where you want to be,” Pope continued. “I’ve said this before, but if you don’t get to play in the SEC this year, I feel sad for you because this is where you want to be. It’s where the best teams are, and the best players are. Let’s go.”
