Mark Pope left BYU 10 months ago to return to his alma mater Kentucky, where he plied his craft at the direction of legendary coach Rick Pitino. Now, as head coach roaming the sidelines of Rupp Arena, that leap of faith is paying off big time.
Initially, many Kentucky fans weren’t sold on Pope, whose BYU team made an early exit from the NCAA Tournament last March. He didn’t have the sexy resume, wasn’t drenched in blue-blood perfume from the Big Ten or SEC that would warrant taking such a lofty post in Lexington.
How in the world, wondered some, would he replace John Calipari and run the Kentucky machine? Even as a former player, many were not sold on Pope’s hype, enthusiasm, passion or presence.
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Skip forward to this final week of January, just months into his first season and one-third of the way through the SEC schedule. No. 9 Kentucky entered last week 14-4 and 3-2 in SEC play.
At least one national talking head has listed Pope as the early leading candidate for National Coach of the Year. CBS Sports basketball columnist Gary Parrish has Pope as the leading candidate for that honor over Bruce Pearl of Auburn and Duke’s Jon Scheyer.
Fans can’t get enough of Pope.
He’s as Kentucky as Colonel Sanders.
He’s a hero.
Jeff Goodman at Goodman Hoops tweeted on X: “If Calipari was 14-4, 3-2 in SEC play and had beaten Duke on a neutral court, won at Gonzaga, and had beaten Florida, Texas A&M and Mississippi State in league play, I’d be singing his praises. Everyone would.
“But that’s Mark Pope and not John Calipari.”
Pope has Kentucky’s offense running as explosively as any in modern Wildcat history. His floor spacing is impressive and he has taken Lamont Butler and Otega Oweh to another level as UK stars.
Entering last weekend, Kentucky ranked No. 2 in the NCAA in scoring offense with 89.7 points per game and was No. 4 in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.87.
The early wins over Gonzaga and Duke, the wins over No. 5 Florida, No. 25 Louisville, No. 13 Texas A&M, and No. 14 Mississippi State injected pure sugar into the veins of Wildcat fans.
A die-hard Kentucky fan blogger “Reags” on Barstool Sports has become a loud voice in the parade for Pope after seeing him work, put together a roster in one month, then go 3-0 against top-10 teams.
“I can go on about how smart Mark Pope is by throwing a triangle-and-two defense for a possession to confuse Mississippi State,” wrote Reags. “I can go on about how smart Mark Pope is with his zoom offense and drawing up sets for mismatches. I can go on about how smart Mark Pope is with his substitution pattern to get guys like Lamont Butler the most amount of rest time while missing the least amount of game time. Or I could just say Kentucky is a top-10 team in the country in Year 1, with a roster put together late, with four top-15 wins and we have our head coach.
“I just love having a coach who embraces the fans while winning again. No more lies about liking my team or saying things like basketball bennies. No more having to defend someone who can’t adapt,” Reags continued. “Instead, we have Mark Pope going into the stands after his 200th career win and talking to grandmas. That’s the Kentucky basketball I know. There’s something about Mark that just gets it. Doesn’t hurt that we look the part of a top-10 team in the country again. Good luck finding teams with better wins than Kentucky right now.
“We got our guy.”
Pope left Provo after taking a BYU squad picked to finish 13th in its first season in the Big 12 and finishing fifth.
He took assistants Cody Fueger and Nick Robinson with him and convinced four-star local Utah star Collin Chandler and BYU starter Jaxson Robinson with him.
Pope had to scramble to put together a roster in Lexington, but his ability to forge chemistry early is a hallmark he showed in Provo.
At Kentucky, just as in Provo, Pope has his team shooting a ton of 3s, and playing effective defense, making adjustments on the fly. He doesn’t make excuses. He immediately infused himself into Kentucky culture and his passion for the game drives him. He does wear that on his shirtsleeve daily.
To date he’s put notches on his belt that include legends Mark Few and Scheyer.
Good for Pope.
He’s earned everything he’s getting these days and deserves the praise.
