Mark Pope Likes Super Interesting Pieces on his Team

Mark Pope with his family in Rupp Arena Tuesday. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Kentucky’s former stars certainly shined Tuesday night for La Familia to reach The Basketball Tournaments’s quarterfinal round but the real star in Rupp Arena was new Kentucky coach Mark Pope.

He was there to support the former UK stars along with his wife and daughters. He shook hands with fans, greeted his current players and met former UK players who were also there.

Pope had also gone on social media to encourage Big Blue fans to attend the game and certainly will do the same when La Familia plays Louisville in Freedom Hall Monday at 9 p.m. in what could attract the largest crowd in TBT history.

Pope also spent time on the TBT broadcast on FoxSports to promote the Kentucky brand.

“This is basketball heaven, there is nowhere like it,” Pope told the national TV audience.

Pope not only got to meet former UK players like Eric Bledsoe, Aaron Harrison and Andrew Harrison, but his current players got to interact with them on and off the court. The current Cats and La Familia had one “practice” game won by the current Cats.

The new Kentucky coach obviously likes what he has seen from his team as much as he did La Familia’s performance at Rupp Arena Tuesday.

“I think we’ve got a chance. We have a ton of work to do, but we have super, super interesting pieces. We have great young men. I’m talking about young men you’d hire to work a high-intensity job, the same guys you’d have come to babysit your children,” Pope said. “We’ve got some of the best young men in all of college basketball.

“We have the right pieces, but if we can build the connective tissue and synergy, which is a huge challenge in a short amount of time, we have a chance to be what Kentucky expects. That’s our goal.”

Kentucky fans should also be excited about what Pope told the TV audience. He said his team is picking up what he is teaching very quickly.

“Pace is really important to us. People think of pace as just crossing half court really fast, and that’s certainly a part of it, but our pace and movement with player movement … the game for a while was ball movement, ball movement, ball movement. Now it’s evolved to the point where there is ball movement, but also player movement,” Pope said.

“That’s so vital. We’re trying to emphasize both of those things and our guys are doing a nice job picking it up. I’m really pleased with the progress so far.”