Reece Potter, right, with UK teammates Jasper Johnson and Braydon Hawthorne during a UK camp. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Reece Potter grew up in Lexington dreaming of playing for Kentucky, something that is now happening after he transferred from Miami (Ohio) to UK to play for coach Mark Pope this season.
However, the 7-footer has always also dreamed of playing in the NBA. Pope played in 153 NBA games from 1997 through 2005 after being part of Kentucky’s 1996 national championship team and Potter is eager to see what Pope can do to help make him a better professional prospect.
“He was able to do it at the highest level, so it’s easy to follow a guy that’s done it at that level,” the junior center, a former Lexington Catholic standout, said. “You have coaches that tell you what to do, but you can’t really grasp it at first.
“We’ve been able to grow a quick relationship because he did it at the NBA and in college he did at the highest level. That’s the type of level I feel like all the bigs want to go to. Obviously, we’re here for a reason. All of us trust in him and it’s easy to listen to what he’s got to say.”
Potter likes that Pope’s obvious goal is to claim a ninth national championship for Kentucky.
“He loves basketball. That’s what he’s here to do,” Potter said. “He wasn’t brought in here to do anything else, and he’s already done it before so he knows how and what has to be done to do that.”
Potter has not been overly surprised by anything since he transferred to Kentucky but said it was “wild” at times now being on the inside of the UK program.
“We go to these camps and stuff like that and you see how much these people just love Kentucky basketball. It’s not just like this fan base is wild. I don’t feel like it’s just a basketball team. It’s more like a culture surrounding Kentucky basketball,” Potter said.
“We were able to go to London (for tornado relief) and some different places and you really learn what it meant to be a Kentucky basketball player,” the junior center said.
Potter was familiar with what it meant but knows players new to the program got an early education about Big Blue Nation.
“Just hearing from different people’s stories of how much they’ve loved Kentucky basketball or for how long their parents loved it,” Potter said.
2 Responses
Love of UKBB doesn’t produce championships, and obviously, having the best players ( see Cal ) doesn’t as well. Consistency and believe it or not luck gets you through 64 teams fighting for their lives. And yes, I think “the Pope” is our best chance in all of the above.
If Reece Potter could work on his shooting and rebounding and of course defense he could end up playing a ton of minutes for Kentucky.