Mo Dioubate loves the way Mark Pope wants to win. (Vicky Graff photo)
Mo Dioubate was part of Elite Eight and Final Four teams at Alabama and obviously hopes to be part of a national championship team at Kentucky this season.
While Alabama coach Nate Oats and Kentucky coach Mark Pope both believe in a fast-paced offense, Dioubate said there is one obvious difference in the style of play at UK.
“Coach Pope emphasizes spacing a lot. Obviously wedging to go get rebounds. That’s something I’ve already been doing, but he emphasizes it. Like every time a shot goes up, wedge on. Boxing out. He’s been emphasizing those little things more than anything,” Dioubate said. “He’s trying to get us to worry about that more and let the offense take care of itself.”
He averaged 7.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game coming off the bench last season. He led the team in rebounding 10 times and is being counted on to bring defense and physical toughness to Pope’s team.
Dioubate admitted Oats and Pope have a lot of similarities.
“Obviously, both of them want to win. We both play fast. A lot of 3’s are being shot. A lot of emphasis on rebounds and transition defense and stuff. I think those are the main similarities, but at the end of day, they both coach hard and they want to win,” Dioubate said.
Pope is a “bit more” positive than Oats, who seems to never look happy during a game.
“Obviously, he’s a nice guy and stuff, but all the guys, veteran guys, the returning guys, they told me he’s got that side to him, like when he gets real serious and there’s no lies,” Dioubate said about Pope. “I’m kind of still waiting to see that side more.
“He’s not playing. Coach is trying to win. Obviously, at Kentucky, the standard is to win, to make it the Final Four every year, but he’s trying to win it all. He’s just trying to keep the standard to where it was, where it always has been.”
