Mark Pope (UK Athletics Photo)
It’s no surprise that Kentucky coach Mark Pope likes his team, but he seems to “really” like his second group of UK players.
“I think this group has a chance to be beautifully coachable. I think they have a chance,” Pope said at his recent press conference.
However, that doesn’t mean Pope will be easy on this team.
At a practice last week, his first group “struggled” and he said it “derailed” the entire practice.
“One of our key ideas this year, one of our 100 percents, is living to a standard every single possession, and so we are going to blow up practice more often than we did last year,” Pope said. “We’ll get stuck because we’re not going to move on until we actually live up to the standard we have.
“And two things happened that were good. One, our guys didn’t quit. The gym was full of frustration. It was not a happy place for the first group, but the guys didn’t quit. They kept trying to work through it until they got there. Kept trying to listen and understand and kind of grasp onto what we were trying to accomplish.”
What else was good?
“The second nice thing that happened was the second group witnessed the last 15 minutes of misery of the first group, and so they came onto the court with a whole different determination to do it right on the first rep,” the UK coach said. “I think this team’s got … I think they have the flavor and the juice to be really coachable.
“I think we have a conglomeration of guys here who understand what Kentucky is. Guys who understand our desperate desire to get better and have the humility to do it.
“You know, humility is always a sliding scale, but I think we’re living in the humble space right now where guys are able to actually take new information and get better.”
3 Responses
I don't t think Pope is as soft as some people think he is. I like how he goes his way of doing things. Go cats!!
The two biggest threats to this team are 1. Health–when will Quaintance be able to play 2. Eligibility–when will Jelavic be cleared to play. Signing Potter was huge in this regard. Garrison and Moreno can hold down the 5 spot. Some seem to think that Dioubate can play the 4 spot…I am not so sure about that, but in the absence of Quaintance and Jelavic, Dioubate at least brings toughness to that position and Potter brings height. Positions 1, 2, 3, and 5 are solid. Even a 90% ready Quaintance could give us some valuable minutes at the 4 spot which would make Dioubate and Potter's effectiveness that much stronger. Is Jelavic in danger of becoming the next Enos Canter? Having a bunch of Hoosiers make up the NCAA committee to decide that does not bode well for Jelavic. Let's be sure to give them a good asswhooping this Fall for good measure.
The reason Jelavic hasn't been on campus yet that he had to finish his school over there and it's my understanding Pope said he just finish it and should be on campus sometime in August. The thing is has NCAA clear him been no official word on that.