By LARRY VAUGHT
One thing you have to like about Kentucky coach Mark Pope is that he’s not afraid to change if something is not working.
Kentucky was not a great defensive team most of Pope’s first season at Kentucky. By the end of the season, UK had improved, but Pope understands his second team has to be better defensively, and that clearly was an emphasis in the transfer portal.
Pope learned about physical play in the Southeastern Conference last season from not only what he saw but also from the analytics that he values so much.
“It’s going to change a little bit because of what the numbers are telling us. We’ve done deep dives into numbers and are trying to reprioritize some spaces,” Pope said. “The defense is going to change in terms of the standard. I think that we can be a little more committed to our standard, and I think we can grow that way.
“The defense is certainly going to change because we have a different personnel package. We have some different strengths on our team than we did last year, where it’s going to allow us to approach the game in some ways differently schematically. I think all of those things will lead to some changes in the way we approach things because we want to grow.
“We’d like to start the season the way we finished the season, being a top 20 defense the last six weeks of the season. We’d like that to be a starting point. We’d like to get better and better. We would like to be the best defensive team in the country. That’s our goal. It’s a yeoman’s task, but that’s the goal.”
Kentucky finished Pope’s first season ranked 51st defensively in the KenPom ratings and got picked apart by Tennessee in a Sweet 16 loss after beating the Vols twice during the season.
CBS Sports’ Isaac Trotter ranked the best defenders at each position going into the 2025-26 season, and three of Pope’s players were listed — Otega Oweh, Jayden Quaintance, and Mo Dioubate.
Pope has said he felt Oweh could be one of the nation’s best defenders or maybe even the nation’s best defensive player, one reason many believe he could be SEC Player of the Year.
Dioubate was a defensive demon for Alabama last year and one of the few players who shut down Oweh. Pope loves his rebounding as well as the way he can defend inside from his forward position. He’s also fond of physical play, something UK lacked last season.
Quaintance is coming back from an ACL tear midway through Arizona State’s season, but when he’s ready to play,y is being counted on to be one of the nation’s best defenders and rim protectors.
Kentucky could go from a so-so defensive team to one of the nation’s best this season because Pope is not afraid — or too stubborn — to make changes.
4 Responses
We will be a top 5 defensive team this year. We should also at least be a top 10-20 offensive team as well. History tells me this a championship caliber team. Whether they gel as one is whole other story. As far as rosters go. We have a top 5 roster. 3 out of the 5 positions we have a potentially the best defensive player at that position.. if this is really the case it will be hard to score on us. You can also throw Garrison and Chandler in the great defensive players on the team. I think both of these two will be much Improved on the defensive end. I think our best shooters are Noah Chandler and Williams. Those 3 should light it up this year. The only thing I'm wondering about is how he will spread 40 minutes between 12-13 guys. I know the starting 5 will all play close to 20 minutes. That leaves 20 minutes spread between 7-8 guys idk. This is the problem we will have. We have 14 capable guys. Maybe only 11-12 will play. How will keep everyone in good spirits. There is 14 different personalities also on this team. It's easier to cause division the more players you have
Let's remember, Coach Pope had to assemble last year's team a month after the season had ended. Barney pursued other coaches who said NO to UK and this wasted valuable time that Pope could have used to assemble his coaching staff and begin recruiting efforts. Perry was the only kid left on Kentucky's roster after Calipari left for Arkansas. The transfer portal had been active for almost a month before Pope entered it as the Kentucky coach. He assembled the best team that was available. Defense was not the strong suit of last year's team, but without the injuries, our offense was good enough to win big games…Duke, Gonzaga, Louisville, Florida, and Tennessee twice. We outscored teams period. The injuries took away the firepower to continue doing that.
This team still has offensive firepower in Oweh, Lowe, Noah, Williams, Jelavic, Garrison, Chandler, and Johnson. This will be balanced by defensive toughness provided by Aberdeen, Dioubate, Quaintance, and possibly Moreno. Oweh, Noah, Jelavic, and Garrison will hold their own on defense as well. Pope had time to add what was missing to come up with the deepest team in America. Jelavic's late arrival and Quaintance's delayed participation could show up in the pre conference schedule, but by tournament time NOBODY will want to play Kentucky…NOBODY! Go CATS!!!
Playing a rough schedule – which could possibly dent the seeding – but certainly strengthens the steel.
Look at the photo above. Aberdeen is no runt and is all over Dioubate, but Dioubate doesn't even know he is there. Dioubate will be the team enforcer with Aberdeen being his top deputy. There will be no more Ole` defense from Kentucky. These guys will battle with the best! Go CATS!!!
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