Vicky Graff Photo
Kentucky fans might be wondering what lies ahead for the Cats after Tuesday’s loss to Georgia but not coach Mark Pope. He’s excited for what he calls the “best part of the season” that is coming up.
“We have five games left — like, it’s winning time. This is the best part of the season. It’s the best part of the year,” Pope said Thursday. “This last stretch in the conference and conference tournament and NCAA Tournament is — it’s what you live your whole life for, you know?
“It’s when all of the other stuff fades away, the distractions of numbers and playing time and stats and money and all of the noise, it goes away, and you’re judged and defined on winning. The game gets more convoluted. This is the space where the game gets pure if you can do it right, and you get as close as you can. It’s the best time.”
Kentucky plays at Auburn tonight in what has turned into a must-win after the Georgia loss and with UK’s remaining schedule to solidify a NCAA Tournament bid and also maybe avoid playing the opening day of the SEC Tournament.
This time of the season is also complicated for coaches because the transfer portal opens April 7 and that is obviously going to be massive for UK since Pope has no high school recruits signed for next year and probably no definite idea on what players on this year’s roster will be back.
“That’s a complicated space, but it also makes it great. “This job is so great. It’s like everybody’s job, the things you love about the job are the most complicated spaces, and it’s complicated to manage all that at the same time — but it’s why the job is fun. There are dynamics that are really important,” Pope said.
8 Responses
Brutal few weeks to come. Hope coach and team can stay engaged keep swimming upstream.
" Its winning time" ? Do the players believe that?
I think we will get 6-7 guys back off this team. I think we will have a few guys who surprise everyone by transferring but that comes with the territory nowadays. I would love to get Johnson, Moreno, Jelly, Chandler, Williams, Potter, Hawthorne, Noah and possibly Lowe back. I would sit down BG and Mo-D down and say what you do to end this season will define your role for next season. If we get the guys back mentioned above we really don't need anyone else back. We need to hit the transfer portal and get a banger down low. Someone who has BGs body but isn't afraid to bump and grind down low. I would also get two PGs in the transfer portal. I would get one from a power 4 school. Then I would get one from a smaller school who had outstanding numbers. I would try to get a third point guard that is a freshman. There are still a couple of PGs who are in the top 75 that is left. I would pick one that passes first. As long as your point guard can facilitate that is usually what defines a good point guard. If you put 3-4 guys around him that can get open and score it makes things much easier.
Just my opinion if we win next 4 of5 games which won't be a easy task the only loss I got is at Texas AM we could be a 6 or 7 seed.But its got to start with tonight game.
I think they already have us as a 7 seed. Maybe move up to a 5 before it's all said and done.
Hope you are right
Nope. We're not going to be a 5. I hope we don't play in the NIT. This is embarrassing.
We have lost 3 in a row, with 4 to go. The Auburn game was the worst game I have ever seen Chandler play…what got into him? Oweh got 29, Aberdeen 15, and Chandler 10. We should be having 5 players in double digits, but we are playing hero ball with these 3. You cannot beat good teams with only 3 players scoring double digits. Oweh is looking good for the NBA draft, but Kentucky is paying the price for it. 14 assists, 14 turnovers, and 26% from the arc won't get it done. Kentucky now has experience 2 different times when it's once proud program has suffered 4 consecutive double digit loss seasons. Tubby and Billy Clyde combined for the first set; Calipari and Pope teamed up for the most recent set. We need to win out and at least make the finals of the SEC tourney to get even a 6 seed in the Dance. I don't think we will be dancing long this year.