Mark Pope doesn't think it should be hard to find players like Denzel Aberdeen who want to play at UK. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Mark Pope is old school. He was when he played at Kentucky 30 years ago and he’s still that way today as Kentucky’s coach.
That’s not a bad thing — it is just a reality.
That’s why the answer Pope gave Sunday after UK lost to Iowa State in the NCAA Tournament was no surprise when asked if it would be harder to find players who understand loyalty and what it means to play for a school rather than just going where the money is and are willing to commit their loyalty to Kentucky for the extent of their career like he did as a player.
“I think our focus is finding guys that want to be at Kentucky because of what Kentucky is. This is the greatest place in the world to play basketball. It comes with all of the stuff. It comes with all the pressure and the scrutiny,” the Kentucky coach said.
“These guys won games in the NCAA Tournament back-to-back years, and at any other school, that would be good, and at Kentucky, the uniqueness of Kentucky, that’s not the answer.”
Well, not sure at “any other school” just winning a NCAA Tournament game in consecutive years would be considered “good.” I think at schools like Duke, Kansas, UConn and many others it is now expected.
“Finding guys that want that, and we can find them. There’s great guys. You think about these two guys up here, Otega (Oweh) put together one of the epic two-year careers in the history of Kentucky basketball, and Denzel (Aberdeen) came in here and had to play a completely different position than he’s ever played before under different circumstances, and rose up and actually put together a great year,” Pope said.
“We’ll find the guys. There’s no place like this. But it’s got to be the right fit for guys, and they’ve got to want it. At the end of the day, it’ll be all those things are important. Of course all those things are important, fit, opportunity, NIL, potential for future growth, all those things are important.
“But it’s Kentucky; there’s nowhere like it, so it’s not hard to find guys.”
Not sure after a 14-loss season saying that it is not hard to “find guys” is the right thing to say.
12 Responses
LV – if the two players had not been hurt I think there would be a different narrative.
I agree, that's were some of our fans don't looked at.
Other coaches had players hurt and didn't get a pass. Pope is full of it. If players wanted to play for a Rah Rah coach, they would already be lined up. I hope that Stein can make Ky football exciting again. Basketball will be a DUD as long as Pope is there. Everyone was mad because Sharpe sat the bench all year. He wasn't making $3 million like Quaitence was.
According to Jack Givens Pope isn't going to have anywhere near $22 million to blow next year. He said "I know for sure". It'll take $50 million to get players after this years debacle.
Correct ..we'd have been able to run the left handed offense..
Paralysis by analysis
I have heard many say the Cats need the top Ky kids in Lexington. You know, play for the name on the front of the jersey. Well after reading what Jasper Johnson's uncle posted on the internet, I can 100% predict he won't be back. Derrick was not happy with the Big Boohoo Nation or the media or Pope. He referenced the whiners running their mouth about Jasper. How he only got to play 30 seconds at a time. That he only played out of position. How the whole family pasted up chances to play for traditional powers because they loved Ky. It sounds like a family that has always bled blue, just bleeds now.
The mistake was signing an injured player to begin with. That scholarship and NIL money could have been used on another big who would have been able to play from the jump.
Pope also read too much into Lowe. The story said Lowe was a ball hog and shoot first, shoot always guard at Pitt because he had to be…the other players were that bad. Lowe brought a lot of that to Kentucky. He dribbled too much looking for his own shot first and rarely looked to get the ball to someone else. it is hard to get that mindset erased and re-program it to be a pass first point guard. His frail body took him out before he had a chance to do so. Between the injury and that Pitt mindset, I would be afraid to count on him in any way going into next season.
Not having a backup point guard was huge. Pope had to experiment with Chandler, Johnson, and the Aberdeen to take that role; all 3 are shooting guards. Aberdeen had some moments but reverted to playing hero ball with Oweh and Dioubate and Pope gave in to that in conference play.
This offense should have ran through the post down low with Moreno and Jelavic where they could use their height advantage. Noah, Chandler, and Aberdeen could have spotted up on the arc for kickouts when the double team came down low.
Pope and Noah got crossways with each other and Noah became the forgotten man. I see him hitting the portal and would not be surprised to see Tennessee pick him up and be our kryptonite next season.
We NEVER learned how to guard double teams and that killed us all year long. We should have played more zone.
We NEVER ran pick and rolls with Moreno, Jelavic, or Garrison. Hardly ever threw alley oops to them at the basket. Why waste all of that talent and height? Oh, that's right…Oweh was crowned as the pre-season SEC play of the year and had to try to live up to that billing. That was the start of our hero ball problem; Pope didn't have the stones to stop it.
Our freethrow shooting was marginal to bad most of the year. It finally improved halfway through the SEC schedule, but the damage had already been done by then.
Pope promised too much playing time to too many guys. Identify your starting 5 and then play them 30+ minutes every game. His frequent substitutions were a big reason for our slow starts. Nobody understood their role.
Jealousy and selfishness over NIL money and playing time destroyed this team before the season ever started. You can only have 5 starters. In this team's mind, it had 9.
A lot of this is fixable, but Pope really seems to be in over his head. Losing our top recruiter, who really wasn't doing a good job, may end up being a blessing. Pope will get a third year and had better make the most of it because there won't be a year 4 without a significant turnaround of this season.
Stokes is a knockdown shooter and can still be had for a price. Pope better pay that price but Stokes will need to mesh with the team and earn the right to be the number 1 option. I would go after Tyler Tanner at Vandy to be the starting point guard, while getting a backup who is ok with being the backup for a year or two. I would also go after the 7'9" kid at Florida. Moreno would still be the starter and play 25 to 35 minutes if he can stay out of foul trouble, but 10 minutes of a 7'9" center could pay off big if you used him the right way.
Try to keep Moreno, Jelavic, Chandler, and Williams. Let the rest graduate or hit the portal. Potter and Hawthorne won't be starters, but they will be better than most are thinking.
Ease off on the pre-season schedule to the extent that it can be eased. Give next year's team a chance to learn how to play as a unit against some mid majors. Kansas, Louisville, and Indiana are locked in and possibly UCLA and St. John's. That is enough marquee games for the pre-season schedule for next year.
It's time for Pope to grow up and be the coach; forget about trying to be one of the guys from now on. Design the offense and defense to fit your roster, define roles in November, and stop trying to be John Calipari 2. That guy only won 1 national title and crashed and burned his last 5 years. Calipari had to move on to re-invent himself as a coach. That never would have happened if he had stayed at Kentucky.
Give Pope time he will get it done. You dont build a roman empire over night. Patience is the key right now.
No, but you can topple an empire overnight.
First people whined for more marquee games. Now they want more cupcakes. People would like to say Cal couldn't do what he's doing at Arkansas at Ky anymore. Whatever makes them feel better.
They say Cal didn't do anything at Ky last 5 years. All Cal did was go to the Elite 8 in 2019. All he did was win the SEC regular season title in 2020. Favorite to win the SEC tournament. Probably another Final at least if not for Covid. People should get facts before speaking.
I don’t know where the expression Rome wasn’t built in a day came from, I do know their empire lasted four times longer that than the US is old.
Too bad Ky basketball isn't the Roman Empire.
Why would you not say Kentucky is the greatest place to go too? You get 3.5 Million bucks for 14 minutes on the floor! I’m watching Texas get Screwed by the referees! They must have money on Purdue!! I believe College Basketball has become So Corrupt from the AD’s, Coaches and Referees and on and on!