Expectations are already high for Pope, and he knows the assignment.
BBN isn’t going to care that Mark Pope and the Kentucky Basketball program lost most of their top recruits when John Calipari left. Expectations will still be high for the former Kentucky player as he enters his first season as the head coach.
Coming from BYU, Pope is going to introduce a new, fast-paced, and modern offense, and he’s slowly getting the pieces in place to put that into motion. That said, expectations are high for Pope as he enters his first season with the Cats.
His entrance with the ‘96 NCAA Championship team paved the way for those expectations, and they let him know that the expectation is banners in Rupp Arena sooner rather than later.
During a recent interview on the Paul Finebaum Show, Pope joked about the pressure he got from former Kentucky players during his first press conference at Rupp Arena.
“What was really brilliant as I walked on back, every single one of those players threatened me that if we don’t put up banners soon, they’re coming for me, and that’s the way this is supposed to be,” Pope said.
The Cats are a blue-blood program and are expected to be among the best in the nation. While they couldn’t convince Dan Hurley or Scott Drew to come to Lexington, they were able to get an alumnus who was coaching a Power Five program at a high level.
With transfers and recruits already clearly interested in the program, the sky is the limit for what Pope can do, and hopefully, there’s far more news coming about those hoping to play for him next season.
BBN’s expectations are rightfully high, and he knows that.
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