Kentucky basketball is picking up speed almost by the day now during this preseason. It started last Friday with a Big Blue Madness on a super modern lighted floor at Rupp Arena. Later in that same event, a force of nature who led Kentucky to the 1996 NCAA championship was introduced to a huge crowd at Rupp Arena that was thrilled and enchanted that he was there.
Rick Pitino called it deeply emotional emotional, after he carried the NCAA championship trophy, and stood beside Mark Pope with a microphone in his hand to speak to the adoring crowd. He appeared to fight back tears when he spoke in Rupp Arena on Friday night, in a scene still surreal several days later.
“Thank you Big Blue Nation. One of the most emotional nights of my life. So happy to be with my guys in Camelot,” was the message Pitino put out on X.
“Coach Pitino is really personal for me,” said Pope, who is getting ready to start his first season as the Kentucky basketball coach. “You count on one hand the people that really, really change you forever. I love Coach Pitino for that. He changed the way I see the world, he changed the way I walk into a room, he changed the confidence that we approach challenges with. On top of that, we got to share as a team under his leadership the most extraordinary of experiences together.
“It was really special for him to be able to walk into Rupp Arena and feel that from BBN, to feel their gratitude.”
That was an opening sequence for Pope during the SEC basketball media day Tuesday in Birmingham, Ala. He praised former UK coach John Calipari, now at Arkansas, among other subjects Pope touched on during his more than 20-minute session.
“You’ll never hear me say a negative word about Coach Cal, because there’s not a lot to say,” Pope said. “He’s a Hall of Fame coach. As a diehard Kentucky fan and alumnus and former player, I’m grateful for everything, all the incredible things that Cal accomplished at the University of Kentucky.
“And he’s also been a good friend, he’s been a terrific mentor. … We’ll be cheering for him every day like crazy, except for February 1.”
Calipari was equally positive when talking about Pope.
“I think they hired the perfect guy for that job,” Calipari said at SEC Media Day. “Part of it is because he played there, graduated from there, has a heart for the place and has an idea of what that is. He’s a good man, terrific basketball coach. They hired the right guy. They really did.”
“I’ll be rooting for ’em. I want Kentucky (to do well). Come on, man. 15 years. I gave them my heart and soul.”
Bruce Pearl has been as complimentary about Kentucky through the years as an opposing coach could be during his time at Auburn.
“I think there’s two things that jump out at me: One, how much better is the league with John Calipari at Arkansas and now Coach Pope at Kentucky,” Pearl said. “I can tell you from watching his BYU teams, he’s got a brilliant offensive mind. That doesn’t mean he’s not a good defensive coach, but he is next-step European, the latest and the greatest offensive schemes that are out there right now.
“I think Kentucky got themselves somebody that understands the history and the responsibility of leading that program.”
The thrill was there in different moments at Big Blue Madness — most notable of course was when Pitino emerged in a blue Kentucky pullover nearly a week ago now. But the curiosity has been rampant for a while at what exactly this first Pope mixture at Kentucky will be.
The first couple of looks at that will come soon enough, starting Wednesday against a program near and dear to the hearts of many from OBKY through the years.
Kentucky plays two exhibitions at Rupp Arena — Oct. 23 against Kentucky Wesleyan and Oct. 29 against Minnesota State Mankato, which won the NCAA Division II championship last year with a 35-2 record.
“We’re going to get exposed,” Pope said. “Like I said, I have a group that’s humble and curious and we’re actually dying to get in the film room. OK, show us what we’re not doing. Where are the holes and the cracks in what we do? So we can go fix them and we can build them back up and that’s what you get from playing other teams.
“We’re at the point now where we’re really eager to go face some opponents because what we need to do is we need to be a great team by the time March comes around. So we need to learn all that and take in all that information and then learn the principles that where we can combat the little holes that we have. That’s what outside games do.”
Soon after that, the games that count will start for Pope’s first season as the Kentucky basketball coach.
