LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Mark Pope didn’t break a chair at SEC Media Day. But only because he wasn’t playing dice.
That lead, I am aware, makes no sense. You have no idea where it is going. Welcome to Pope at the mic. We'll catch up as we go along.
Year No. 2 at Kentucky is supposed to be about pressure, the weight of history and all that stuff. Pope on Tuesday in Birmingham made it sound like the most fun you can have in a sport coat.
Louisville | Kentucky | Indiana | Eric Crawford
He talked about gravity. Vacuums. Uno. Broken chairs. Three-point math. And dice games that turn dinner into demolition.
This isn’t just a coach still finding his way. It’s a coach doubling down on his way and daring Big Blue Nation to loosen up and follow him.
“Everything we think about in this game is how do we treat gravity,” Pope said, discussing his offensive philosophy like a physics professor on espresso. “You achieve gravity with space, great cutting, smart cutting, intelligent cutting … Then you create vacuums.”
Forget dribble-drive. This is basketball as particle theory. And, I have to tell you, my grades in all those physics related classes weren't exactly the best. I think what he's talking about how much "pull" every player has on the defense, and how their combined movements cause open spaces (vacuums?) to exploit.
Or not.
Pope is doing all this with a team ranked No. 9 in the AP preseason poll, and a home exhibition game looming next week against No. 1 Purdue, with the full weight of Rupp Arena expectations already bearing down.
The coach, however, seems like a guy pulling zero G's.
If Year 1 was about vibe and vision, the throwback letterman jacket, the gratitude, the sales pitch, Year 2 is about proof.
This is his team now. His roster and system. And if Media Day was any indication, still very much his voice.
There was the broken dining room chair story, collateral damage from a team dice game called “Bank.” (Assistant Mikhail McLean was the culprit.)
There was the story about Brandon Garrison becoming the fastest player on the floor. The story about Garrison and freshman Malachi Moreno pushing each other so hard that it's a "fist fight every day." And the stat-glazed explanation of why Pope wants to shoot more threes and stretch out opponents’ possessions on defense.
“We’re fighting two battles right now analytically,” he said. “More pace on offense. More friction on defense.”
Kentucky set a school record for made threes last season under Pope. He’s not satisfied.
“I would like to run that back times two this year,” he said. “We’re going to continue to push that number as high as we can.”
The 25 three-point tries a game Kentucky averaged last year were about 10 fewer than Pope wanted. He thinks this team can get there, based on its spacing, volume, and tempo. He’s not interested in traditional post-ups or slowing things down. Even his defensive strategy is rooted in tempo manipulation.
This isn’t stylistic quirk. It’s full-on basketball philosophy, built from the ground up. And Pope is building it fast.
Next week, Kentucky will open the season with an exhibition against No. 1 Purdue, a veteran team Pope called “the most prepared, most experienced, most well-coached” in the country.
For Pope and his staff, it's a pure search for data. He wants to learn what he has. Roll the dice a few times.
“We’re going to see things where we shake our head in disbelief,” he said. “Like, what were we thinking? … And we’re going to see things where we shake our head and say, that was amazing.”
That might as well be the Pope Doctrine. Push. Experiment. Risk. Learn. Repeat.
He’s not here to tiptoe through Year 2. He’s here to build something, and maybe break a few chairs along the way.
More Sports Coverage:
Louisville women ranked No. 20 in AP Preseason Top 25; Kentucky is No. 24
For the 1st time since 2019, both Kentucky and Louisville are ranked in AP's preseason poll
CRAWFORD | For Louisville, the opponent is No. 2 Miami, and the assignment is no mistakes
Copyright 2025 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
