Mark Pope‘s first-ever Kentucky men’s basketball Media Day wrapped up on Tuesday. The new head coach was his usual joyful self, sharing the good vibes with the dozens upon dozens of media members who made the trip to the Joe Craft Center. He spoke for about 35 minutes before we were all ushered onto the practice court for interview opportunities with all 12 scholarship players for the 2024-25 season.
We could (and will) spend days parsing through all of the quotes we heard throughout the day, but to give you a taste of what went down, we’ve compiled our top takeaways from the event that we’ll touch on below.
Pope opened up Media Day in a way that we’ll likely all become very familiar with over the coming years: by using an inspirational quote.
“I’ll start with a little sermon that I enjoyed so much on Sunday. I speak no Japanese but was introduced to this concept of moons be still,” Pope said. “If you do a really bad Google search translation you get something like nothingness and I love this idea so much right now.”
The message behind the saying? To take a step back from life and enjoy being in the moment. Remove the phones, social media, and any other potentially negative entity to ensure a state of stillness and quietness. It’s a message he shares with his players and assistants. They’re all playing and coaching at the University of Kentucky. So enjoy it a little bit.
“This job is just begging you to never stop,” Pope added. “It’s begging you to be so consumed by everything that you never really think and that you never really listen. You never really, really listen. And if we miss on that opportunity, for me in a spiritual sense, if I don’t take the opportunity to really stop and listen and kind of commune, I’m not going to be a great coach.”
So far, I’m a big fan of the Mark Pope Quote of the Day bit.
— Zack Geoghegan
Rick Pitino is coming home to Kentucky
We all had that moment as Coach Pope was getting ready to talk at the podium, scrolling through our social media feeds to find none other than Rick Pitino announcing he’ll be back in Lexington this weekend for Kentucky football’s matchup against Vanderbilt. The Hall of Famer said he’d “be on the sidelines helping Coach Stoops,” but everyone thought the same thing: Big Blue Madness?
Pope was asked about Pitino’s return and his thoughts on catching up with his former coach back where it all started. His response? The assistant coaches better be ready to do the heavy lifting in practice — he’s going to be sidetracked chatting it up with his mentor and the guy who “changed (his) DNA as a human being.”
“I’m excited. Coach hit me a week ago. And he kind of asked me but he really told me that he was coming to practice (laughter),” Pope said. “So, believe it or not, I said that to the staff. I said, guys, you’ll have to carry the day because this is my guy coming in here, Coach P.
“I’m really — listen, anytime I get to spend time with Coach is time incredibly well spent for me. I love him.”
It’s weird for Big Blue Nation, Pitino going full heel as a Cardinal before getting back to his roots as a Wildcat, but the full-circle moment is coming one way or another. My vote is to embrace it.
— Jack Pilgrim
Publishing the 1996 group text?
Speaking of Pitino and that ’96 national championship squad, Pope said at his introductory press conference he had a group chat going with all of his former teammates and coaches ready to hold him accountable as the head coach at Kentucky. Big Blue Nation didn’t need to rip him a new one because those closest to him were going to destroy him every chance they got.
How is that text thread going? Pope says it’s quiet for now, but things are about to get a whole lot crazier now that the games are starting.
And he just may post all of those messages for the world to see. Why not, right?
“I think there’s the calm before the storm right now. So I expect — I’m really toying with the idea of publishing the whole strand as we get closer to it,” he said. “I think it would be really fun. I don’t know if I’m going to do that. Don’t hold me to that. But I think it’s going to get way more animated as we get closer to games.”
— Jack Pilgrim
Pope sure does love the KY boys
From the moment he was introduced as head coach in front of a packed Rupp Arena all the way back in April, Pope has emphasized acquiring in-state talent. He brought in two already with freshmen Travis Perry and Trent Noah with two more on the way in high school seniors Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno.
Not that Pope doesn’t think the rest of his team is talented (because he’s publicly hyped up all of them individually over the last few months), but he sure is excited about the homegrown talents of Perry and Noah, especially with how far both have come in such a short amount of time. Pope acknowledged that the first few weeks of summer practice were rough for both the Bluegrass natives, but he’s been ultra impressed with how they’ve responded since then.
“I’m fans of these two kids. I’m telling you,” Pope said. “I’ve said this a couple times, but the first day, Travis — I think Travis has never been fazed by anything in his life. I think he’s like a 75-year-old soul in an 18-year-old body. He’s specially built that way.
“And Trent, who, man, I just think he’s really special. I think he’s a really special human being. I don’t know Eastern Kentucky like people who grew up in Eastern Kentucky; I don’t know it well like them. But if you had a guy who was going to represent the eastern half of this state in a brilliant, brilliant way, this Trent Noah is really special that way.”
Will either see minutes right away from the first game? That’s yet to be seen. Perry has certainly made enough offseason headlines to believe he’ll wiggle his way into a role. But what Pope sees is the potential within them, and that has him excited for their futures.
“I love these kids,” he added. “It’s really special to have them on the team and they’re going to make a huge impact on Kentucky basketball this year and certainly as we move forward with this program.”
— Zack Geoghegan
Ansley Almonor is a “perfect fit”
Ansley Almonor transferred to Kentucky after three seasons at Fairleigh Dickinson where he was a two-time All-NEC player during his final two seasons. But once he entered the portal, he wasn’t highly sought-after. Almonor says Kentucky came in late during the process, but a week after they did, he was a Wildcat.
Pope saw something there that others didn’t. Where some foresaw a big leap in talent from the NEC to the SEC, Pope saw a smooth transition. The 6-foot-7 Almonor averaged 16.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game while shooting 39.4 from deep as a junior last season.
“He’s a finance major. He’s a brilliant young man. He digests information in life and in basketball so fast,” Pope said of Almonor. “He’s become an elite-level scoring, shooting, growing into passing big. He’s a perfect fit for us.”
— Zack Geoghegan
Pope gets help from a strong staff
The head coach gets all of the love with media attention and publicity, but Pope made sure to give his assistants some love before wrapping things up at the podium.
Asked specifically about Jason Hart and Alvin Brooks III, he called the former ‘one of my favorite human beings in the world’ who has coached elite talent at all levels while also playing in the pros.
“He’s a big-time coach. And he’s had incredible success at the college level and at the professional level coaching. Like, he’s a veteran, veteran coach. … So I’ve known him and loved him and admired him for a long time. He does incredible work.”
As for the latter, his reputation is among the strongest in college basketball and Pope knew fairly quickly he needed him on his first staff in Lexington.
“I didn’t know as well, but I knew his reputation. Everybody in basketball knows his reputation,” Pope said. “And then through conversations, I realize — you’ll hear me say this so many times because it’s so true — he’s such a better person than he is a coach. He’s one of the most recognized coaches, associate head coaches in all of college basketball. But he’s an incredible person.”
The results have paid off in a hurry, especially on the recruiting trail.
“It’s kind of like when I sit down with a recruit or I sit down with current players and their families and the floor slides over to Coach Brooks, I’m like, yep, you’re welcome, people, enjoy this because he’s really special,” Pope added.
And he feels that was about his whole staff, one he may have to replace in a year if all goes as planned. Not due to poor performance, obviously, but because other programs want to snatch them up as their own head coaches.
“I actually feel that way about every single guy on my staff. I’m really blessed to be able to work with great people on my staff. I’m really excited,” Pope said. “… I’m going to be shocked if all these guys aren’t gone next year with head jobs, which is the goal.”
— Jack Pilgrim
