Sure, it would have been preferred for every member of Big Blue Nation to enjoy Mark Pope‘s first Blue-White Game as the head coach at Kentucky. He gets that and understands the frustration for those unable to attend the Preseason Event inside Historic Memorial Coliseum — thus not being able to watch the intrasquad scrimmage at all with no TV or live stream available.
On the other hand, he also knows that to recruit at the highest level in college basketball, your NIL situation has to be better than your competitors. And events like this help make that possible.
Finding the right balance there is something Pope and the basketball program are working toward and hope to figure out sooner rather than later. Until then, he appreciates those who did make it out to HMC to check out the Wildcats in action — and spent good money to do so.
All things considered, he believes the event was a success.
“I can’t tell you how unbelievably grateful I am to be at the University of Kentucky. We’re trying because at the University of Kentucky, we need to be the flagship in every facet of the game of basketball. That’s what this place is,” Pope said Friday night. “We’re also trying to learn NIL and we’re trying 100 different ways to be great with NIL. To be able to have this event and people be so incredibly supportive — when we say this is Kentucky’s team, we mean it’s Kentucky’s team more than it’s ever been.
“So I’m grateful for everybody that was willing to come be a part of that tonight. I’m grateful for everyone we met, so many people that have reached out to be supportive before tonight, and I’m sure we’ll have people reach out after tonight that are so supportive. This Kentucky team, Kentucky’s team, it’s a huge part of college basketball right now. We’re going to be great at that, just like we’re great everything. As a whole locker room, we’re just all full of gratitude right now for the support that we’re getting from BBN. It’s just — it’s like nowhere else.”
Was it perfect? Absolutely not. The program raised good money for NIL, but you never want empty seats for a Kentucky basketball event — especially with so many at home dying to see the team play, feeling they were priced out as fans.
Pope gets that and knows accessibility matters, certainly when you promote this group as Kentucky’s team.
“We’re just trying to figure it out right now and we’re grateful for everybody’s patience as we try and figure out the right way to do this,” he said. “This is it. We have to do both, right? What makes this program special is it is accessible to everybody. That’s incredibly important. That is the lifeblood of what this place is. At the same time, we have to be competitive with NIL and we’re super aware of everything that is involved in that.”
The Blue-White Preseason Event was a trial run for what’s to come, hoping to work out the kinks as more fan experiences and opportunities present themselves in the future. They’ve got to raise money, but they’ve also got to maximize attendance and viewership.
Figuring out how to do both is Pope’s top priority moving forward.
“We’re gonna continue to grow this and do it better and better and better every year. It is going to be both,” he said. “You’ll hear me say that a lot, it’s both. It’s got to be both. For Kentucky to be what Kentucky is supposed to be, it’s not just both, it’s all of it, right? That’s what we’re shooting for.
“Big Blue Madness was such an extraordinary night, and we couldn’t be more grateful for everybody that turned out for that. Then we get to do this and we’re so grateful for everybody that turned out for this. We’re doing some other practices on the road that we’re really grateful that we get the opportunity to do that, it’s gonna be super fun.”
As they figure out the NIL side of things, Pope is excited to start playing other teams for a change and get the real stuff rolling. That begins with an exhibition matchup vs. Kentucky Wesleyan on Wednesday at Rupp Arena.
He hopes you’ll be there to support or watch from home for that one and every game the rest of the way — because this team is worth your time.
“Most importantly, we get to Rupp and we start playing games on Wednesday. We’re just grateful for everybody being patient and supportive,” Pope said. “I’m really excited for all of BBN to go through this year with this team. I think that we are going to love every moment. The good ones and the trying ones because we’ve got a group of guys I think we’re going to be very proud of.”
