by LARRY VAUGHT
Mark Pope played at Kentucky on a national championship team and knew plenty about the spotlight on Kentucky basketball — or at least thought he did. However, his team’s struggles this year have created a lot of speculation from Big Blue fans about what has been wrong with the team.
“It’s just interesting to watch. Since we’ve been here — and I’ll just use personal things — (my wife) Lee Anne got pregnant. She came to a game and everyone was celebrating because it had been reported that she was pregnant,” Pope said on his weekly radio show.
During a recent radio show Pope got a call from a concerned friend who heard the UK coach checked into a hospital.
“It’s one of the great things. I don’t dislike it, but there’s just — you know, everybody cares so much that stories get out there, just because we’re trying to find something to talk about,” Pope said. “We haven’t performed up to the standard we want to on the floor, but these are great kids, man. They are pulling for each other, and they’re competing with each other.”
Pope even acknowledged after the Missouri loss that mental fatigue is an issue for almost everyone.
“I think everybody has mental fatigue everywhere right now if you’re putting your whole heart and soul into it, but that’s our job to not let that have any impact on today or yesterday or tomorrow,” Pope said. “One of the things I love about sports is it teaches you that it doesn’t matter how bad things get, you can’t go back and rewrite what happened.”
One college coach has seen Kentucky play enough to know that Pope did not “recruit his type of players” to play the way he likes this season.
“He has talented players that don’t fit together for his system and everyone in the program is like a fish out of water. He had a better team last year because he recruited players that fit him and his style a lot better,” the coach told me. “It’s sad but not all kids just automatically buy-in.
“That’s why portal recruiting is a crap shoot. You don’t recruit the kids long enough to get to know if they fit your culture or if they have good character.”
The coach also understands the pressure on Pope, a player on UK’s 1996 national championship team, after he promised Kentucky fans he knew what they wanted at his introductory press conference.
“The problem with saying all the right things at the opening press conference about knowing the assignment (winning a national championship) is BBN is going to hold you to that,” the coach said.
Many Kentucky fans have also wondered about the lack of consistent playing time for freshman guard Jasper Johnson, a top 20 recruit who did not even play in the Missouri loss. He did have five points on 2-for-4 shooting in 10 minutes in UK’s win over Mississippi State.
“I think Jasper is a victim of the losses. He’s struggled defensively at times and it’s easy to say a freshman makes too many mistakes,” the college said. “He needs to be at a place that will put the ball in his hands and let him play through mistakes and learn to be his best.
“Not sure Pope has the luxury to let him play through mistakes right now but he can probably still score the ball better than most of the guys on their team.”
