“I think they hired a perfect guy for that job. He has a heart for the place, and he has an idea of what that is,” John Calipari had said about Mark Pope as he exited from his head coaching role with the Kentucky Wildcats. Though his run was a bit disappointing with the program, getting them their only Championship with him in 2012, his name is in fact very heavy. So when Cal moved out of the Wildcats for the Razorbacks, the expectations were high for the new HC, but he slowly seems to be settling in on Cal’s words.

As the Wildcats have played their first two regular season games, their AP preseason rankings have seen an improvement. From the 23rd position, they have climbed up to 19th place. The Wildcats won their season opener against Wright State, with Otega Owah leading the scoring with 21 points and Amari Williams hitting a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. It was a 103-62 margin victory for Kentucky.

Similarly, during the next game against the Bucknell, the Pope-coached team won by a 100-72 margin. This time, too, they screeched to a comfortable victory. The highest scorer for the Wildcats this time was Koby Brea, who hit 20 points with 6 rebounds. Meanwhile, the best rebounder during the second game was again Williams who grabbed 14 boards with 13 points, again hitting a double-double.

As for assists, the chief playmaker was Kerr Kriisa who supported with 12 assists. With these two wins, the Lexington-based team has climbed 4 spots in the AP men’s basketball rankings as per AP polls. This certainly shows that Pope has given a good push to the team despite an embarrassing start to the season.

Mark Pope starts his tenure on an ugly note

When the former BYU HC took over the reins from Cal, he knew that he would be compared to someone who had taken the program to 7 Elite Eights, 4 Final Fours, and one year of glory. But he would have never imagined that his tenure would start on a low. The AP men’s basketball polls ranked Pope and his mentees at No. 23, which was the lowest preseason ranking since 2008-09 when they were unranked.

At that time, Billy Gillispie used to coach and as the season concluded, he was fired for Calipari to take his place. The lowest pre-season ranking under Calipari was last year when the Wildcats occupied the 16th spot. Therefore, coming to have better performances than Cal, and starting on a low would have definitely hit Pope.

Nonetheless, as of now, after winning his first two games, the new HC has helped the team climb the rankings. And hopefully, as the regular season proceeds, he will be able to restore the Wildcats to their former glory.