Mark Pope, John Calipari and the rest of the conference’s college basketball coaches are in Destin, FL, this week for the SEC’s annual spring meetings.
The Pope recently showed the former veteran Kentucky some love to the head basketball coach, saying he will always be “grateful” to the new Arkansas boss for what he did during his tenure, which included bringing a national championship to his alma mater. Calipari similarly praised Pope, but warned him about the pressures he will face in taking over his old job.
“I thought it was a fantastic hire,” Calipari said Wednesday in Destin. “Mark (Pope) and I have spent time together. He is a good man. He and I talked Friday morning when he was at the Final Four. It couldn’t have been more… you know, he’s a former player. Proud of what he was doing Kentucky. I didn’t know he would be the coach at the time, but I think he’s a fantastic hire.
“There are things they need to do and that they know they need to do now. No options. Either you make them or… you know. As I understand it, they are doing it.”
Calipari and Pope were both in Indianapolis recruiting for the same AAU tournament along with some of the biggest names in the college basketball coaching industry.
Both Calipari and Pope have been busy building their teams for next season, as they both inherited essentially empty rosters. Calipari had no scholarship players after Eric Musselman departed Arkansas earlier in the offseason and it was almost academic that Calipari’s former recruits would enter the transfer portal, some of whom had already committed to the former head coach of the United Kingdom.
For Pope, he has assembled a transfer portal class with a handful of veterans so far to fit his unique offensive schemes.
Many fans within BBN argued that Calipari’s use of the one-size-fits-all approach to recruiting and building his roster held the Wildcats back over the past few years. Calipari even admitted this at Destin, saying that eventually his 18- and 19-year-olds would encounter a team full of grown men in their fourth, fifth and sixth seasons in college.
The Pope has built exactly the opposite. Kentucky won’t be at the top of any recruiting class this offseason. Four star guard Travis Perryand, who is the all-time leading scorer in Kentucky high school basketball history, and Trent NoahAnother Kentucky native, he is the only true freshman, as of this report, who will be on Pope’s inaugural team as of this report.
Keynote USA
For the Latest Sports News, Follow @Keynote USA Sports on Twitter.