Pope’s been on a roll with the Cats.
The Kentucky Wildcats have an impressive resume, and it isn’t even February yet.
With numerous neutral-court wins over quality foes like the Gonzaga Bulldogs and Duke Blue Devils before even starting conference play, the Cats have continued to pile on solid victories, many of which they closed as an underdog in.
Against the Volunteers Tuesday, they picked up yet another strong win. Here’s a rundown from Jeff Goodman on the specific wins that Kentucky has in Mark Pope’s first season with the program, which makes these victories even more impressive.
Here’s a list of Kentucky’s biggest wins in Year 1 under Coach Pope (ranking is from the latest AP Top 25 Poll):
- No. 2 Duke on neutral court
- At Gonzaga in Seattle
- No. 21 Louisville at home
- No. 5 Florida at home
- At No. 14 Mississippi State
- No. 13 Texas A&M at home
- At No. 8 Tennessee
That’s two top-five wins, three top-10 wins, and five top-15 wins. And three of Kentucky’s losses have come to teams in at least one of the two major polls (Vanderbilt is No. 24 in the AP Poll, while Clemson is No. 25 in the Coaches Poll).
It didn’t seem like every fan was ready to buy into Pope as soon as it was announced that he was going to be the Cats’ new head coach. And, to be fair, why would you? Not many really knew much of him outside of one good year at BYU that ended in a Round of 64 loss as a 6-seed to 11-seeded Duquesne.
The doubters weren’t ready for Pope’s passion, grit, and clear knowledge of the game. He immediately brought in a slew of talented transfer players and was able to get Jaxson Robinson, the Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year, to join the Cats as well.
The preseason expectations still weren’t there, despite the big-name additions like Robinson and Wake Forest transfer Andrew Carr. Both the preseason AP and Coaches Polls had Kentucky ranked No. 23.
Expectations quickly changed, and Pope’s Cats have been surging in big games.
Now, they have had a few bad performances in road games, but in the grand game of college hoops, most teams have several bad outings. Pope’s first year has been incredible so far, and hopefully, as SEC play continues, his resume only continues to strengthen.