The Kentucky Wildcats play their first of three exhibitions on Friday, taking on Little Rock. As the season nears, Mark Pope's squad looks to be a really, really good offensive team with incredible shooting ability. On the defensive side, there is much more growth that will need to happen over the course of this season.
Mark Pope talked about what his team is capable of when he spoke at SEC Media Days this week in Birmingham. What excites the head coach when thinking about what this team can do? First off, he says their ability to learn fast is going to be an advantage, especially on defense, which he reiterated his comments from a few weeks ago at UK Media Day when he said relying on their length will be important on that end. Here were his full comments on Wednesday about his team as a whole.
"This is a really this is a really fun group to coach because they're fast learners," Pope said. "We built this team roster construction-wise, starting with bookends of of lead guards and and centers. Center is a uniquely important position for us, And this lead guard, point guard position has been a place where we've struggled the last couple years with injury. So we feel like we started there, and we added a ton of length and a ton of skill. And we are walking into the season with a whole bunch of confidence and optimism about what we can grow into. I think this team on the offensive side of the ball is long and skilled and can really, really shoot. It's probably the best shooting team I've ever had. And on the defensive side, we'll again count on our length and our connectedness and our IQ as a team. I think we have a chance to be a great team defensively."
Heading into the season, the Kentucky Wildcats are projected to finish 7th in the SEC. Mark Pope was asked about that, and fans will really love his response.
"I'll be honest with you -- We don't we don't spend a lot of time on polls. We spend all our time on the work that we do and and the wins that we earn. So you know, we're very focused on the only opinion mattering is the opinion in our locker room, and that's really important for all teams in all sports. It's really, really important for our team at Kentucky for us to become what we can become. So the polls will change. You know they change every week. I think you know our football team, which is just crushing it right now. It is so fun right now. Just tells you how how smart the polls are. They dropped them out of the top 25 after they went on the road and and beat an SEC team on the road, and and so the guys came back and proved it because the polls didn't matter to them either."
Mark Pope is looking to prove doubters wrong just like Will Stein has done at Kentucky in his first season and he's doing it with a team full of 'fast learners' that he's excited to see what they grow into.
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