Kentucky fans should expect Mark Pope’s team to catch fire earlier than ever this year
Mark Pope has built a Kentucky roster capable of catching fire earlier than ever this season.
Every fan of college hoops is familiar with the sentiment: “This team just needs time.” Kentucky fans specifically have watched countless squads drop crucial games in early December, only to be told to wait until March. We haven’t seen the desired result in March since 2012. However, I believe Mark Pope has engineered this year’s Wildcats to come into their own earlier than ever.
Looking at last year’s team, Kentucky had too many question marks going into the season. On offense especially, fans watched as Denzel Aberdeen struggled to find his footing between point and shooting guard roles.
Otega Oweh jumped out to a slow start, and while Collin Chandler was hot in stretches, he often failed to break free when defenses honed in on him. Add in an injured Jaland Lowe and Jayden Quaintance and a frontcourt that couldn’t score, and you ended up with a 14-loss team.
That’s team that started 9-6, only really finding any rhythm in SEC play – even then, it was inconsistent. But across the board this time around, we’re looking at a roster with more answers than questions.
Looking at last year’s team, Kentucky had too many question marks going into the season. On offense especially, fans watched as Denzel Aberdeen struggled to find his footing between point and shooting guard roles.
Otega Oweh jumped out to a slow start, and while Collin Chandler was hot in stretches, he often failed to break free when defenses honed in on him. Add in an injured Jaland Lowe and Jayden Quaintance and a frontcourt that couldn’t score, and you ended up with a 14-loss team.
That’s team that started 9-6, only really finding any rhythm in SEC play – even then, it was inconsistent. But across the board this time around, we’re looking at a roster with more answers than questions.
He posted a 30.3% assist rate last year (something Coach Pope loves to point out), and averaged 15.7 points, 4.5 assists, and 3.9 rebounds. The aforementioned Lowe, for all of his potential, was always score-first. That’s what his game depended on.
Diallo scores well, but he’s a system fit. Coach Pope has added system fits at almost every position. That’s been a clear priority for Kentucky this offseason, alongside the other defining trait of this team: Experience.
Kentucky is Relying Heavily on Experience Over Freshman Talent
Four-star freshman Mason Williams is the only first-year player expected to get minutes on this team. From the starting five to the bottom of his bench, Pope plans to roll out a unit full of guys two to four years into their college careers.
Transfer big man Franck Kepnang is entering his seventh season, and if the Cats land Mark Mitchell, he’d be playing his fifth.
This is the brand of basketball that succeeds early on in the season. Why? Because as other teams – say, John Calipari’s latest batch of freshmen at Arkansas – are figuring out who they are, a team like Kentucky’s is full of players who already know.
At that point, it’s about getting those solid-as-stone athletes to commit to a new system. As you can imagine, that takes a whole lot less time than building a system based on younger players. I’m willing to bet that our incoming Wildcats have a much easier time out of the gate for that reason.
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