The five biggest UK basketball questions going into the first season of the Mark Pope era
By Ben Roberts,
18 hours ago
A new era of Kentucky basketball begins Nov. 4, when the Wildcats tip off their 2024-25 season against Wright State in Rupp Arena.
For the first time in 15 years, the Cats will have a new leader.
With former UK player Mark Pope replacing John Calipari as the program’s head coach, there’s a renewed sense of excitement as the next chapter in Kentucky’s storied history begins.
There are also plenty of questions.
Every scholarship player from Calipari’s final UK team is gone, and Pope has put together his first Wildcats roster from scratch. This Kentucky team appears formidable on paper — nine experienced transfers and tantalizing talent across the board — but national analysts aren’t completely sold on these Cats yet.
Here are five important questions for this UK basketball season.
How quickly can these Cats jell?
Of the 12 scholarship players on this Kentucky team, none have been college teammates, none have played for the Wildcats, and only one (Jaxson Robinson) has been coached by Mark Pope.
There’s no denying the depth or overall talent that Pope and his staff have put together.
“He’s like Noah’s Ark,” first-year Louisville coach Pat Kelsey said of Pope’s roster during the offseason. “He’s got two of everything.”
But basketball is obviously a team sport, and for this UK squad to get where Pope wants, these Wildcats will have to click. And fast.
Kentucky’s coach knew that would be the case coming in, and part of his roster-building efforts revolved around bringing natural leaders and “team players” into his program, then putting them in situations to bond on and off the court. The Wildcats themselves heaped praise on their new teammates’ willingness to buy into the unit during the crucial eight weeks of summer practice. So far, everyone is on the same page .
But getting along doesn’t always equate to getting wins, and practicing against each other is far different than playing against outside competition, especially the types of teams — Duke, Clemson, Gonzaga, Louisville, Ohio State, among others — that these Cats will face early on.
Pope’s offensive approach is particularly dependent on the collective timing and familiarity of his five players on the court. This UK team could be a whole lot of fun to watch, but its individual pieces will have to figure each other out to come close to its full potential.
The Herald-Leader polled some national college basketball analysts over the summer regarding that potential. The clear consensus : This team has the talent to make a real run in Pope’s first season, but the biggest question is whether they’ll be able to jell in time to achieve that success.
The answer to that question is likely to ultimately tell the story of UK’s 2024-25 season.
The Kentucky men’s basketball team was introduced at Big Blue Madness. Of the 12 scholarship players on this Wildcats squad, none have been college teammates and none have played for UK. Ryan C. Hermens/rhermens@herald-leader.com
Will everyone stay happy?
Typically, on a team with this much turnover, the question would be whether a coach had found enough newcomers to be competitive.
That shouldn’t be an issue for the Cats this season. If anything, there might be too much depth. A good problem to have for a new head coach but a potential problem nonetheless.
This roster has 12 scholarship players. Nine of them have been starters elsewhere and seven of those transfers are in their final season of college basketball (i.e. their last chance to make an impression on pro scouts). Of the three newcomers, one is a former top-40 recruit with clear NBA upside and the other two are among the best in-state prospects in years.
The expectation going into the season is that Travis Perry and Trent Noah — the two Kentucky kids — will be 11th and 12th in the rotation, with bigger roles waiting for them later in their UK careers, but that would still leave 10 Wildcats in need of major minutes (and practice observers say Perry and Noah are capable of meaningful playing time this season, too).
Pope’s final BYU team featured eight players averaging at least 18 minutes per game — and two others averaging about 11 and nine, respectively — but how roles on this team evolve and ultimately settle will be intriguing to watch. How the players involved — especially those who don’t get as much time as others — react to those roles will also be interesting.
There’s Lamont Butler and Kerr Kriisa at the point guard spot. They’re totally different players — and could complement each other on the floor — but how exactly will those duties be split? Amari Williams (an accomplished veteran, especially defensively) and Brandon Garrison (a McDonald’s All-American with NBA potential) will have to share minutes at the 5.
That near-five-star freshman, Collin Chandler, is still rounding into form following a two-year mission trip overseas, but he could be the Cats’ most talented player once he gets fully acclimated. Jaxson Robinson, Koby Brea and Otega Oweh are all differently talented wings. Andrew Carr and Ansley Almonor are power forwards who can shoot.
Only five can play at a time. There’s only one ball to go around. Pope truly does have two of everything on this roster. How he utilizes these players — and keeps all of them happy — will be among the season’s biggest storylines. And possibly one of Pope’s biggest challenges.
Of Kentucky’s 12 scholarship players, nine have been starters elsewhere before transferring to UK. How head coach Mark Pope plans to maximize his deep roster will be a key question in 2024-25. Chet White/UK Athletics
Can Kentucky play defense?
Scoring points shouldn’t be an issue for this Kentucky team. Stopping the other team? We’ll see.
It’s worth pointing out that this roster was built to do both. Perhaps the biggest surprise as the pieces to Pope’s puzzle started coming together was the emphasis on defense .
Among the first additions of the Pope era:
▪ Lamont Butler , the Mountain West’s reigning defensive player of the year.
▪ Amari Williams , a 6-10, 265-pound center and the three-time Coastal Athletic Association defensive player of the year.
▪ Brandon Garrison , a 6-11, 245-pound center and former McDonald’s All-American known more for his defense than his offense.
▪ Otega Oweh , a physical, 6-5 guard who has already drawn Pope’s praise for his ability to defend smaller, quicker players.
According to advanced metrics, all four of those players would have been top-20 defenders in the SEC had they been on Kentucky’s team last season.
With either Williams or Garrison expected to be on the court at pretty much all times, it’s safe to assume that at least two from that quartet will always be playing for the Wildcats, and the roster features a few others with the potential to be above-average defenders.
Defense, typically a strong suit of the Calipari era, was UK’s clear weakness — and ultimately its downfall — last season. The Cats ended up 109th nationally in defensive efficiency, according to the KenPom ratings. Pope’s final BYU team was 60th on that list.
These guys will have to click, of course, but the expectation is that this Kentucky team will be better defensively than either the Cats or the Cougars were last season. To go far in March, they’ll almost certainly have to be.
What will be seen as success?
The answer to this question will vary depending on your perspective.
Mark Pope has never won an NCAA Tournament game in nine years as a head coach (though BYU and Utah Valley are not Kentucky). John Calipari won exactly one NCAA Tournament game in the past five years (though the Cats had plenty of regular-season success in that span).
Pope deserves some time to build his vision for the program , but the former UK captain knows as well as anyone the expectations that come with the job, and he’s embraced those high standards.
Fair or not — given the uncertain nature of the NCAA Tournament — the definition of “success” probably starts with a trip to the second week of March Madness, a place the Wildcats haven’t been since 2019.
Short of that, what would keep the majority of the fan base happy?
Three of Calipari’s final five teams entered the postseason ranked in the top 10 in the country, but the continued struggles in March turned many against him. Would an SEC regular season or league tournament title — the Cats have won neither over the past four seasons — be enough to deem Pope’s first season a success, even if UK falls flat in the NCAA Tournament?
Kentucky’s new coach enters this season with a ton of momentum, but he knows winning games on the court will ultimately be the only way to sustain it. A trip to the second week of March Madness still wouldn’t please everyone, but under the circumstances, it should be seen as a victory as the transition to the Pope era begins.
Mark Pope has never won an NCAA Tournament game, and UK has won only one in the past five years. Does Kentucky’s new head coach have the roster to move the needle in his first year? Chet White/UK Athletics
Is this the start of something new?
One major question regarding the Pope era won’t be answered until after the season.
Can Kentucky’s new coach actually get talented players to stick around?
Calipari’s revolving-door rosters grated on many fans from the start, and the turnover fatigue became unforgivable when the Hall of Fame coach stopped hanging banners in Rupp Arena.
Pope has promised a return to multi-year players who actually play, the idea of watching freshmen grow — possibly even into seniors — over the course of their UK careers.
While there will still be one-and-dones and outgoing transfers, Pope has a chance to make good on this right away.
Five players on the 2024-25 roster have remaining eligibility beyond this season — Otega Oweh, Brandon Garrison and freshmen Collin Chandler, Trent Noah and Travis Perry — and getting all five back for the 2025-26 campaign would be a tremendous feat as Pope tries to lay the foundation for future Kentucky teams.
Retaining players — with the demands of the NIL era and the easy out of the transfer portal — has become a yearlong endeavor. The task of keeping those five Wildcats around — and keeping them happy even if they’re not instant stars — begins not in March or April but now.
Roster continuity has to start somewhere, and getting all (or most) of the younger players on this team back for year two would be a welcome sign for the Wildcats’ future.
1-Exhibition game; 2-Champions Classic at State Farm Arena in Atlanta; 3-BBN Invitational in Rupp Arena; 4-SEC/ACC Challenge at Littlejohn Coliseum; 5-Battle in Seattle at Climate Pledge Arena; 6-CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York; 7-SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Local News
Comments / 0