Good morning. I admit I care much more about the football program than the basketball program but the absolute freak out by the board following this hire has pulled me into the weeds. A lot of regurgitation of cliches and a lack of actual thought-out posts prompted me to make my own post about it.
Let's actually look into Mark Pope - season by season but before we do that let us acknowledge one thing: recruiting. I have seen several posts regarding his recruiting at BYU and to be honest they help make the case FOR Pope. He struggled to pull in average talent at BYU and he still won games. Surely everyone understands how difficult it is to attract talent to BYU. It is basically like recruiting kids to a service academy. He will be able to pull talent to Kentucky based on NIL alone. So, let's focus on what actually matters - his results.
First, lets check out his KenPom ratings while at BYU:
For comparison sake, here is Kentucky and Cal since 2020:
TLDR: Pope is not exciting. I'm not excited about this hire. I find the timing by Barnhart to be absolutely atrocious. Pope would've left BYU for UK if the season started tomorrow. There was no need to rush this hire. With that said, it appears that he is a good basketball coach who found ways to win at a school that struggles to attract high-end basketball talent. That alone gives me some hope that Pope will work out. He does lack that signature win in the tournament you look for when a coach makes the leap (Oats vs Arizona/Arizona St, Hurley vs Creighton/Oklahoma) which is concerning. Ultimately, the hire is risky but he is a legitimatly good coach.
Let's actually look into Mark Pope - season by season but before we do that let us acknowledge one thing: recruiting. I have seen several posts regarding his recruiting at BYU and to be honest they help make the case FOR Pope. He struggled to pull in average talent at BYU and he still won games. Surely everyone understands how difficult it is to attract talent to BYU. It is basically like recruiting kids to a service academy. He will be able to pull talent to Kentucky based on NIL alone. So, let's focus on what actually matters - his results.
First, lets check out his KenPom ratings while at BYU:
| Year | NCAA Seed | KenPom Rank | Adj O Rank | Adj D Rank | SOS Rank |
2024 | 6 | 18 | 14 | 60 | 68 |
2023 | N/A | 77 | 103 | 52 | 85 |
2022 | N/A | 58 | 50 | 70 | 85 |
2021 | 6 | 20 | 23 | 30 | 65 |
2020 | 5* projected | 13 | 7 | 60 | 74 |
For comparison sake, here is Kentucky and Cal since 2020:
| Year | NCAA Seed | KenPom Rank | Adj O Rank | Adj D Rank | SOS Rank |
2024 | 3 | 23 | 7 | 109 | 76 |
2023 | 6 | 27 | 17 | 68 | 42 |
2022 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 36 | 30 |
2021 | N/A | 49 | 84 | 35 | 15 |
2020 | 4* projected | 29 | 24 | 52 | 66 |
- What stands out to you? To me, it's that Pope put up three top 20 KenPom seasons in a talent desert. And he did it with great offense and decent defense. Just an FYI...BYU competed in the West Coast Conference (Gonzaga, St. Marys, etc.) until 2023 and moved to the Big 12 in 2024.
- It is hard to excuse his loss this year in the NCAAT. However, in 2021 he lost to the UCLA team that went to OT in the national championship vs. Gonzaga.
- In his two seasons that he missed the tournament they lost to good teams in their conference tournament. In 2023, they lost to eventual 5 seed St. Mary's. In 2022, they lost to Todd Golden's eventual 10 seed San Francisco. Not making excuses, just providing context.
TLDR: Pope is not exciting. I'm not excited about this hire. I find the timing by Barnhart to be absolutely atrocious. Pope would've left BYU for UK if the season started tomorrow. There was no need to rush this hire. With that said, it appears that he is a good basketball coach who found ways to win at a school that struggles to attract high-end basketball talent. That alone gives me some hope that Pope will work out. He does lack that signature win in the tournament you look for when a coach makes the leap (Oats vs Arizona/Arizona St, Hurley vs Creighton/Oklahoma) which is concerning. Ultimately, the hire is risky but he is a legitimatly good coach.
