GOOD NEWS : guess who Mark Pope has just brought home

Mark Pope of Kentucky basketball sends John Calipari a sophisticated message
Pope’s predecessors in Kentucky and the Kentucky post carry a certain amount of respect.

Mark Pope, the first-year basketball coach at Kentucky, is carrying on the illustrious legacy of John Calipari, who guided the Wildcats to multiple NCAA Tournament deep runs and a national championship. Pope, though, is making sure to leave his mark on the Bluegrass program while still paying homage to those who came before him.

Pope has spent the last five seasons at BYU. He played for the Wildcats for three seasons in the 1990s.

Yes, pay attention, I mean. Pope said, “I’ll always be appreciative of Coach Cal,” in an interview with Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports. “I will be appreciative of his actions at the University of Kentucky, where I attended college. My heart should be overflowing with gratitude for him. In addition, he is among the best college basketball coaches in history.”

Calipari ultimately chose to play for Arkansas, where he will take on the Wildcats the next year.

RELATED: Pope discusses one-and-done basketball at Kentucky

Under Coach Calipari, the Razorbacks currently boast the third-best recruiting class in the country. This cycle, Calipari has added four players from the transfer portal, including Kentucky’s Adou Thiero and Zvonimir Ivisic.

“For him to be in this league is great for basketball,” Pope Francis stated. “Big Blue Nation and lovers of Arkansas will both benefit greatly from it. There is going to be conflict. Certain things will become really intimate. However, what has he done particularly for Kentucky Basketball and for collegiate basketball in general? I was unable to appreciate it any longer.”

Pope guided BYU to two NCAA Tournament berths and an overall record of 110-52 (.679) in five seasons.

“A stylistic basketball standpoint is one of the things that I think is fascinating,” Adam Finkelstein, director of scouting at 247Sports, stated last month on Pope’s hire. “Mark Pope is an advanced offensive coordinator. His teams at BYU actually shot more threes than twos in the previous season. They took more than half of their shots from beyond the arc. Additionally, John Calipari’s incapacity to adapt to his method over time has been criticized.