Kentucky is back in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament. It’s been a long time coming for a program that isn’t used to sitting on the sidelines watching other teams compete for a national championship on a yearly basis.
The Wildcats are used to being right in the middle of it all chasing and competing for national titles.
After advancing to the regional finals in 2019 — a heartbreaking overtime loss to Auburn — the Wildcats endured a losing season after the entire tournament was wiped out because of a pandemic in 2020. They didn’t make the tournament in 2021 with a 9-16 record. Kentucky then suffered a pair of disappointing first-round exits in two of the next three years.
A first-round loss to Oakland a year ago in Pittsburgh set the stage for a coaching change that has proven beneficial for all parties involved, including former coach John Calipari, who finds himself in the Sweet 16 for the 16th time in his Hall of Fame career..
After Calipari bolted for Arkansas last spring after those first-round losses with most of BBN glad to see him go. Kentucky turned to former player Mark Pope, the captain of the 1996 national champions, to restore the program’s place on the national stage.
It all sounds good but Pope found the cupboard bare and in need of players in a hurry. The transfer portal gave him what he needed after members of last year’s squad either declared for the NBA or followed Calipari to Fayetteville. Pope not only had to assemble a coaching staff on the fly, but also had to piece together a roster in a hurry. He brought in a mixture of veterans, graduate transfers, and freshmen, including two instate players who were competing for a state championship a year ago to the day on Sunday, to form his first Kentucky team.
What he put together was a team that played for the name on the front of the jersey as opposed to future aspirations. This Kentucky team may have zero future NBA players on the roster although several may be getting longer looks because of the spotlight that’s on them at UK.
“It’s a terrifying process especially as a first-year coach,” Pope said. “It’s an incredible opportunity also. The terrifying part is that you have zero players on your roster and you’re expected to go win huge.”
Pope embraced the challenge from the proverbial opening tip of his coaching career at Kentucky. As he said from the beginning, he understands the assignment – hanging banners.
“The exciting part is that you get to start from scratch and kind of really hand select every single piece to try and fit together; you’re not forcing any square pegs into round holes,” he said. The puzzle he assembled in such a short time was stunning with players Pope knew could fit into his system.
The roster he assembled fell in love with each other from the first team meeting to the opening practice last summer. The chemistry clicked and the personalities matched to create a brotherhood that may be their strongest asset.
“It’s just the love we have for each other. I feel like everybody just wanted to be on the court fighting for one another, and it showed (against Illinois),” center Amrari Williams said. “We don’t worry about anything else, just the people we have in our circle. And that’s the way it’s been the whole season, and that’s what got us to this point.”
A regime change not only benefited Kentucky, but also gave Arkansas a fresh start and Pope’s former team at BYU continued on the same trajectory that Pope and his staff had been on during his three seasons there. All three teams are still in the hunt for a national title and, for the first time in NCAA history, the Wildcats are doing so without a single returning scorer from last year’s squad. We can expect that record to be equaled during the transfer portal era but Kentucky will always be the first one to do it. From zero to hero.
The veterans and upperclassmen have played enough college basketball games to offset the lack of tournament experience as a team although point guard Lamont Butler has four years of March Madness on his resume. Even with heavily wrapped shoulder, he showed the way past Illinois with some of the game’s biggest plays.
“I think experience is everything when it comes to college basketball, just being able to have a couple of years under your belt and not be phased by the moment,” Kentucky guard Koby Brea said. “It kinda feels like we’ve been here before, doesn’t feel too new. We’ve been through a lot. This upcoming game (in the Sweet Sixteen) is going to be new to me, but excited to be a part of something special.”
How far can Pope’s squad go in the tournament?
“I think as far as Lamont wants to take them,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “I think they’re really good. They’re old, they’re experienced. I think Lamont gives them leadership. I think he’s very good — I think they can beat anybody.”
Why not? They have proven it time and time again with wins over top seeds Duke and Florida and two against Friday’s Midwest Region semifinal foe Tennessee.
Count them out at your own peril.
Keith Taylor is sports editor for Kentucky Today, where this column first appeared.