By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
Kentucky coach Mark Pope wants the Wildcats to stay “fully engaged” going into his second season with the Wildcats.
“It’s going to be one of the greatest challenges for us this season in that we all are kind of chasing the same vision,” Pope said during the team’s annual media day Monday.
Pope wants the Wildcats to be engaged on the court and have an open line of communication between the players and the coaching staff the entire season. Off the court, he wants to keep an open dialogue within the program.
Otega Oweh, Kentucky’s leading returning scorer, understands what Pope is looking for when it comes to being fully engaged.
“It means paying attention to the little things,” he said. “They’re little details, but they’re not little, because they add up. If you keep on forgetting to switch your feet in the ball screen defense, like three, four times it adds up and it’s going to end up in points.
’It may be a little thing, but it ends up adding up, and, you know, it could hurt your team. I think that’s what Coach means when he says ‘fully engaged’ … just paying attention to so-called little things and not having it hurt you in the long run.”
The Kentucky coach also wants the Wildcats to focus on individual and team growth, another element to cement his team’s foundation this season.
“Sometimes we get confused (because) we think that what we’re really chasing is achievement, and that is wrong,” he said. “What we’re chasing is growth. It is not achievement. Achievement is false, fake and it tricks you. It is growth.”
He added his returning players, including Oweh, Brandon Garrison, Trent Noah and Collin Chandler, are “actually living that right now.”
“Growth is what brings joy and pride and belief, and it makes you walk in the room differently. Achievement is fine, but it’s fickle, and so out of these second-year guys, we’re seeing this amazing growth. They feel it. They’re different. They walk into the room differently. I love it. It’s the best thing about coaching.”
That growth is also evident within the coaching staff as the Wildcats build on last year’s success, the Kentucky coach said, making things “incredibly fun.”
“As a head coach, you do your best with short and limited information about positioning guys in the responsibilities where they’re going to excel the most,” he said. “Then there’s also this growing process of a year ago, at this time our staff still had so many questions about, like, Well, what do you do about this, and how do we do this, and everything else?”
This season, Pope said his staff has “gravitated guys more into the places where they can be stars on the staff.”
“We still have so much growth to accomplish as a staff, but I feel like we’re in a way different spot,” he said. “I’m grateful for that. I think we’re functioning well together.”
And it starts at the top with Pope, who hasn’t changed his mind about coaching “the biggest thing in basketball.”
“I thought it was going to be the most challenging. It’s the most challenging. I thought I would love it more than I’ve ever loved a job and probably more than I will ever love a job in my entire life, and I’m pretty sure that’s true.
“I thought this was the greatest fanbase where the connection matters so much, and I still think that’s true. I think it’s just — I mean, I just am grateful that we get to live in it. I’m really grateful.”