- Mark Pope’s Kentucky Wildcats don’t play any more defense than John Calipari’s final team that couldn’t guard a Division II transfer last March.
- Kentucky gets buried under a barrage of 3-pointers by one SEC opponent after another.
- Kentucky, when healthy, good enough to topple good teams, but defense sure helps in March Madness.
The coach grew in height and shrank in ego, but other than that, tell me, what’s changed about Kentucky men’s basketball in the 10 months since John Calipari vamoosed?
Mark Pope’s Wildcats don’t play any more defense than Calipari’s final team that couldn’t guard a Division II transfer that played for Oakland last March.
Joy ride’s over, folks, halted by a 3-point barrage brought by Alabama, Vanderbilt, Arkansas and Mississippi. The Wildcats have dropped four of their last five games, surrendering at least 89 points in three of those defeats.
In these last two losses against Arkansas and Ole Miss, the Wildcats (15-7) defended the hoop about like Lululemon protects its merchandise.
You want it? Take it!
Just last week, the New York Times published an article on Pope under the headline: Mark Pope’s Kentucky honeymoon phase refuses to fade.
Nice timing, Gray Lady.
Forget the honeymoon, some Kentucky fans need comforting.
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Mark Pope holds to reputation for fun offense, fickle defense
Big Blue Nation convinced itself last spring after Calipari’s jailbreak for Arkansas that it would attract a coach listing at least one national championship on his résumé, and, if Billy Donovan and Scott Drew turned them down, well, call Bruce Pearl as the failsafe.
That plan sounded great on talk radio, but talk radio is not real life.
Kentucky hired a coach with no March Madness victories. In Pope’s five seasons at Brigham Young, only once did his team rank in the top 50 nationally for defensive efficiency, as measured by analytics guru Ken Pomeroy.
Big Blue Nation initially balked at the hire of Pope, but he’s a true ‘Cat who played for Rick Pitino. He stoked all the feels during his introduction at Rupp Arena that morphed into a revival, then won over lingering doubters by beating Duke in November, Louisville in December and Florida in January.
Since then, other teams improved, Kentucky stalled, and its porous defense repeatedly got exposed.
If only these Wildcats defended half as well as Pitino’s surging St John’s team.
Pope lives up to his reputation for a modern offense that’s usually easy on the eyes, built around the 3-pointer. He’s also adhering for his reputation for fickle defenses.
A Rupp Arena crowd that booed Calipari on Saturday before tipoff of his return made for the exits before the buzzer. Calipari’s Razorbacks came to Lexington needing a compass to find the bottom of the net. A game against the Wildcats cured their shooting ailment. They sank 13 3-pointers against a Kentucky defense helpless to stop the assault. Three days later, Ole Miss drained 13 triples, too, and the Wildcats forced exactly one more turnover than a lampshade during 40 minutes against the Rebels.
“I’m doing a poor job of finding answers to (the defensive woes) right now,” Pope admitted to reporters after the latest loss.
It’s been years since Kentucky had answers. The Wildcats’ last played truly stout defense throughout the 2018-19 season. Not coincidentally, the Wildcats’ last Elite Eight appearance came in that campaign. Since then, they’ve ranged from average to bad on defense.
Kentucky’s defense worrisome ahead of March Madness
Analytics nerds earmark teams ranked inside the top 20 of Pomeroy’s offensive and defensive efficiency ratings as smart bets to make March Madness runs. UConn and Purdue, the two teams that reached the finals last season, ranked in the top 15 nationally on both ends of the court.
Kentucky’s latest rankings? No. 2 on offense, trailing only Auburn, and 109th on defense. Calipari’s final team finished 109th in defensive efficiency.
Yes, we’ve seen this film before, and Kentucky didn’t like the ending.
“My guys are playing hard,” Pope said after a loss in which Ole Miss blitzed Kentucky with 54 points by halftime. “I’m doing a poor job with our team defensively right now.”
Pope owning his shortcomings comes as a refreshing pivot after Calipari ducked interviews or blamed youth for losses, even as he repeatedly built rosters built on freshmen over transfers.
Better than shouldering blame, though, would be devising solutions.
Now, let’s acknowledge a couple of disclaimers. After recovering from an ankle injury, point guard Lamont Butler missed the last three games with a shoulder injury. The Wildcats aren’t the same without him.
Also, Calipari’s exit cost Kentucky its roster. Five prized recruits left the signing class, three of whom followed Kentucky’s former coach to Arkansas. Several Wildcats stampeded for the transfer portal during a mass roster transition. That’s expected amid a coaching regime change.
Pope did nicely to combat the losses with quality transfers, and he deserves a chance to get a recruiting class installed before making any lasting judgments.
Still, Pope knows better than most what he signed up for at Kentucky. In a nod to the lofty expectations, he dubbed Kentucky’s preseason training camp “Banner Week.”
“Hanging banners, that’s what we’ve been called to do,” Pope said on the ‘College Hoops Today’ podcast before the season.
Unless these Wildcats commit to defense, they won’t be hanging any banners this season, because early NCAA exits that end under a blurry of buckets are grieved, not celebrated, at Kentucky. Pope’s predecessor can attest to that.
Blake Toppmeyer is a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.
