Three reasons to have hope in new UK basketball coach Mark Pope — and two areas for worry

For those still processing Kentucky’s surprise hire of ex-Wildcats center Mark Pope as the new UK men’s basketball coach, we are here to offer a public service.

Below are three areas from Pope’s coaching history that should give the Big Blue Nation hope for the future — and two areas of concern.

Three reasons for hope in Pope

1.) A modern offense. For those Kentucky backers yearning for a “modern,” metrics-based offensive attack, Pope is your man.

At BYU, Pope employed an analytics guru, Keegan Brown, who helped inform BYU’s offensive approach. That attack, heavy on 3-pointers and layups, is similar to that followed by Nate Oats in recent seasons while building Alabama into the SEC’s most successful program.

At Brigham Young, Pope played “five out.” Last season, the Cougars head man ran a lot of his offense through 6-foot-11 center Aly Khalifa. As a result, the Egyptian big man was second on the BYU team with 115 assists.

(If you are reading this and a symbolic light bulb is going off in your head as you think, “A Mark Pope offense would be perfect for Zvonimir Ivisic,” you are right.

You just wonder if anyone can impress that fact on Kentucky’s offensively skilled, incumbent big man).

In the just-concluded season, BYU finished second in all of NCAA Division I in 3-pointers attempted, averaging 32 trey tries a game. The Cougars were third in the country in assists, averaging 18.5 a contest.

At 81.4 points a game, BYU was No. 22 in scoring; at 54.8%, the Cougars were No. 31 in effective field-goal percentage.

Those numbers reflect a coach with a well-thought-out approach to how his team will get the ball through the hoop.

2.) KenPom’s verdict. Though it has a respected hoops tradition, BYU is a tough place to recruit basketball players.

The school’s affiliation with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and a very strict code of student conduct limits the pool of prospects available to a BYU coach.

In spite of that, in three of Pope’s five seasons as Cougars coach, BYU finished higher in the final Pomeroy Ratings than Kentucky — a staggering achievement when one factors in the inherent hoops advantages UK has over BYU.

In 2019-20, BYU finished No. 13 in the Pomeroy Ratings, Kentucky No. 29. The following season, it was BYU No. 20, UK No. 49. This past season, BYU ranked No. 18 in the final Pomeroy Ratings; Kentucky was No. 23.

3. Pope as a rivalry coach. Against BYU’s archrival, intrastate foe Utah, Pope went 3-2 and won three of his final four meetings with the Utes.

At UK, it will be important for Pope to gain the upper hand over the teams that the Big Blue Nation dislikes the most — Duke, Kansas, Indiana, Louisville, North Carolina, Tennessee and a new entrant, Arkansas.

Two areas for concern

1.) A “meh” defense. As is often the case for teams whose coaches are known for their offensive acumen, BYU’s defensive metrics are not stellar.

In Pope’s five seasons, Brigham Young finished in the top 50 in adjusted defensive efficiency in the Pomeroy Ratings only once.

For 2023-24, the Cougars finished a mundane No. 108 in NCAA Division I in scoring defense (69.9 points allowed a game) and were No. 60 in adjusted defensive efficiency.

2. Pope as a tournament coach. In NCAA Tournament games, Pope comes to Kentucky with an 0-2 career mark.

Pope is the first coach UK has hired that did not enter the Kentucky job with multiple NCAA Division I Tournament victories on his résumé since UK elevated assistant Joe B. Hall to replace Adolph Rupp in 1972.

As a No. 6 seed in both the 2021 and 2024 NCAA tournaments, BYU was eliminated by a No. 11 seed.

In the 2021 tourney, the Cougars fell 73-62 to a UCLA squad that had underachieved during the regular season and had more talent than BYU.

This past season, Pope and the Cougars were beaten 71-67 by Duquesne in what was a true upset.

During both NCAA Tournament defeats, BYU’s outside artillery proved errant. The Cougars made only 8 of 24 treys in the loss to Duquesne. BYU was a chilly 3-for-17 from behind the 3-point arc in the defeat to UCLA.

Arguably, Pope’s best BYU team, the 24-8 squad in 2019-20, was denied a likely NCAA tourney berth when the tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Overall as a “postseason tournament coach,” Pope is 14-15. As Utah Valley head man (2015-19), Pope went 3-4 in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament and 4-3 in the College Basketball Invitational.

At BYU, Pope went 4-4 in the West Coast Conference tourney and 1-1 in the Big 12 Tournament. Besides going 0-2 in the NCAA tourney, Pope went 2-1 in the NIT with the Cougars.

It would obviously be preferable if Pope came to the UK job with more positive NCAA Tournament history as a head coach. The sample size, however, is too small to be alarming.

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