Believe it or not, it has only been a little over two weeks since Mark Pope took over as the Kentucky Basketball head coach. In that span, A LOT has happened. Pope has filled four of his five assistant staff positions and is nearly halfway done with his roster, adding six players, including four from the transfer portal.
“I’m really excited about where we are today,” Pope started in his Monday morning interview with Kentucky Sports Radio, when asked about how the roster is coming together. “This is really artistic. It is puzzle pieces. With every new piece, it kinda changes the picture. Where you have to readjust what you’re looking for in the next piece.”
How many pieces is Pope looking at? Nearly 30. “On our big board right now, we’re actually working with 29 guys that we’ve really, really zeroed in on,” Pope said. A broad list, I know, but also options. All 29 names are in a color-coded tier on a “giant whiteboard”, which has a broken wheel he joked, in his office. The staff also shares Google docs of targets, which he has politely asked the Big Blue Nation not to hack into.
Aidan Mahaney, who is coming off a weekend visit to Kentucky, and Great Osobor and Koby Brea, who are both currently visiting Kentucky, are certainly three of those players. After these visits and their coinciding decisions, Pope suggests the staff may take a brief pause to analyze the roster before proceeding further.
“I need to take a little pause right now and just see how our pieces are fitting together,” Pope said. Don’t be worried, they will go “lightspeed” again, but compares it to a “surgical pause”. With the transfer portal deadline coming on May 1st, it is a perfect time to look at all their options.
The next deadline to look toward is the May 29th NBA Draft deadline. Pope says he leaving some room open as Kentucky is talking to “a bunch of guys” that are going through the draft process before making a final decision. Two confirmed guys in that category are Jaxson Robinson, who played for Pope at BYU, and Jaylen Wells an uber-athlete from Washington State.
That said, Pope is not in the business of waiting until the last minute and being vulnerable to a last-minute decision. “We’re not going to leave too much space because there are really talented players that fit us now,” he said.
As it stands, Kentucky is in a really good position with its roster. Some really solid pieces have been added over the last week, especially defensively. Now, it’s about getting a couple of “dudes”, some offensive firepower, and then a bench. Pope and Co. sound prepared to tackle that.
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