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Before this past week, Kentucky was known as the $22 million basketball team that could not beat a respectable opponent. It just wasn’t working. However, two identical comeback wins over LSU and Tennessee have Mark Pope breathing a sigh of relief. While Pope is riding high at the moment, things can quickly slip back to early-season form, quickly putting him under fire again.
“You and I agree his job should not be on the line in year two. We don’t believe it’s on the line in year two. You and I saying that is not going to stop a Kentucky fan, like thousands of them, from making Mark Pope’s life difficult,” Gary Parrish said on his recap on CBS Sports.“It can get really ugly there very quickly. Even if you were the captain of a national championship team once upon a time.”
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Kentucky basketball has standards few others have. Pope has been immediately met with championship expectations a year into his coaching career at the program. Fans demand results, especially after the immense investment Pope has received. But that is nothing new, as Pope knew what he was getting into and actually relished the standards.
“The expectation was exactly the same (in 1996),” Pope said in July. “The expectation here has nothing to do with me setting it. It’s what it is at Kentucky. It’s one of the things that sets us apart from every other program in the country. I happen to love it. I love every bit of it. I’m grateful to be here, where only one ending to the season makes it a satisfying season. That’s where I want to be, and that’s where our guys want to be.”
In reality, as the 2025-26 season has progressed, things have been piling up on Pope. His best players, like Jaland Lowe and Jayden Quaintance, suffered from injuries. Lowe is out for the season while Quaintance continues to come back from his ACL tear. The team struggled to meaningfully connect until the past week. For a Kentucky coach, there is not much rope. Instead of being under the knife…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/national-reporter-warns-harsh-reality-070824583.html
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Publish date : 2026-01-19 07:08:00
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