KSR made the trip to Birmingham, AL this week for the SEC’s annual Media Days. Up first on Tuesday were the men’s teams. It marked the debut at this preseason tipoff event for new head Mark Pope, who brought a pair of veteran guards down with him in Jaxson Robinson and Lamont Butler.
With 16 teams now in the conference, there was plenty to talk about. From the early hours of the morning to well after the sun went down, KSR was there to take it all in. What did we learn from a day of nonstop hoops talk? Check out our top takeaways below to find out.
Mark Pope stole the show
Zack Geoghegan:
Mark Pope might be new to Kentucky and the Southeastern Conference, but he walked around like an industry veteran during his first SEC Media Days. He was rocking the same blue jacket he had on during Big Blue Madness. The one that has a big UK logo on the front and the years of all eight national championships on the back. He actually found the jacket when a recruit was picking out some clothes to wear for his photoshoot. Pope decided to steal it and add it to his wardrobe. I don’t blame him.
But back to Media Days. As he usually does, Pope was saying all the right things. He hopes the Big Blue Nation will cheer for and support John Calipari (except for that one game on Feb. 1) the same way it did for Rick Pitino during BBM last week. Nearly all of the 16 coaches were asked about Pope at Kentucky and every single one had nothing but good things to say about the former BYU head coach. Even some of the 32 players who made the trip praised him. Some knew him through recruiting over the years while some just enjoyed watching his BYU teams play a fun brand of basketball.
In short, the rest of the SEC believes that Pope will succeed in Lexington. They love his energy and the fact that he’s a former Wildcat. That feels notable.
John Calipari says he will root for Kentucky
Jack Pilgrim:
ESPN’s Myron Medcalf — who made an appearance tonight on Sources Say, by the way — opened Coach Cal’s media session asking if there was a moment where it hit him he knew it was time to leave Kentucky. Calipari responded by making it clear he had no interest in talking about the past and his decision to take the Arkansas job because he’s talked about it plenty. He only wanted to talk about now and his future with the Razorbacks in a “ridiculously hard” league.
