Jason Hart is now part of the Kentucky Wildcats coaching staff, joining the program in late April. He played from 2000-10 with various NBA teams, including a stint with Mark Pope and the Milwaukee Bucks in 2000.

Hart then went into the coaching atmosphere, first as a high school coach and then as a college assistant. His latest gig was with the NBA G League Ignite, which allured many top high school prospects to join instead of going through college.

Hart, who was First-team All-Big East in 2000 with Syracuse, wasn’t a fan of Mark Pope to start because of the time Pope beat Hart’s Syracuse Orange in the 1996 NCAA National Championship. Kentucky beat Syracuse 76-67 on April 1, 1996.

Pope scored just four points but had two huge free throws late in the win.

In an interview with BBN Tonight, Hart talked about how he’s since become a fan of Coach Pope.

“The first time I seen Coach Pope, I didn’t like him. I was at home my senior year and they was beating my college, Syracuse, in the national championship. He made those free throws,” Hart said.

Hart and Pope played together in Milwaukee in 2000 for the Bucks, and Hart spoke on that as well and where the relationship with the Kentucky head coach started to evolve.

“As the training camp went on, I got to know him. Really nice guy, everybody loved him. Brought energy every day, a joy to be around, and he became, like, our fan favorite,” Hart said.

The consensus seems set that Pope is going to be a good fit in Kentucky, and with Division 1 head coaching experience at a Power 5 conference, Pope should be able to handle all the stress that comes with coaching at a high level.

The personality is there to capture the love of BBN, and that will hopefully translate to on-court success in the fall.