Mark Stoops On Kentucky’s Loss To Georgia

Kentucky is around a month out from tipping off their first season under Mark Pope. That’ll start with their preseason events in mid-October that’ll be getting a whole new look as well according to the head coach himself.

Pope spoke about the Blue-White Scrimmage and how it’ll look next month during an interview on Kentucky Sports Radio on Thursday. He expressed his overall excitement for it and said it’s going to be an all-out game for this team to really be playing in front of the fanbase for the first time.

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“Yeah, I’m so excited about this,” Pope said. “This is just our regularly scheduled practice. It’s going to be – what’s going to happen is we’re going to scrimmage. Like, we’re going to live scrimmage. In fact, I think it’s going to be the first time the public will be able to see us live scrimmage for a full game where BBN will be able to see that. It’s going to be really exciting.

“We’re going to compete,” Pope continued. “Like, it’s going to be game-speed, full-intensity kind of pride, guts, blood and sweat on the floor scrimmage where our guys are trying to prove themselves. Like, we have a lot of guys who are going to be trying to earn time, earn positions, learn how to play with each other.”

The Blue-White Scrimmage is getting an all-new approach with it being presented by Club Blue. Firstly and most notably, the collective will take proceeds from the event and use them to benefit their efforts in name, image, and likeness. Secondly, it’ll take place at a different venue inside the newly-renovated Memorial Coliseum on campus.

With that, Pope credited Club Blue and emphasized their significance in what they’re looking to accomplish in Lexington.

“Club Blue is just taking this normal practice and they’ve turned it into this incredible event,” Pope said. “I think it’s going to be pretty epic. I’m really excited about all the things that we’re hearing that Club Blue is going to do around this.

“Club Blue is a linchpin organization in the future of Kentucky Basketball. Like, in this new environment, what Club Blue is doing to allow us to compete? I cannot overstate its importance,” Pope continued. “It’s quintessentially important to everything we’re doing. So the fact that we get to partner with them on this? They’re building this incredible event around our practice that’s going to be super cool.”

This comes after years where attendees were particularly wanting a new feel for Big Blue Madness and the Blue-White Scrimmage. They’ll now be getting exactly that apparently with what Pope is promising that it’ll offer them.

“Listen, this is what I would say to BBN,” Pope said. “Come to this deal and bring your pom-poms because you’re going to cheer like crazy but also bring your notebooks because you’re going to be able to take notes and kind of have the best inside look of what we’re doing.”

Tickets for the game will go live tomorrow on September 20th at 10 a.m. ET. Existing members of Club Blue will receive a discount on those sales. It will then take place on October 18th, which comes a week after they hold Big Blue Madness inside Rupp Arena.

Basketball season is almost upon the bluegrass with plenty of excitement being there for this new tenure for the Wildcats. That starts with these two nights that Pope is expecting to be incomparable to anything else.

“I think it’s going to be incredible actually. I’m super excited about it,” said Pope. “I’ve never seen anything done like it before. It’s the way Kentucky should be. I mean, we should be doing things that have never been done before. This will certainly be one of them. I’m incredibly excited.

“This is an opportunity for BBN to roll in there and really, really get to know us, how we do things, why we do things, and how we’re trying to build this,” Pope added. “It’s going to be the greatest fan experience in terms of cheering these guys on and getting to know them but it’s also going to be, in a sense, and coach’s clinic to get inside and dialed into who we are as a program.”