It was a powerful weekend for Kentucky Wildcats basketball fans with the first Big Blue Madness under new head coach Mark Pope.
Pope, a former Kentucky basketball player, won a National Championship under Rick Pitino during his time in Lexington.
Pitino made an appearance in Lexington over the weekend at Big Blue Madness and had an emotional message for Kentucky fans during his long-overdue return.
Pitino has been a huge fan of Kentucky’s hire since Mark Pope was named the next head coach in Lexington.
He made it clear he had wanted to come back to “Camelot” for quite some time and knew it would happen when his former player took over the program.
In an interview with KSR’s Matt Jones, Pitino compared Pope to a very decorated basketball coach: Billy Donovan.
“Both Billy and Mark had the same quality of humility, selflessness, and I knew after watching Mark at a Utah Valley State practice, he was going to be a great one. He’s a great offensive coach. He knows how important defense is, and I thought he was the perfect choice, and that’s why I did the video,” Pitino said when chatting with Jones.
The comparing did not stop there as Pitino made sure to share his thoughts about the two again before the Kentucky football game.
It was quite an exciting and emotional weekend for Kentucky fans, and now it is time for Pope to go out and win basketball games for Big Blue Nation.
We’re learning more and more about the new Wildcats ahead of Kentucky‘s first season under Mark Pope. As the Blue-White Preseason Event and first exhibitio
Rick Barnes and John Calipari have been lifelong coaching friends, first meeting in 1975 while working together at a basketball camp at the University of Pitts
The unbelievably talented people with the UK Sports Video team have blessed us once again with an awesome montage of Mark Pope‘s first-ever Big Blue Madness.
While much of the focus about Mark Pope’s first Kentucky team has been about the backcourt, the Cats also appear to have the ability to be strong in the