Kentucky
Pope had to Change Plans, but it’s Working for Kentucky
When Kentucky fans booed the Cats off the court in a 35-point loss to Gonzaga, it’s safe to say things were not going according to plan. Despite the injuries and disappointing losses in non-conference play, the Cats are right where we expected them: playing Florida for the top spot in the SEC.
Hopes were high ahead of the season, and amplified significantly by the blowout win over top-ranked Purdue in an exhibition. Like all of us, Mark Pope admits that he had much different plans for how the season would unfold, but the funny thing about plans is that they often change.
“We don’t look anything like we imagined. This is not the plan. This was not the scheme. This was not how this was conceived at all,” he admitted to Seth Davis and Andy Katz on the HoopsHQ podcast. “But that’s the beauty of a season, that’s the beauty of the journey. It’s adjusting and figuring things out, and guys stepping up, and guys maturing, and guys leaning on each other.”
It’s not just what happened. It’s how this team looked. That sword cuts both ways. They way they’ve figured things out is not what Kentucky fans are accustomed to seeing.
“We’re not doing this the traditional Kentucky way. It’s probably not the traditional Kentucky season. With all that said, I feel bad for you if you’re missing what’s happening right now because it’s awesome. I love stories. I love redemption. I love overcoming, and what these guys are doing right now, I wouldn’t trade anything,” said Pope.
Kentucky Keeps Finding Ways to Overcome
Slow starts defined this Kentucky basketball team. Early on, they dug themselves into holes that were too deep. After overcoming double-digit deficits against LSU and Tennessee (twice), those callouses have transformed into war scars from successful battles.
“I think you earn belief, and our guys have just figured out a way to do it.” Pope continued: “There’s probably not a lot that can happen to us in a game that hasn’t happened before. We’re not really scared of it. There’s probably a lot of things people can say about us that they didn’t say about us the week before or two weeks ago, so we know we can handle it. Let’s go. When you come out the other side of those difficult moments, you come out different.”
This Kentucky team looks different. They’ve won eight of their last nine. It’s not just that Otega Oweh is playing like the Preseason SEC Player of the Year. Collin Chandler has been en feugo, Denzel Aberdeen has gotten comfortable leading the offense, and role players are rising to the occasion.
Kentucky is playing great basketball. They could’ve had too much of their own medicine in the middle of the hype surrounding Saturday’s game against Tennessee. Pope shared a message with his team prior to the game, one they clearly heard.
“This is only about us,” Pope told his team. “This is the story you guys are writing right now, and it’s a great story. I don’t want to put the book down. I’m loving every second of this. It’s nontraditional, but it’s special because they keep raising up and doing things people don’t think they can do and shouldn’t be able to do. It’s not the way we expected to do it. We’ve had to recreate everything, but it’s been pretty cool.”
Over the weekend, it was reported that the Kentucky Wildcats and coach Mark Pope had interest in former James Madison forward Justin McBride. Now, per Jacob Polacheck of Kentucky Sports Radio, McBride will take a visit to Lexington.
The report states that McBride will visit with Kentucky on Wednesday, Apr. 22. He had previously stated that he wanted to visit, but had to clear up some transcript issues first. It appears that things are worked out there now.
McBride is a 6’8″, 230 lb forward who has versatility. He averaged 15.3 points and 5.6 rebounds last season, but also made 40% of his three-point attempts, making him the kind of stretch big Pope likes to use. He could start, or be a valuable player off the bench.
Pope needs some recruiting wins, and he needs some depth for next year’s team. Right now, there are still more questions than answers, and Big Blue Nation is getting restless. We will update this story after his visit and more news becomes available.
Entering the weekend, Vanderbilt baseball had gotten swept in its only SEC series in which it hadn’t won the first game.
So the Commodores had a tough task in a series they badly needed after dropping the opener 5-2 on a walk-off grand slam after Vanderbilt’s best healthy starter, Connor Fennell, pitched well.
But the Commodores (24-17, 9-9 SEC) rebounded to take the series with an 8-7 win in the second game and a 13-6 win in the finale April 19. They did that despite not having any pitcher go more than three innings in either game. Though the pitching was still shaky at times — they issued more free passes than strikeouts in both of the wins — they worked out of enough jams to let the offense go to work.
Here’s what we learned from the series.
Will Hampton proves an unlikely hero for the offense
Vanderbilt got strong performances from a few of its typical top performers, including Braden Holcomb (6-for-13, four doubles) and Brodie Johnston (4-for-12, two home runs, three walks). But one of the biggest hits of the series came from the unlikeliest of sources.
Logan Johnstone was held out of the finale after colliding with Mike Mancini in Game 2, and in his place coach Tim Corbin opted to go with redshirt freshman Will Hampton in left field. Hampton had recorded just six college plate appearances, all of which were in nonconference games.
But Hampton reached in all three of his plate appearances against Kentucky, first on a single, then a walk. In the sixth inning, with the score tied, he came up with the bases loaded and two outs and blasted a grand slam, giving Vanderbilt its first lead.
Tyler Baird learns the ups and downs of being a closer
Freshman Tyler Baird has been Vanderbilt’s closer for the past three weeks, recording his first save April 2 against Texas A&M. But he learned the pitfalls that can come with that role in Game 1 against Kentucky. Summoned for an eight-out save with the Commodores leading 2-1, he retired the first five batters, but loaded the bases with nobody out in the ninth. He struck out the next two batters but then gave up the walk-off grand slam.
Baird returned for Game 3, this time attempting a five-out save and coming in with runners on first and second and one out with a three-run lead in the eighth inning. He allowed both inherited runners to score, but kept the lead and then had a scoreless ninth inning after Vanderbilt scored three runs in the top of the inning.
Baird’s emergence has been key for the Commodores, and the Game 3 bounce-back was especially important.
Vanderbilt’s RPI shows improvement
On April 15, Vanderbilt was 95th in RPI, a mark that wasn’t going to cut it for NCAA Tournament selection. But with a road series win against a Kentucky team that started the week in the top 20 of RPI, the Commodores moved all the way up to 75th, according to Warren Nolan.
While Vanderbilt will need to keep moving up — a top-50 mark would be ideal — the series win did a lot. In the next two weeks, it will face two top-five RPI teams in Alabama and Texas, giving more opportunity to improve its standing.
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.
Power forward has been one of the positions that Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats have to fill with Andrija Jelavic and Mo Dioubate gone. The two players that Pope has had on campus at the power forward position are Syracuse’s Donnie Freeman and Colorado’s Sebastian Rancik. Both are really good players, but Freeman is better by a wide margin.
It has felt that entire time that Kentucky wanted Rancik as the backup to Freeman or a backup plan if they weren’t able to land Freeman. Well, Rancik just picked Florida State, so perhaps this is a sign that the Wildcats will land Freeman.
Big Blue Nation was torn on Rancik, but I do believe he would have been a really solid backup power forward. I personally didn’t want him to be the starting four for this team. It is clear that he wanted to go somewhere where he could be the guy at the four, so he will be heading to the ACC to play for FSU.
Now that Kentucky has missed on Rancik, it is very important that the Wildcats land Freeman soon. The problem with waiting on some of these players is the fact that the portal isn’t slowing down. If Pope targets two power forwards and misses on both of them, most of the good fours in the portal will be gone.
There will be some panic in Lexington if the Wildcats are not able to land Freeman, but I do believe the Wildcats are in a good spot to land the elite power forward. From the beginning, Freeman has been my top player for Kentucky in the portal, as he, plus Malachi Moreno, will give the Wildcats an elite frontcourt.
If Pope is able to land Freeman and Tyran Stokes to pair with Zoom Diallo, Alex Wilkins, Moreno, and Kam Williams, this could be the start of a really good team in Lexington. Hopefully, an announcement for where Freeman will transfer comes soon, and hopefully, this will be to play for Pope at Kentucky.
Fans of rival teams will say Pope “whiffed” on Rancik, but if this whiff was because the Wildcats are set to land Freeman soon, then it was more than worth it for Kentucky. If the Wildcats are able to land Freeman, it will officially be time for Big Blue Nation to start getting excited about the 2026-27 season. I expect a decision from Freeman to come within the next day or two.
Rancik would have been a solid backup four in Lexington but Freeman has been the guy from the beggining for this staff so if Kentucky lands him all is well. If the staff misses on Freeman not landing Rancik will look bad.
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