Mark Pope shares who on his team has the green light to shoot the three ball
The Kentucky offense put on a show on Friday at the Blue-White game, and just about everyone on the floor was making it rain from three. After the scrimmage, Coach Mark Pope was asked about which players on the team have the green light to shoot, and he had this to say, “Everybody does. We’re a green-light team. We want to be really aggressive, and we trust each other.”
This is a great way to explain this team, knowing literally the only players who won’t be shooting threes on this team are Amari Williams and Brandon Garrison. Kentucky wants to get a lot of shots up from deep, which means everyone needs to have a shoot-first mentality.
A good example of this is what happened with Koby Brea in the Blue-White Game. Brea was the best shooter in college basketball last season, but he went 2-10 from three on Friday. That is going to happen some, but Coach Pope instilling confidence in his shooters is what is going to help Brea go 7-10 the next time the Cats take the floor.
Kentucky is going to be a team that will shoot themselves in and out of games based on how many shots are going down. Coach Pope and the players have made it clear that the goal is to shoot 30 to 35 threes a game this season.
What makes that scary for this team is just about every player on the floor is capable of making them which makes this Kentucky team challenging to defend.
Mark Pope is grateful for what John Calipari did at Kentucky
As a former Kentucky player, new head coach Mark Pope knows all about the program, the expectations, and what it means to suit up in the blue and white. To Pope, he has always been a diehard Kentucky fan ever since his playing days, which he said changed his life for the better. That’s special. He’s not just a coach, he’s also a fan.
Pope has unmatched love for the University of Kentucky, and when asked about his relationship with John Calipari at SEC Media Day, he says he has nothing but love for the Hall of Famer, and is especially grateful for everything he did for the program.
“You’ll never hear me say a negative word about Coach Cal because there is not a lot to say. He’s a Hall of Fame coach. As a diehard Kentucky fan, an alumnus, a former player, I’m grateful for everything, all the incredible things Cal accomplished at the University of Kentucky. He’s also been a good friend. He’s been a terrific mentor, and he has always been generous to Lee Anne and I as we’ve gone through our coaching journey.”
Pope then says he’ll be cheering on Calipari during his first season with Arkansas, but not on February 1 when the Wildcats host the Razorbacks at Rupp Arena.
“We wish him the best in everything that he does, and will forever be grateful for everything that he did at Kentucky. We’ll be cheering for him everyday like crazy except for February 1st.”
Likewise, Calipari feels a lot of love back to Mark Pope and Kentucky, saying, “they hired the right guy.” Like Pope said, Calipari also says he will be cheering for Kentucky, except when the two play each other, of course.
It’s really good to see a nice relationship between the current and former coach of Kentucky.
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