Mark Pope's first season at Kentucky is in the books. The Cats finished 24-12 (10-8) with a sixth place finish in the nation's toughest conference, reaching the Sweet 16 before its elimination at the hands of Tennessee.

There's a lot to dig into from the season that was, and what better way to start than by asking Cats Illustrated staff members to share their grades for Pope's first season.

Justin Rowland: I mentioned on X recently that I'd give Pope an A- for his first season. The good far outweighed any bad. The one outstanding question I have about Pope in terms of basketball is his ability to build and coach an elite defensive squad. His previous teams didn't post elite defensive numbers and this year it was a top-60 defense at Kentucky, which is good in the big picture, but probably not good enough to win a title. I have no questions about the offense and Pope's ability to evaluate, recruit to, and coach an elite offense. The fact that he won so many big games even while his roster was ravaged by injuries is a great sign. Getting Kentucky to the second weekend of the tournament for the first time since 2018-2019 was also a big deal. The loss to Calipari in Rupp and being eliminated by Tennessee in the tournament are tough pills to swallow, but these are isolated games that don't mean anything for the big picture. After this season I think Pope is a good choice to lead the program. He should have no problem getting guys who fit his system, so the overall confidence level is pretty strong.

David Sisk: This is an open ended question to me, because I look at it from two sides. There is the actual job he did this season, but Kentucky’s standards are different from every other school in the country with the exception of just a handful. Mark Pope performed masterfully in my opinion. He had a completely bare roster when he arrived in Lexington a year ago. He took that and turned it into a top-10 group before injuries set in. I think he game planned well, and I love the offensive imagination that had been lacking for several years. Pope had lots of adversity in the second half of the season, and he managed it about as well as could be expected. The only games they were really overwhelmed in only about four games despite the injuries. I would give him an A on everything I mentioned. The Tennessee loss was a disappointment. That’s not the way you want to end the season. Let’s be honest. If this is the result in year four, and the Cats haven’t advanced any farther then there will be some discussions. But all in all he did what he was brought in to do in year one, get Kentucky out of the first weekend. We should all feel he has the program headed in the right direction. A-minus.

Jeff Drummond: Since the day that Mark Pope was announced as the new head coach at Kentucky, he has never shied away from the standard established in Lexington for generations. For that reason, I'm going to give him a B+ for Year 1. The Wildcats finished the season with 12 losses, tied for sixth in the SEC, and were blown out by their oldest rival in the NCAA Tournament, so it's a little difficult to max out an A grade. That said, considering Pope did not have one single player on the roster when he took over and would face as much injury adversity as any team in the country, he did a fantastic job just to get to the Cats to the Sweet 16. Along the way, he knocked off Duke, Louisville, Gonzaga, Florida, and Tennessee (twice). I think if you had told any UK fan before the season started that you'd finish 24-12 but beat all of those teams and reach the second weekend of the NCAA Tourney, Big Blue Nation would have accepted that bargain in a heartbeat. So I'm solid with a B+. I wouldn’t argue too much if you wanted to say A. The best thing Mark Pope did was to bring joy and fun back to Kentucky Basketball. It was a really good season and something to build on in 2026.