It's hard to believe but the Mark Pope era is about to begin. It seems like only yesterday he was the hire from BYU and it only took him a month to put together an entirely new roster.
Now we see them in action, though the regular season isn't starting quite yet.
Kentucky Wesleyan will be the first opportunity to see the Wildcats against another team, and CI staff writers chime in with what they're eager to see.
David Sisk: The fan base will be very excited to see their beloved Cats take the floor tonight against other living, breathing individuals. The competition won’t be great, so I won’t really have any lasting takeaways going into the season. There won’t be a reason to get too high or too low. However, these are golden opportunities for a team who has played zero game minutes together to get valuable reps. We also all want to see the much talked about offensive system of Mark Pope. What may be the stylistic thing folks will be keeping tabs with? That would be how quickly they get shots off, and how many deep balls they take and make.
Justin Rowland: Yesterday I put the question to fans, what are you most interested in? I think the most common answer was how the minute distribution is going to work. On the Field of 68's interview with Pope late Tuesday the Wildcats' coach said they go 12-deep. But what does that mean? Will there be a couple of guys who still hit the 30 minute mark? Maybe not right away as Pope is feeling things out, but we know some guys are going to get more time than others. Who will play together well and what lineups do and don't work? On top of that, one of the things everyone has been interested in is who Kentucky's "go-to" guy will be. We won't necessarily get that answer right away, but in watching the team opinions will start to form pretty quickly. The best case scenario for this team, on paper, is that they become a real problem with their ability to defend and knock down outside shots. So gauging the actual level of defensive intensity will be interesting to see. It seems like this team won't shy away from diving on the floor for loose balls and playing hard night in, night out with so many veterans, so the energy will be interesting to see as well.
Travis Graf: There are two main things I’m curious to see tonight when the Mark Pope era beings in Lexington. First, what will the rotation look like and who is the first set of starters for the season? There’s a lot of different possibilities here and only a few guys who have solidified themselves as starters in my opinion. Second, the tempo the team plays at. Up until last year, Kentucky wasn’t really a fast-paced team and this year will be up and down and analytics-driven. The basketball junkie in me also wants to see the different types of actions that the offense runs. David Sisk’s film breakdowns this year will be very intriguing for readers.
Jeff Drummond: I’ll be interested to see what Mark Pope’s rotations look like at this stage. Will he try to get a long look at everyone on the roster, as you typically see in exhibition games, or will is he already in the process of getting a rotation ready for the “real” games. A lot of fans may have had some notions of what those look like a week ago, but the performance of guys like Collin Chandler and Otega Oweh at the Big Blue Event may have changed their thinking a bit. We have a pretty good idea that UK will be solid offensive club this season with a ton of 3-point shooting ability, but I’m still interested to see what things look like on the defensive end of the floor. We even saw hints of a little 2-2-1 press during the BWE. Will that be part of the equation? Pope has said on the record he’s not playing exactly like he played during his time as a Wildcat under Rick Pitino, but maybe he feels like he’s got some pieces to pick up full court at times and affect the tempo.
