When Mark Pope was hired as the head coach of the Kentucky basketball program, some were worried that he was not ready for this job. Quickly into his first year in Lexington, Pope has proven he is one of the young stars in the coaching profession, and he will have a winning tenure.

Coach Pope didn’t bring any kind of elite five-star recruits with him from BYU he had to put his roster together in a very short period of mostly using the portal. This roster he constructed currently has won five games against teams ranked in the top five of the AP Poll.

Coach Pope swept Tennessee to go with wins over Louisville and Duke, so the Wildcat’s new coach took care of business in the rivalry games.

What is scary about what Coach Pope is doing is that against all odds, he just keeps finding ways to win. Kentucky didn’t have Jaxson Robinson in this game, and Lamont Butler reinjured his shoulder. Despite this, Pope’s team just finds a way to win, and his players play their hearts out for him.

Knowing that next season, Coach Pope will bring in some elite players from high school on top of potentially returning Otega Oweh and adding players in the portal, this team will be scary next season. Coach Pope’s coaching ability, paired with five-star talent, will lead to a lot of success.

The last thing Coach Pope needs to do is find some postseason success in March, so hopefully, his team is able to get healthy before March rolls around.

Mark Pope will become a legendary coach at the University of Kentucky, and the SEC should be terrified because Kentucky is back.