Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats will have their work cut out for them. The fourth-best team in all of college basketball is about to start conference play, and the SEC is no joke.
Conference play can make or break any team’s season, and with the Wildcats eyeing the ultimate prize this year, they know they cannot afford to rest on their laurels.
With that in mind, he sat down with Jon Rothstein to discuss his team’s upcoming schedule on the College Hoops Today podcast, using one word to describe what’s coming: ‘bloodbath.’
Mark Pope says SEC conference play will be ‘a bloodbath’
“It is gonna be so sensational, and I’m really happy for our guys that they get to experience this. I’m happy for Big Blue Nation, I’m happy for the SEC, and we can’t wait to get started. That’s actually gonna be the real Christmas present, is that we get to jump in this league, because it’s going to be a bloodbath,” the coach said.
Pope, who coached the BYU Cougars in the Big 12 before arriving in Kentucky, knows he needs to step up big-time in the next couple of weeks. Even so, he dealt with something similar in his previous stop:
“We’re gonna have like six teams in the top 8 or 9 in the AP Top 25, give or take. …Last year, the Big 12 was the best conference in the country, and every single game was the biggest game of your life. It was just a brawl every game,” Pope said. “This year, that’s the SEC, but times 10. This league is just insanity right now, and as an athlete and as a coach, I think you’d be sad if you were playing in any other league. This is what you dream of. There’s not going to be a lot of time trying to get our guys hyped up to compete in a game.“
The Wildcats have won three consecutive games and boast a 10-1 record, and they have six players averaging double-digits in scoring for them. They will look to keep their foot on the gas when they meet Ohio State at Madison Square Garden on December 21.