Mark Pope bringing 'living to a standard every single possession' into practice

Pope is emphasizing a new idea to live by in games and practice.

Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope walks onto the court Thursday, March 27, 2025, during practice ahead of the Sweet 16 March Madness tournament game against the Tennessee Volunteers at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. | Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

As a former player at Kentucky, Mark Pope knows the expectations that should be set when playing at Kentucky. The high standard of wearing the name across the jersey is a sentiment that he spreads to each player on the roster. That point isn't just getting across in games, but practice too.

During his press conference on Monday, Pope noted a new standard that next season's team is living by. He noted a situation in practice that involved that standard. Even after a few of his players were struggling, Pope found a positive to get out of it. Pope was asked if the team's talent is translating to the coachability, where he then brought up the situation in practice explaining the standard he has set.

"I think this group has the chance to be beautifully coachable," Pope said. "Today in practice, we had two individual groups, and our first group struggled, so it derailed the whole practice because we are committed. One of our key ideas this year, one of our hundred percents is living to a standard every single possession. So, we are gonna blow up practice more often than we did last year. We'll get stuck because we're not gonna move on until we live up to the standard we have. Two things happened (today) that were good. One, our guys didn't quit. The gym was full of frustration, it was not a happy place this morning for the first group, but the guys didn't quit. They kept trying to work through it until they got there. They kept trying to listen and understand and grasp on to what we were trying to accomplsish. The second nice thing that happened, referring to the coachability, was the second group witnessed 15 minutes of misery from the first group and so they came onto the court with a whole different renewed determination to do it right on the first rep. So, I think this team has the flavor and the juice to be really coachable."

What makes this Kentucky team have the opportunity to be special is the experience of many of the players. Not only that, but also the leadership roles that a few of them aren't afraid to step into. This team certainly understands all of the expectations as well as that success comes with struggles.