Mark Pope talks the new 5-for-5 ruling and opportunities it has presented

College sports turned into even more of a frenzy last Friday when it a judge ordered the NCAA to allow all previous seniors to receive a fifth year of eligibility, instead of having to apply for a waiver. A week later, names have surfaced as targets for Kentucky as they look to fill the 15th and final spot.

Mark Pope has said multiple times that they will only try and fill that spot if it is the 'right' guy as they were waiting well over a month to see what the NCAA was going to do with the 5-for-5 rules. Now that they have an answer, Kentucky is pursuing a couple of key transfers in Mark Mitchell, Keyshawn Hall and Jaxon Kohler. UK Sports Network sat down for a quick interview with Pope, where he discussed the new ruling and their approach with it.

"It's interesting to be this far into summer and still uncertain about what the rules even are. It certainly opens up some opportunities for us that we kind of have been anticipating and sitting on and waiting for. So, we'll see how things play out. I love this group. We're ready to go build this team into a competitive team and if we have the opportunity to add another piece that helps us, we will."

Since the new ruling last week, a flood have transfers have emerged at it sounds like the Kentucky talk is growing with a few guys that they have been linked to, specifically Mark Mitchell and Jaxon Kohler. Keyshawn Hall hinted Thursday night on social media that it may be a Kentucky-St. John's battle for his services. As for who leads there, Pitino looks to have the edge as they're in hot pursuit after losing forward Dillon Mitchell to the NBA, who recently signed a contract with the Boston Celtics.

As for the current 14-man squad, what is Pope liking about his team after a whole summer of practices?

"We've made massive progress through the summer," Pope said. "Our ball-protection has gotten better and better, our understanding of what that means and how to do it has gotten better. Guys have gotten better about making plays for each other. We're understanding some new defensive concepts with ball-screen, some transition defensive concepts we installed. Mostly, the guys are getting to know each other and understand what our language is like and what our culture is like and what living to the standard every single day is like."

Kentucky doesn't feel a ton of pressure to add that 15th guy, but it sure would put them from good to great, maybe even title contenders.

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