DeMarcus Cousins says Kentucky will 'never be the same' without John Calipari

The Mark Pope era has now begun in Lexington, introduced as the new head coach of Kentucky on Sunday as he now fills the shoes of John Calipari following his departure to Arkansas after 15 seasons with the program.

Opinions regarding the exit of Calipari and the hiring of Pope are mixed, but former Kentucky standout DeMarcus Cousins made his stance very clear on the subject. Recently explaining to Rachel Nichols and Amin Elhassan why he believes that Calipari will be taking the popularity and allure of the Kentucky program with him to Fayetteville.

“I think everybody’s going to get a real taste of reality moving forward. We’ve seen this movie before with Cal. Where he goes becomes the hot spot,” Cousins said. “I put Cal and Deion Sanders in the same category. Deion has the Prime effect, it’s the same thing with Calipari. Arkansas will now be the hot spot. Arkansas will now have the No. 1 recruiting classes coming in every single year, Arkansas will be full of celebrities. Good luck finding a replacement for Cal because it’s gonna be very, very hard.”

Kentucky is one of college basketball’s blue blood programs with history dating back to 1903 and eight national championships to their name.

There’s no question that Calipari helped elevate the Kentucky brand during his 15 years with the program, excelling in recruiting and helping deliver the program to four Final Four appearances and a national championship win. With the Wildcats serving as a premier, marquee program during that stretch.

But will Calipari’s exit make the Razorbacks the new talk of college basketball and in turn decrease the popularity of the Wildcats’ program?

“What we experienced in those 15 years of Cal being there, we will never experience again. Even when it comes to TV games, the revenue, everything that comes with Cal,” Cousins said. “What kids are looking for in today’s time is what’s hot, what’s cool, what’s relevant. I wanna be on TV every single night to show my talent. Guess what team’s going to be on TV? Every night? The Arkansas Razorbacks. It’ll never be the same.”

It will be fascinating to see how support is divided from former Kentucky players between their loyalty to the program and their loyalty to Calipari, and if any celebrities do in fact make appearances in Fayetteville this upcoming season.

Pope’s introductory press conference on Sunday was electric, with the former Wildcat national championship player firing up a sold-out crowd at Rupp Arena ahead of a new era of Kentucky basketball. An era that will be closely watched moving forward alongside the Arkansas program as the two will likely be compared for years to come.