Pope says UK will be "meticulous" with final additions; already team-building with current players

Tom Leach welcomed a special guest, Mark Pope, to the Leach Report airwaves early Friday morning, following previews of the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Baseball’s critical home series with Arkansas in Lexington. Pope called in for a 15-minute chat with The Voice of the Wildcats about the current state of Kentucky Basketball, from the staff to analytics, his system, current players and the players he plans to add next.

The latter stood out in particular. Pope still has a few spots left to fill after six roster additions in the span of a week. His first Kentucky team is up to nine players, leaving way for two to three more BOOMs. (By the way, how cool are those?)

Looking ahead, Pope cautioned the Big Blue Nation to expect a cooldown period in booming because the process is to the point when the guys testing the NBA waters need time to weigh their pro-or-college decisions. 

Pope told Tom Leach, “There are some players that are taking a little bit longer because they’re fully engaged in draft workouts, and they’re trying to consider what path is going to be best for them. These last few pieces will probably be a little bit more meticulous with and might not come at the torrid pace the rest of the group did.”

The span of daily commitments couldn’t last forever, BBN. It was a good run that came to an end earlier this week. During the wait, the staff will continue to evaluate their remaining targets while bringing the nine they already have together for their first interactions as teammates.

“Still, it’ll be 24/7 effort and work in trying to not only–we’re not just working on adding to the pieces we already have, but we’re already on team building,” Pope explained. “We’re already on trying to get the guys interacting with each other and consolidating with one another from a distance. Nobody is in the same location and won’t be in the same location until the second week of June. So, all of that stuff is going, all of those dynamics are going on with the team right now.”

Pope assured Leach and his listeners, “We’re going full-steam ahead.”

The draft’s early entrants have until May 29 to withdraw from the draft and return to college. Jaxson Robinson, Pope’s leading scorer at BYU (14.2 ppg), is a name to watch closely in the coming weeks.

[LISTEN TO FRIDAY’S “LEACH REPORT” PODCAST w/ MARK POPE]