Mark Pope dodges viral SEC basketball meme with hilarious comeback

The SEC’s incredible success in college basketball this year has given rise to memes about the dominance, including an oft-repeated line on social media that the league is only .500 since conference play began.

It’s been occasionally mentioned on Twitter, a sort of tongue-in-cheek jab at those who try to discredit the league. Only some have actually taken it seriously.

There have been two high-profile incidents this year in which someone took the .500 stat and ran with it, perhaps not realizing that in SEC-only action, the record will ALWAYS be .500. Kentucky coach Mark Pope stared down the barrel of the memesters on Thursday in a press conference and didn’t miss.

“Coach, everybody talks about the SEC being the best conference in college basketball, but the conference is just .500 since conference play started,” KSR’s Jacob Polacheck asked. “What do you make of that?”

Pope got a wry grin, looked left, then looked right. Then, seeming to ponder the SEC’s predicament, he went in.

“I think it’s been a really disappointing start to conference play,” the first-year Wildcats coach said. “I feel like we should, you know, I feel like we’re not living up to the expectations, just being at .500 as a conference.

“I just, you know, I’m kind of looking around at the other programs in the league like, ‘Guys, we’ve got to pick this up. This is embarrassing.’ And so we’ll find a way. I believe in this league. I think we definitely have an upside and we’re going to work really hard to get there.”

Without missing a beat, Pope then picked up his Diet Coke and took a nice long swig as the room exploded in laughter. Others haven’t been so lucky after facing the troll-tastic SEC meme material.

There's been a lot of talk about the SEC being the best conference in college basketball, but the league is still .500 since the start of conference play.

I asked Mark Pope about it to get to the bottom of this. pic.twitter.com/cPj4qBUSwQ

— Jacob Polacheck (@PolacheckKSR) February 13, 2025

Rhode Island coach Archie Miller stumbled when trying to defend how hard it is to win games this year, pointing the finger at the SEC.

“I heard somebody say the other day like the SEC’s the best league in the country,” Miller said. “But in all games they’re like 54-54. Somebody said that. I don’t know if that’s even accurate, but like do you know how hard it is in every league to win? It’s just hard to win any game.”

That led to him being the butt of jokes for a good few days. Even more recently, ESPN announcer Karl Ravech tripped up while calling a game between Alabama and Texas on Tuesday.

“We know how dominant they were in the non-conference part of the season, the SEC,” Ravech said on Tuesday late in Alabama‘s win over Texas. “They were 185-23. Since January 4, into Tuesday, the SEC teams are 82-82. It’s not as if one team or two teams or three — they’re 82-82. There’s been no ability pull away, there’s no dominant group of teams.”

Ravech did attempt to defend himself on Twitter the following day, but his response fell a little flat.

“Just landed and see X is on fire,” Ravech said. “Simple explanation. Tongue in cheek 82-82 record was to illustrate any night either team can win and one will. Clearly very poor execution on my part. It is amazing that Alabama/Auburn have only lost once in such a great conference. That’s all.”

In any case, Mark Pope can rest easy knowing he successfully — and artfully — dodged the SEC landmine.