Mark Pope on Kentucky's current roster: 'We need more data'

Monday was the unofficially official start to the new era of Kentucky Basketball under Mark Pope. The Wildcats took the practice floor for the first time as a team and will now begin the process of intertwining with each another with a dozen new players and an all-new coaching staff.

Ahead of the NEW ERA Event by the Club Blue Collective, Pope discussed the start of summer workouts for Kentucky. He began by expressing his enthusiasm in getting to start this part of the offseason with his roster.

“Yeah, I’m really excited,” Pope began.

For Pope, this time will be all about gathering every last bit of information that they can about Kentucky. They did a ton of research about each player before adding them in the portal or on the recruiting trail. Now it’s about studying how they all fit together as a unit and as they play more with one another.

“We have dug really, really deep into everything that we can know about our team, about our guys, and about putting this together. We need more data, right, and we need more time,” explained Pope. “It’s like time and data to – you guys will get tired of me talking about connective tissue – build the connective tissue and the special sauce of what makes teams great.”

Kentucky has 12 new players to integrate under the new coaching tenure for Pope. That includes nine transfers in Jaxson Robinson, Brandon Garrison, Amari Williams, Koby Brea, Andrew Carr, Lamont Butler, Otega Oweh, Kerr Kriisa, and Ansley Almonor. It also includes three freshmen in Collin Chandler, Travis Perry, and Trent Noah. Grant Darbyshire and Walker Horn will be back as walk-ons for the program as well.

UK has as much to figure out as any team in the country considering how much is different in Lexington. However, once the Wildcats get done with that, Pope believes they can be very good as a unit.

“I’m just grateful that we’re here right now and that we can start doing that in massive earnest,” said Pope. “I think this team has way more potential than many people think.”

“The question is how good can we be at tapping into it and helping all the pieces fit together with a synergy that makes our whole way bigger than the sum of our parts?”

More from Club Blue’s NEW ERA event on Saturday

Mark Pope once said Club Blue was “the focal point of our whole NIL life right now” and “the most important thing” for Kentucky as he looked to build his first roster and the ones to come.

After breaking the seven-figure mark in annual subscriber funds, Big Blue Nation got their reward for the early efforts to help get Pope’s time in Lexington off to a hot start with Club Blue’s NEW ERA event on Saturday.

Subscribed fans poured into Alltech Arena at the Kentucky Horse Park for the meet-and-greet opportunity. It featured Pope, his coaching staff, and members of the 2024-25 roster. 12 players were in attendance while Kerr Kriisa and Amari Williams were absent due to NIL restrictions as international student-athletes.

Coaches and players signed autographs and took pictures with the fans. They also got to play games with free food and drinks from local vendors. Members got first dibs on meeting the new Wildcats while also participating in a Q&A session with Pope.