John Calipari, Mark Pope sit side-by-side at Indianapolis AAU game

Something we didn’t believe we would witness before Arkansas‘ trip to Rupp Arena during the 2024-25 college basketball season, John Calipari and new Kentucky head coach Mark Pope were in the same room together.

Pope and Calipari were in Indianapolis at the Pacers Athletic Center on Friday night to watch some of the top high school talents in the country alongside some other big-name coaches. Ironically, Mississippi State‘s Chris Jans, a one-time Arkansas coaching target, and Baylor‘s Scott Drew, a one-time Kentucky target, are also depicted in the photo alongside several assistants from the aforementioned programs.

While it’s likely their conversations will never come to light, what was said would certainly be of interest to both Arkansas and Kentucky fanbases.

Kentucky legend and former No. 1 overall NBA Draft choice John Wall was in town for the star-studded AAU event, where he met Pope for the first time on Friday. The pair embraced and spoke for a moment. Wall quickly found Cal, whom Wall committed to 15 years ago on Sunday (May 19, 2009), before settling in with his entourage to watch the next generation of talent get discovered.

“It’s sad to see him leave,” Wall said on his podcast Point Game, provided by KSR’s Jack Pilgrim. “I’m still part of Kentucky. I’m still going to be Big Blue Nation. They gave me the opportunity to play on the highest level you can in college basketball in D1, one of the biggest schools ever, and then get an opportunity to go to the NBA. That’s always family. I have the jersey [tattooed] on me. I’m in the Hall of Fame. It’s always love and support for Kentucky, and that’s never going to change.”

Both Calipari and Pope have been busy putting together their teams for next season as both inherited essentially empty rosters. Calipari had no scholarship players after Eric Musselman departed from Arkansas earlier in the offseason and it was almost academic that Calipari’s former recruits would move on to the transfer portal — some of which have already committed to the former UK head coach.

For Pope, he has gathered a transfer portal class featuring seven veterans so far to fit his unique offensive schemes.

Both programs will meet in Lexington at some point during SEC play this coming season. It will be the only meeting between Arkansas and Kentucky unless they meet in the postseason on a neutral court.