Kentucky fan gives Mark Pope's family Taylor Swift friendship bracelets

One Kentucky fan found the perfect way to welcome Mark Pope’s family to Lexington, specifically his daughters. After Mark Pope’s introductory press conference wrapped up, Riley Baldridge got Pope’s attention and handed him a very special gift: Taylor Swift-style friendship bracelets for the whole family, who are all self-professed “Swifties.”

The bracelets were blue and white, of course, with beads spelling out “BBN.”

Today we brought the #Swifties and #BBN together!! My mom and I made the friendship bracelets for coach pope and his wife and daughters!! #KentuckyBasketball #hope4pope pic.twitter.com/JWvmuWOcUB

— Riley Baldridge (@BaldridgeR34352) April 15, 2024

#BBN made @taylorswift13 friendship bracelets for the Pope family

Also they flew to Lexington on the 13th 👀 pic.twitter.com/3uwf98Ln5T

— Michelle Knezovic (@MichelleKnezov) April 15, 2024

If you’ve done your Pope family research, you know the proud Girl Dad is a Swift fan after listening to his four daughters play the artist’s music over and over and over again. He opened up about his affection for the pop superstar after BYU’s win over UCF in the second round of the Big 12 Championship in Kansas City last month.

“I didn’t share this with the guys before, but this is really important. When I was in this building seven months ago I talked about how we were excited to be picked 13, because it’s Taylor Swift’s favorite number. This morning I found out courtesy of the greatest statistician SID ever, that our first game against UCF was on January 13, our second game was on February 13, and so we knew that with our third game on March 13, like, the deck was stacked against these guys, man, it’s not even fair. It’s not even fair. Plus we’re in Kansas City. I mean, what? It’s beautiful. If I had told you guys that before the game would be like, our dude has lost his mind?”

Sadly, we were one day off from continuing that journey, as yesterday was April 14, not 13. Still, what a fun and unique gesture from one Kentucky fan to the program’s new first family.

Tonight!! pic.twitter.com/56pvwi9ZVt

— Mark Pope (@CoachMarkPope) July 23, 2023

Taylor Swift Trivia Thursday at KSBar

As luck would have it, we’re holding another round of Taylor Swift trivia at KSBar on Thursday. Pope family, if you’re reading this, consider it an invitation to come out and show off your Swiftie knowledge. I can almost guarantee one of the questions will be about Mark’s five favorite Taylor Swift songs, so study up now, BBN.

• “Cornelia Street”
• “New Year’s Day”
• “Karma”
• “All Too Well” (10-minute version)
• “Cruel Summer”