How Mark Pope has Fared in Conference Tournaments

It’s the most wonderful week of the year, Championship Week. Unfortunately for Kentucky fans, John Calipari gave many of us a reason to debate how much we should care about winning basketball games. It’s incredibly asinine. If they keep score, you should want to win. If the winner gets a trophy, you should want to win even more.

Mark Pope made it clear that he would love to win a trophy when he takes his first Kentucky basketball team to Nashville for the SEC Tournament. “This SEC Tournament matters.”

He won it once as a player, and it might be the most memorable SEC Tournament title game in the history of the conference. More than 30,000 fans packed the Georgia Dome to watch No. 3 Kentucky vs. No. 5 Arkansas. Pope had 12 points and 10 rebounds in the 95-93 Wildcat overtime win. Kentucky trailed by three with a little more than 30 seconds to play and gutted out the win without hitting a three-pointer. It was a frenetic, unforgettable final few seconds.

Kentucky only lost twice during Pope’s senior season. One of those losses was in the SEC Tournament Title game to Mississippi State, who would go on to advance to the Final Four.

You probably knew how well he performed as a player during those memorable runs for the Wildcats, but how well has Pope performed as a coach in conference tournament action? Prior to accepting the job at Kentucky, Pope had an 8-9 record in conference tournaments, with only one appearance in a championship game.

The Utah Valley Era

Pope’s first two Utah Valley teams were No. 4 seeds in the WAC Tournament. Winless during his first postseason he trip, his second team nearly took down the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, falling to Cal State Bakersfield 81-80 in 4 OTs.

His last two Utah Valley teams were the No. 2 seed in the WAC, but could not get past Grand Canyon. They fell to the Lopes in the WAC semifinals in each of his last two seasons.

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Pope at BYU

Handicapping Mark Pope’s conference success at BYU is tricky. The West Coast Conference gives its top two teams byes until the semifinals, preserving their legs to prevent the best teams from getting upset before they can punch an NCAA Tournament ticket. Creating momentum in March is hard to do in this bizarre format.

In Pope’s first two WCC Tournaments, BYU had the No. 2 seed. They were upset in his first season, and nearly lost in the semifinals during his second season, too, squeaking by Pepperdine in overtime to reach the WCC Finals, where they ultimately fell to Gonzaga.

Pope was a No. 5 seed during his final two years in the WCC. They secured one conference tournament win in 2022, and won a pair of games the following year before falling to St. Mary’s in the semifinals.

Pope guided BYU to a 10-8 record during their first season in the Big 12 and a No. 5 seed in the conference tournament. They easily handled UCF 87-73 in the opener, then lost 86-67 to No. 4 Texas Tech in the conference tournament quarterfinals.

What Does This Tell Us?

Pope has checked all of the boxes during his first year at Kentucky. There was one big box left unchecked prior to his arrival: postseason success. Not only is his conference tournament record unremarkable, Pope has zero wins in two NCAA Tournament appearances. He’s hungry to change that, and the first opportunity is this week in Nashville.