Mark Pope's favorite word right now is 'intentional'; allow him to explain why

Mark Pope was very pleased with how Kentucky started the season-opener against Wright State.

The Wildcats wound up winning by 41 points by taking a commanding 27-11 lead midway through the opening half. Kentucky was clicking on both ends, taking advantage of all the open space Wright State allowed inside the perimeter. But over the next few minutes, the Raiders battled back. It wasn’t until right before halftime that the ‘Cats built up a 20-point lead.

That was just one instance of what Pope referred to as “game slippage”, which he says happened plenty throughout the blowout win. The start was terrific, but it wasn’t that way all game long.

“We’ve had a lot of game slippage, which is expected,” Pope said during his Thursday press conference. “I was really proud of how the guys started the game. I thought we started the game with unbelievable focus and energy and exactly the right amount of force. It wasn’t overly emotional. It was still really, really intentional, but it was incredibly physical and intentional. That’s probably my favorite word right now.“

Coaches all over the country teach intentionality. But what does Pope, specifically, mean by being intentional? It involves being hyper-aware of what’s going on in the moment. Every cut, dribble, or pass has a purpose. What’s happening on the scoreboard is irrelevant. He felt that intent early on against Wright State — not so much at other points.

“It’s a feel, where you’re actually seeing the game. You’re communicating the game with your teammates,” Pope said of what being intentional actually looks like. “You’re doing it with unbelievable force, where you’re not getting stood up by physicality, but you’re actually getting to where you need to go, when you needed to get there, how you need to get there, regardless of what’s happening. And still, with all of that kind of force of the game, still being able to read and make decisions on the fly. I thought that first group was really good. I thought they were really terrific in the first few minutes of the game.”

No team is going to play perfect basketball for a full 40 minutes. It’s not reasonable to expect for even the most talented groups. But how often a team can limit those moments of slippage as the season rolls along provides a good idea of how good they can or can’t be. Pope saw too much slippage for his liking in game one.

But that’s the thing — it’s just game one. As long as Kentucky continues to grow on the floor and remains intentional in its approach, natural slippage will decline. This is a brand-new team with a brand-new coaching staff, after all.

“At various points, again, we had massive, massive slippage,” Pope continued. “We had slippage in communication. We had slippage in decision-making. We had slippage in execution. We had slippage in our reads. We had slippage in our energy, which is pretty normal and natural, and it’s going to be a determining factor of our team, of how successful we can be, is we limit that.

“And that’s not unique to us. That’s universal.”

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