Mark Pope told fans and Stan Van Gundy to be quiet at Kentucky's open practice

In many ways, today feels like a complete 180 from last year’s media day/open practice at the NCAA Tournament. Obviously, Mark Pope is the coach now, not John Calipari, a contrast no better on display than when Pope asked the Lexington media to join the team for a picture after practice wrapped. The vibe at the podium was different too, with Kentucky’s five starters all reflecting on their surreal season in Lexington and how determined they are to extend it. Even Troy is playing along, refusing to give the Cats any bulletin board material, unlike Jack Gohlke, who talked a big talk before Oakland’s game last year and, unfortunately, backed it up.

However, the most surreal moment came about thirty minutes into Kentucky’s open practice, when Mark Pope asked for a microphone to address the crowd. Instead of chatting it up with the fans in the stands, he asked them to be quiet. And the DJ. And Stan Van Gundy, who is on the call for CBS tomorrow night.

“Hey, I don’t know who’s in charge of the music, can we turn off this music? So when this clock gets 15, we need absolute silence. If we hear anybody talk, Matt Santoro, raise your hand, this terrifying guy is going to come escort you out of the gym. We need absolute silence, no phones, no whispers, no nothing until the clock hits the 15. It’s important to our team. Thank you so much. Stan, that includes you too, brother.”

Mark Pope demands silence. pic.twitter.com/caVW7LW1ug

— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) March 20, 2025

Pope got it. Fans were silence for the next 90 seconds as the Cats practiced free throws, a very eery and almost awkward moment.

Mark Pope asks for complete silence in Kentucky’s open practice for 90 seconds and gets it (he does this in every practice). pic.twitter.com/Uw5VKdXksE

— Tyler Thompson (@MrsTylerKSR) March 20, 2025

Not a peep. Dead silence. pic.twitter.com/W0XK3EqHEI

— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) March 20, 2025

We should have known it was coming. A few times this season, Pope has talked about how he has his players shoot free throws for five minutes during walkthroughs in complete silence. As he explained to Cameron Mills, it’s so his players can just focus on one thing — free throws — for five minutes and tune the rest of the world out.

“I asked Mark specifically about what that was about,” Mills said in a practice report in November. “What? Why? Why five minutes? Why during free throws? And what’s with the being so adamant that there’s no sound at all? And it’s simply this: because of social media, because of gaming, because of all kinds of reasons, he doesn’t think these guys ever get enough quiet. And if Rupp Arena is doing what Rupp Arena should do, they’re not getting any quiet there either.”

“To me, it’s just fascinating because of the way Mark thinks outside the box when it comes to these things, where it’s, hey, I want my guys to have five minutes of introspection. I want them to have five minutes where they are not thinking about anything other than maybe making a free throw. But more importantly, there’s nothing going in here. All they could hear is the bounce of the ball and hopefully the swish of the net.”

Hopefully 90 seconds of silence will be enough to get the Cats in the right frame of mind for tomorrow night. Check out more scenes from Kentucky’s open practice below:

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