Mo Dioubate on Mark Pope vs. Nate Oats: "One is louder; I'm not gonna mention who"

To a casual fan, Nate Oats and Mark Pope’s systems are pretty similar. Both coaches like to play fast with a focus on three-point shooting and analytics; however, as someone who played in one system at Alabama for two years and is quickly getting to know the other at Kentucky, Mo Dioubate has noticed some differences.

“Just the spacing here,” Dioubate said of the biggest adjustment he’s had to make since arriving in Lexington earlier this month. “Coach Pope, he emphasizes spacing a lot. Obviously wedging to go get rebounds. That’s something I’ve already been doing, but here, he emphasizes it. Like every time a shot goes up, wedge on. Boxing out. He’s been emphasizing those little things more than anything. You know, the little things, the tangibles. He’s trying to get us to worry about that more and let the offense take care of itself.”

Rebounding is already an area in which Dioubate specializes. Last season, he averaged 7.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game coming off the bench for the Crimson Tide. He led the team in rebounding in ten games, including a career-high 16 boards vs. Houston on Nov. 26. Dioubate had six double-doubles, four in SEC play, and won Alabama’s “Hard Hat” award, given to the player who made the most blue-collar plays, 13 times, more than any other player.

Mark Pope recruited Dioubate to Kentucky to bring physicality and defense to a roster that lacked it last season; Dioubate seized the chance to play for his dream school and to expand his game. Spacing isn’t the only thing he’s getting used to in Lexington; Dioubate joked with reporters that he “almost died” during Mark Pope’s conditioning test, part of which includes running sideline to sideline 17 times in just over a minute. He is embracing the grind.

“It’s been good. I didn’t expect anything easy, honestly. Like, you know, my whole life, I worked hard for everything I had. So, coming in, I didn’t expect anything to be handed to me. So I always went after everything I wanted.”

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How about Pope and Oats’ coaching styles? Dioubate started with the similarities.

“Obviously, both of them want to win. Coach Oats, he wanted to win; Coach Pope wants to win as well. We both play fast. A lot of threes are being shot. A lot of emphasis on rebounds and transition defense and stuff. I think those are the main similarities, but at the end of day, they both coach hard and they want to win.”

Dioubate noted one big difference.

“One is louder. I’m not gonna mention who, but one is louder.”

That said, Dioubate may have tipped his hand when asked if it’s been an adjustment playing for a coach as positive as Mark Pope. Nate Oats is clearly great at what he does, but I’m sure it’s taking a minute for Dioubate to get used to hearing “beautiful” and “special” so often in the practice gym.

“A little bit. Just a little bit. I’m still waiting to see that side of coach, you know, I’m saying? Obviously, he’s a nice guy and stuff, but all the guys, veteran guys, the returning guys, they told me he’s got that side to him, like when he gets real serious and there’s no lies. So I’m kind of still waiting to see that side more, but that’s going to come with the practices and the games we play. So yeah, I’m waiting on it.”

The one thing that Pope is always serious about? Winning.

“Oh, he’s trying to win, for real,” Dioubate said when asked what stands out about Pope the most. “Like, he’s not playing. Coach is trying to win. Like, obviously, at Kentucky, the standard is to win, to make it the Final Four every year, but he’s trying to win it all. He’s just trying to keep the standard to where it was, where it always been.”

Dioubate can be a big piece of that.