Reed Sheppard will support Coach Cal at Arkansas, but "at the end of the day, I'm a Kentucky fan"

It was a weird spring for Kentucky basketball, particularly March and April. John Calipari and the Wildcats were on top of the world to close out the regular season, winning five straight and seven of eight with a victory over No. 4 Tennesse in Knoxville being the ultimate cherry on top. After saying his team was “built for March” through the ups and downs to that point, it truly felt he was right and a run was inevitable.

Kentucky would not win another game, leading to the end of Coach Cal’s 15-year run in Lexington. His goodbye to Big Blue Nation came exactly one month to the day following that magical win at Thompson-Boling Arena, Mark Pope announced as the program’s next head coach three days after that.

Whiplash if you didn’t have your cranium locked into place on the headrest for that wild roller coaster ride.

What was it like watching it all unfold from the inside, Calipari trading out blue for red? Ask his star player who will be doing the same with the Houston Rockets as the No. 3 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, Reed Sheppard. Though it may be complicated for some, it’s actually pretty simple for the SEC Freshman of the Year, who is happy to separate the two sides and love them both equally.

On one end, Calipari is and always will be Sheppard’s college coach and he’ll be supporting him every step of the way at Arkansas. On the other, he is and always will be that little boy from Kentucky who grew up wanting to be a Wildcat wearing blue and white.

“I don’t think it’s weird at all. Coach Cal is my coach, I still talk to him multiple times a week. He’ll text and call me and we’ll cut up here and there. It’s been good seeing him and I’m looking forward to watching them this year, watching him coach,” Sheppard told KSR this week. “But at the end of the day, I’m a Kentucky fan. I’m from Kentucky, I played at Kentucky. I’ll continue to cheer for Kentucky no matter what.”

His ties to Mark Pope are obvious, as well. His father, Jeff Sheppard, was Pope’s roommate in college, teammates on the 1996 national championship squad in Lexington. They started as close friends and have remained close friends ever since, their families growing close over time, as well. Pope joked with his former teammate during Reed’s draft decision he was “spending a lot of time praying that God will call him back to Kentucky” — wishful thinking on his part.

No, Sheppard did not end up turning down top-three draft status in favor of a sophomore campaign in Lexington. He will, though, be rooting for Pope and his success as the next head coach at Kentucky. And he believes he’ll find plenty of it, starting right away with his first roster with the Wildcats.

“Yeah, I mean, we had a couple of phone calls and a couple of FaceTimes,” he told KSR. “I think Coach Pope is gonna do a really good job. Coach Pope and his family are really close to our family, he did a great job at BYU and I expect him to do the same thing here at Kentucky.

“I’m excited to watch them play this year, I think they’ve got a good team and I think he’s gonna have a good season this year.”

As for his own legacy in blue and white, Sheppard says that’s something no one will ever be able to take away from him. Through the highs and lows, the opportunity to live out his dream was everything he ever hoped for and then some.

“I mean, it was unbelievable. It was a really fun year, something I’ll never be able to forget,” Sheppard said. “I’m super thankful for the opportunity and the teammates and coaches that I had during my time at Kentucky. It was a lot of fun and I’m super, super happy for it all. …

“Kentucky and Kentucky fans have meant the world to me and my last year there was unbelievable. It was something I’ll never forget.”