Ron Mercer called into Mark Pope's first radio show of the season

Ron Mercer, you may have heard of him. He was an all-time Wildcat out of Nashville, scoring 1,013 career points in two seasons at Kentucky, earning All-SEC Freshman Team accolades in year one before becoming a First-Team All-American and SEC Player of the Year in year two.

The UK Athletics Hall of Famer was the first caller on Mark Pope‘s call-in radio show Monday evening — the first of the regular season. He introduced himself as “Ron from Tennessee” before chatting it up with Coach Pope about the start of his debut season leading the program a few weeks removed from Mercer’s return to Lexington alongside Rick Pitino at Big Blue Madness.

“I really enjoyed watching the team play and watching you coach, man. I’m very excited to watch this team play,” Mercer told Pope. “It’s very exciting to watch, the way you guys play.”

Pope responded by asking the Kentucky legend and his former teammate who on the current team reminds him of himself from back in the day, someone who has ‘a little shade of Ron Mercer.’

Interestingly enough, he picked two players: Jaxson Robinson and Koby Brea.

“You know what? I can see a little bit of Jaxson Robinson and Koby,” Mercer said. “The reason I say Koby — I didn’t shoot it as well as he does, not at all. He’s a great 3-point shooter, but I like how he comes off the bench. The reason I say that is because my freshman year, I started the first 11 or 12 games. Coach, he wanted me to come off the bench. And I served better coming off the bench at the time — it’s what the team needed. Later on as I developed, that helped me as an individual and helped the team.

“I see Koby doing similar things in that way coming off the bench. In your system, it doesn’t matter whether you start or come off the bench. Everybody is going to get an opportunity. For someone like him, I see a little of myself in his situation.”

Pope responded by digging into Mercer’s story and his arrival as one of the top recruits in the country before embracing his role as a freshman to help the Wildcats win the 1996 national championship. The former No. 6 overall draft pick said several players on this team can make a similar impact in the first-year coach’s debut season in Lexington.

“Different guys are going to have different opportunities to step up throughout the year because you’ve got the depth and you’ve got the talent,” he said. “It’s very exciting to watch.”

When Ron Mercer calls into the 1st Mark Pope Show >>> https://t.co/24DilFbqdn pic.twitter.com/vHUABi0VH9

— UK Sports Network (@UKSportsNetwork) November 26, 2024

“Ron from Tennessee” is more than welcome to call in every week, if you ask me.