Time for Mark Pope to Get Kentucky Into Feast Week

Just four games into his tenure, Mark Pope has changed so much of the attitude and mentality around the program that John Calipari left. The style of play has fast-forwarded 15 years. The win over Duke proved that Kentucky could show up and win big games at the start of the year. The general presence Pope has exuded in pre and post-game press conferences has been a refreshing improvement. It’s all good things so far. Now I have one future goal for Pope and his program:

GET KENTUCKY BACK INTO FEAST WEEK

For those unaware of what Feast Week is for college basketball, it began yesterday and runs through November 29. It consists of 10 tournaments throughout the country and outside the country, featuring 75 games that will be an excellent appetizer to the college basketball season. And Kentucky is nowhere to be found on the map. And we haven’t been anywhere on the Feast Week schedule since 2012.

Instead, Kentucky has settled for the Champions Classic, CBS Classic, and then random home game opportunities labeled as preseason events. This year, Kentucky will play Lipscomb, Jackson State, and Western Kentucky as part of the BBN Invitational. These games will receive no national attention and only will be of interest to us.

TIME FOR A CHALLENGE

Now some might argue that because we play in both the Champions Classic and CBS Sports Classic, we are in these types of events. But that argument doesn’t hold any water. Both Kansas and Duke play in the Vegas Showdown. North Carolina and Michigan State are playing in Maui this year. Those programs, all considered the nation’s elite, have been able to fit in a preseason, highly publicized tournament, into their schedule. I think it’s time Mark Pope does the same.

The win over Duke certainly got Kentucky back on the national radar for this season. But now other programs are going to take that spotlight back for the next 10 days. Kentucky should be invested in holding onto the attention of the public as much as possible. And you know that any of those 10 tournaments would take Kentucky in a heartbeat.

SORRY WESTERN, TIME TO LEAVE

I am a WKU grad. But the reality is facing the Hilltoppers this year doesn’t mean anything. If Kentucky could have replaced Lipscomb, Jackson State, and WKU with Dayton, Oregon, and UConn, it absolutely means there could be more losses on the schedule. And that is why John Calipari didn’t play them. He became a scared little coach of losing games. I think Mark Pope will and should have a different mentality than that. I don’t know the scheduling agreements already in place for Kentucky basketball moving forward, but I would like to think replacing a BBN Invitational with a Maui Invitational as soon as possible should be a top priority for the Pope Administration.

Plus, more BRASSOW!!!!!!!