Trent Noah was a 'disaster' when he first got to Kentucky -- now 'he's the most veteran, seasoned voice on the floor'

Mark Pope always talks about the second-year leaps his players make after spending the first learning and adjusting on the fly. No more drinking out of the firehose figuring out the system, only executing and improving upon what you already know. That’s where the talent really shines through.

Those low starting points rarely get addressed, though, because they happen behind closed doors over the course of an eight-week summer session without cameras putting every misstep in 8K for fan and media consumption. Players can struggle privately before their lives become very, very public during the season, no place better (or worse) for that than Kentucky where pressure bursts pipes or creates diamonds.

You may not know this, but Trent Noah was one of those struggling players when he first arrived in Lexington. In fact, the Harlan County product was drowning.

“Last year was a disaster — his first few weeks of the summer, maybe a lot of the summer, in terms of understanding what we are trying to do,” Pope told Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.

He’d go on to play in 24 games as a freshman, averaging 2.7 points in 11.1 minutes per contest. Nothing special on the surface, but the way he stepped up in big individual moments — 11 points on 3-4 from three in a top-five win over Tennessee being the headliner — suggested his future as a Wildcat was unbelievably bright with experience and an expanded role.

That’s led to quite the second offseason for Noah, his teammates not only calling him the best shooter in the gym, but maybe the best they’ve ever seen.

“Trent Noah might be the best shooter I’ve ever seen,” Jaland Lowe said of the rising sophomore. “… Gosh, he can shoot the living blank out the ball. He can really shoot it. I love T.N.”

“He’s the best shooter in the gym,” Malachi Moreno added. “Coach emphasizes being there on the catch so they don’t get a shot off. You could be there on the catch with Trent and he’s still going to get a shot off. He’s such a prolific shooter.”

“Trent, he doesn’t miss,” Braydon Hawthorne tripled down.

Different returns than what was said about the 6-5 forward when he first arrived.

The best part? Noah is stepping up as a leader, helping others learn to swim after he found himself fighting for air as a freshman. He’s an extension of the coaching staff, the interpreter and translator Jaxson Robinson was when he followed Pope from BYU to Kentucky.

With so many new faces in the gym, that’s been a game-changer for the Wildcats in year two.

“It’s really fun to watch Trent Noah,” Pope said. “… One year later, he walks in, and he’s the most veteran, seasoned voice on the floor. He’s like, ‘Guys, just everyone relax. Let me explain what Coach is saying right now.’ It’s actually so fun to watch from summer to summer and season to season, watching these guys grow.”

How often do those strong summers translate to season breakthroughs? Pope joked with a very specific “68 percent” hit rate, but in all seriousness, there is a correlation. Every kid is different and they grow (or deal with setbacks) on their own timelines, but you’d rather see good than bad because, more often than not, it leads to good things when the ball is tipped on live game action.

That’s especially the case with multi-year players with several offseasons of data to work with.

“Sometimes it’s just crazy misses, right? These kids, these young people, they are just so dynamic as human beings. So much of what happens on the court is what they take into it that day. Their lives can change so fast,” Pope said. “We’re not dealing with someone that’s actually in the same space in their life right now today as they will be in three months — thankfully, right? Because they’re growing, so there is some error rate.

“What’s really fun for us is actually — especially when we get second-summer guys — to track their progress from the previous summer and also to see them fit more seamlessly into what we’re trying to do and understand it.”

Pope clearly believes Noah will continue the positive trend of breakout candidates coming from the pool of standout summers, calling his shot before those workouts from June to early August even started.

“He’s got a chance, guys,” he said of the Harlan County native back in May. “You know, doing it here is different than doing it anywhere else, and being a Kentucky legend is different than being anything anywhere else. Trent Noah is made different, man. He just is made different. … I just know how this is going to turn out. I know how it’s going to turn out in the next couple of years, I know how it’s going to turn out 30 years from now, and I’m happy for him.

“I’m so happy for him because there’s some part of him that can see it and feel it and taste it and care about it, and it’s going to be really special. I love that kid so much.”

Be prepared for Mountain Mamba 2.0.