Kentucky top player on massive, Road trips serve as opportunities for bonding for Kentucky basketball players for.
With the holiday season in full swing, plenty of people can sympathize with long hours of travel that come alongside loved ones. These endeavors, ideally, bring us closer together through shared experiences, despite the trials and tribulations that may occur when traversing the country. This concept is no different for Mark Pope’s first Kentucky basketball team, which features a new coaching staff alongside 12 scholarship players, none of whom had ever coached or played for UK before this season. The early-season results from this group have been impressive. Kentucky has raced out to a 10-1 start, and the Wildcats are ranked No. 4 in the nation on the strength of showcase wins over Duke and Gonzaga.
Pope’s distinct offensive approach — spearheaded by assistant coach Cody Fueger with a premium placed on cutting, screening and general off-ball movement — has also provided positive early returns. The Wildcats are averaging 91.3 points per game and rank highly in a number of nationwide offensive metrics. Team cohesiveness is paramount to this style of play. Naturally, fostering a strong bond between this group of Cats has been a big focus for Pope and his staff.
Kentucky has grown closer as a team in recent months, and many of those moments—both big and small—have happened while traveling together. When UK finished a multi-day service project rebuilding homes in Eastern Kentucky in August, this process got underway. Through the high-profile road trips that have so far emphasized Kentucky’s schedule, this idea of traveling and engaging in activities has persisted. During the first seven weeks of the season, Pope’s team will have traveled to Atlanta, Seattle, and New York City collectively by the end of this week.
“We adore this experience’s educational component. On his weekly radio show Monday night, Pope stated, “We’re always working hard to give our guys opportunities to put more capital in the bank in terms of loving each other and knowing each other.” “Experiencing new things allows you to do that.” Pope’s emphasis on ensuring his players take advantage of the chance to see the sights while they’re away from the commonwealth is also beneficial. The Wildcats visited the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park on game day morning prior to UK’s Champions Classic victory over Duke in Atlanta last month.
This month before a gutsy, shorthanded win in overtime over Gonzaga in Seattle, Kentucky’s team excursions included visits to the Space Needle observation tower and Pike Place Market. With UK hitting the road Thursday ahead of Saturday’s game against Ohio State at New York City’s famed Madison Square Garden, what does Pope and the program have planned? “We have a couple things that are going to be really incredible experiences for our guys,” Pope said Wednesday, noting that weeks were spent planning out the Cats’ activities in NYC. “I’m not going to tell you any of them, because I know BBN and they’ll show up at everything and that defeats the purpose.”
This month before a gutsy, shorthanded win in overtime over Gonzaga in Seattle, Kentucky’s team excursions included visits to the Space Needle observation tower and Pike Place Market. With UK hitting the road Thursday ahead of Saturday’s game against Ohio State at New York City’s famed Madison Square Garden, what does Pope and the program have planned? “We have a couple things that are going to be really incredible experiences for our guys,” Pope said Wednesday, noting that weeks were spent planning out the Cats’ activities in NYC. “I’m not going to tell you any of them, because I know BBN and they’ll show up at everything and that defeats the purpose.”
Then something changed. Pope brought in “The Squad” when he was BYU’s head coach. Four faculty members with varying specializations in psychology made up this group. Pope’s perspective on team outings was altered when the professors volunteered to join the basketball support staff. “It completely changed the way that I actually approached this through their investigations, studies, and criticism,” Pope stated. “We kind of flipped to a completely different philosophy instead of trying to live in that space of being completely unfettered, laser-focused every second, emotionally and mentally, on the game, and being intense and getting myself and our team ready to go.”
“It’s truly been amazing,” Pope said. “It now fits us better.” “The fact that we are traveling to Madison Square Garden to play a game, and we will be doing anything that isn’t just basketball, grit your teeth, and sweat a lot.” Three or four years ago, it was truly alien to me,” Pope continued. But now, our guys react to it really well. The benefits are enormous. With UK defeating the Blue Devils and Bulldogs in both of its “big city” games so far this season, it is clear that the outcomes have favored Kentucky. “In a brilliantly unique way, it just builds this collective cohesiveness that I actually think wins,” Pope stated.
