Heartbreak Looming for Mark Pope As Kentucky’s NCAA Title Dreams Face Crucial Shortfall

Kentucky basketball is doing well with a new coach in town. With John Calipari moving on to Arkansas, new head hog Mark Pope is slowly shaping the Wildcats up and he began by embracing their rivalry with Louisville. After winning Saturday in a dominating 93-85 game, the Big Blue Nation likes him. But can Pope band together this roster to be a title-contending team? Not everyone thinks so.

On a recent episode of The Field of 68: After Dark, Rob Dauster asks if Kentucky looks championship-ready yet or not. The other host, CJ, contends, “They’re pretty good.” But there is also one common factor he finds in previous winning teams that the current Kentucky team lacks.

“Here’s the thing – my one hesitation with Kentucky is…I feel like to win a national championship, you usually need three NBA players. I think if you go back through the years, everybody’s probably got three NBA players. Can we find three NBA players on Kentucky’s roster? Not hating on what they’ve done, I think they’re talented, they built this roster really really well.”

After his performance against Louisville, one could say Lamont Butler is at least one of them, but former pro Terrence Oglesby is not so sure. Although Butler had a brilliant offensive night with a career-high 33 points and a career-best six 3-pointers and has been helping the Cats win since transferring from San Diego State, Oglesby first chose a different trio.

“I think they have three potential guys, I don’t think they have three locked-in guys,” the former player suggests. “I think Amari Williams has a shot, he’s huge. He’s listed as 6’10”, don’t agree with that, he’s bigger than that. Otega Oweh has a legit shot, little bit of a funky jumper, listed at 6’4″, taller than that, looks huge on the floor, I think he’s got a shot. Kobe Brea, anybody who shoots 50% from three has got a shot.”

Butler doesn’t appear on that list, even though he put up these numbers coming fresh off of an injury. Neither does Brandon Wells as CJ points out, “Usually you got like a REAL dude to win a national title, I’m not sure they have that.”

But even though the analysts call him an “intangible” guy who might not figure in the equation if KU makes a championship run, his coach is thoroughly impressed.

Basketball Proud Mark Pope praises Lamont Butler’s ‘all-time great performance’

When Mark Pope was announced as the new coach of the Wildcats, there were doubts about how well he would recruit because his track record didn’t hold up. In five seasons at BYU and four at Utah Valley, he’d never signed a class ranked higher than 80th nationally. But he was adamant about Lamont Butler, even flying to Las Vegas to meet with him and his parents.

Today, the results of that effort are visible in Kentucky’s play. “My goodness, what an incredible, I mean Lamont Butler just gave us one of the all-time greatest performances in the history of this super special game. Like, of all time. The numbers back it up. The way he came into it backs it up,” Pope said after the game.

Although this might not be a championship-contending team just yet, Mark Pope is doing his best to make them so. The Big Blue Nation loves him, the Wildcats are getting to know him, and the 10-1 record in mid-December certainly helps. Will he apply the three-NBA player formula and focus on his stronger members?