Kentucky head coach Mark Pope will see a familiar face on the opposing sidelines on Saturday as the Cats face St. John’s in the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta (12:30 p.m. ET, CBS).
St. John’s, of course, is coached by Rick Pitino, who was the head coach at Kentucky from 1989-97. Pitino took UK to three Final Fours (1993, 1996 and 1997), won the NCAA Championship in ’96 and was runner-up in 1997.
Pope was on Pitino’s 1994-95 team and was a member of the national championship team in 1995-96. He remembers that he knew how to work hard, but didn’t understand how that translated into the bigger picture.
“I think I came here having a good understanding of how to work really, really, really hard, and I left here with having a better understanding of how to translate that work into competitive nature,” Pope said.
Pitino praised the UK administration when the university hired Pope to be the Kentucky head coach. Pope said they had only had one recent conversation.
“He called me after the Michigan State game and told me to get my act together,” Pope said. “That’s the last time I spoke to him”.
As far as this year’s Kentucky and St. John’s teams, Pope knows that both teams should have Final Four aspirations.
“I think we probably have two teams that have really, really high ceilings, that haven’t totally found them yet,” Pope said. “I think you have two teams that, at any given moment, could be incredibly explosive. But I think at the heart of it there’s going to be a lot of physicality in the game.”
On the Kentucky side, one of the storylines is the potential return of big man Jayden Quaintence, who has not played in a game this season. Pope would not commit to Quaintence playing on Saturday, but he also didn’t rule it out.
“It’s kind of a day-by-day thing and you know, once he’s confident and healthy and cleared, we’ll roll,” Pope said. “He’s been out of basketball for nine months and crossed half court for the first time in a drill two days ago. So, we’ll see.”
In the meantime, a matchup between a head coach and one of his former captains, plus seeing two teams with Final Four potential square off should be plenty to keep fans engaged in this contest.
