‘Failed miserably last year’: Mark Pope calls out crucial flaw in Kentucky's roster last season

Kentucky Wildcats coach Mark Pope is currently in the offseason after his first campaign as the program's head coach. In the 2024-25 season, Pope and the rest of the Wildcats went as far as the Sweet 16 of this year's NCAA national tournament, where they were eliminated from March Madness by the Tennessee Volunteers in a 78-65 defeat on Mar. 28.

After a relatively successful first year of head coaching for Pope, there is much optimism for Kentucky to improve under his tutelage. However, he admits that there are still several key areas for improvement for the team. Pope expounded on this during a recent offseason interview with the media on Tuesday, May 13.

"You know, I failed miserably at that last year. We'd like to remedy that. It's really important to us. It was just one of the places I felt like we accomplished a lot last year, but that was one of the spaces that was disappointing. We just, it was hard. And, you know, part of it was roster changes that made it a little bit more complicated," he said. (24:38)

"But, that's an important part of how we play the game. It's important part of how the game is played now. And, so we'd like to chase that," Pope concluded.

In his first stint at the helm of the Wildcats' coaching staff, Pope spearheaded the program to an overall record of 24-12, including 10-8 during SEC play.

Mark Pope provides three words to describe his 2025-2025 roster

During his official offseason interview with the media, coach Mark Pope also provided three words to describe his incoming 2025-26 Kentucky Wildcats roster. He described his team as "competitive", "deep" and "skilled" and he explained the reasoning behind his choice of words.

"I think the guys that have chosen to be here are guys that are just starving to come test themselves every single day in practice to come get better. I got hungry, hungry, hungry guys. I got guys that have really unique, distinguishable skillsets that fit us really well. So, man, I'm excitd about this crew. This is going to be a really special crew," Pope explained. (0:16)

The Wildcats are looking to win their second national championship in program history in the 2025-26 season, with their lone title coming in 2012 under the tutelage of now Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari.