"He doesn't look and try to just accumulate talent": SEC analyst is all praises for Mark Pope's team-building abilities 

Kentucky coach Mark Pope was put in a difficult spot last season. After many years with John Calipari at the helm for the Wildcats, he opted to leave the team to take the job at Arkansas. Pope was brought in to be the legendary coach's replacement.

Despite having big shoes to fill last season, Pope did a good job, leading the Wildcats to an appearance in the Sweet 16. It was the team's best run since its appearance in the Elite Eight in 2019.

On Monday, SEC analyst Jon Rothstein spoke about Pope's excellent job of putting together a strong team in a transitional year. Notably, he praised Pope for trying to put together a team rather than simply trying to accumulate talent.

"Hats off to Mark Pope," Rothstein said (Timestamp 8:55). "Hats off to Kentucky’s staff because what they did last year — putting together a team that had never played together before. Putting together a team that was in a situation where it did not return a single player from the team previously under John Calipari, that was a three seed in the NCAA Tournament."

Jon Rothstein continued to speak about how impressed he is by Mark Pope.

"For Mark Pope to do that and to get Kentucky to the Sweet 16, it was a magnificent coaching job," Rothstein said. "And I think one of the things you have to feel good about if you are a Kentucky fan when it comes to Mark Pope is this: many players in the transfer portal are being evaluated by their overall talent and what they can do from a production standpoint.

"Mark Pope thinks about putting together a team. He does not look and try to just accumulate talent."

Mark Pope has experience in many different college basketball environments

One of the advantages of the Kentucky Wildcats hiring Mark Pope as their coach is his experience. Since getting his first head coaching opportunity in 2015 with Utah Valley, Pope has led three teams.

First, Pope led the Utah Valley Wolverines for four seasons. He then got the opportunity to coach BYU for five years before taking the opportunity at Kentucky. He has slowly been moving his way up the college basketball ladder. As a result, he has experience building strong teams when he did not have as easy access to top recruits.

Now that Pope is leading a premier program, there is optimism that he can build a national-championship caliber squad.