Mark Pope is excited for UK basketball practice this week. Here’s his biggest challenge.

From the surprising hire of Mark Pope as the Wildcats’ new head coach to his electric reintroduction to UK fans two days later and the sprint through a spring filled with acquisitions for his first season in charge of the program, there has been plenty of activity outside of the court.

It’s finally time to actually kick around a little ball.

Another significant step in this new age of UK basketball was reached on Monday when Pope, his new coaching staff, and the 2024–25 roster took the floor for the first practice of the summer session.

Over the weekend, Pope expressed his excitement. We have thoroughly investigated every aspect of our squad, our guys, and the process of assembling this. Surely we require more data? We also require additional time. You guys are going to grow sick of me talking about connective tissue, but it takes time and data to construct the connective tissue and the secret ingredient that makes

“And so I’m just grateful that we’re here right now and that we can start doing that in massive earnest. I think this team is far more capable than most people realize. And the question is, “To what extent can we harness it to make our whole much greater than the sum of our parts by assisting in the synergy that fits all the pieces together?”

NCAA rules allow the squad to enjoy four hours of on-court instruction per week for the next eight weeks starting on Monday, when practice begins. The Wildcats that will make up Pope’s first roster are currently on campus in Lexington. Veteran center Amari Williams was the final to arrive over the weekend after graduating from Drexel University. All 12 scholarship players on the 2024–25 squad are rookies.

The only returnees from John Calipari’s final season with the Cats will be walk-ons Grant Darbyshire and Walker Horn — they’ve played a total of 16 minutes, combined, over the past two seasons — and none of the other 12 players have ever been college teammates. Only one, Jaxson Robinson, a transfer from BYU, has ever played for Pope.

The season is still about five months away, but the practice time between now and then will be precious, and Pope acknowledged Saturday that getting this team to mesh is priority number one.

“That’s going to be the biggest challenge,” he said.

Pope was speaking from the Club Blue NIL event at Alltech Arena, where he — along with most of the UK team — met with fans, took questions and talked about the upcoming season. A popular topic was the start of these summer practices.

Kentucky’s new leader — Pope has nine seasons of head coaching experience, five at BYU and four at Utah Valley — said he and his staff put this bunch together with chemistry in mind, but he acknowledged that he’d never mentored a group of brand-new coworkers.

Even if there is a lot of skill on this team, he stated that it is important to find the “connective tissue” that would allow everything to work together on the court. These early sessions will serve as the planting ground for those seedlings. When The Herald-Leader surveyed a few national college basketball pundits earlier this month, they unanimously agreed that UK had a roster that was at least on par with the top 25, but they were cautious about placing them too highly because these players have never been teammates.

“Right now, we have to learn how to play together,” Pope acknowledged. “That’s going to involve a lot of 3 on 3. Four guys on the court at the same time. Five guys on the court at the same time. So we can learn each other.”

He noted that his teams are incredibly dependent on each other with the sets they run, and that makes getting as many reps in as possible — while perfecting their timing and chemistry — a key aspect of this early stage in the offseason. Pope referred to it as “a race” to get on the same page as quickly as possible.

“So it very much is a process of getting to know each other, and that’s where we’re feeling the pressure right now,” he said. “We’ve got to expedite this process.”

KENTUCKY’S PLAYERS ARE READY

During one portion of Saturday’s event, Pope shared the stage with UK announcer Tom Leach, who peppered him with questions as fans listened intently. At one point, Leach brought up the “legendary” conditioning drills during the Rick Pitino era. Pope was at Kentucky for three seasons under Pitino and a captain on his 1996 national title team.

“You said the conditioning was ‘legendary.’ I felt like the conditioning was abusive,” he said to laughs from the crowd. “But it worked. And the one thing you felt with Coach P was that you went through it and you could be on the court playing the way you play and just never fatigue.”

Pope then brought up the great scoring runs that those Pitino teams — especially the nearly perfect 1996 squad — were famous for. “I’ll never forget those great runs,” he said. “That’s the manifestation of the aggressive style of play and great conditioning. And we have the same expectation of our guys — to come out here and never fatigue.”

Pope is also expected to play with a fast tempo as Kentucky’s coach, and his offense — rated No. 14 nationally in efficiency last season — is what drew many of the talented transfers on this roster to Lexington.

The biggest endorsement for Pope’s coaching style is Robinson, the leading scorer at BYU this past season and the final (as of now) addition to this Kentucky team. Robinson heaped praise on Pope in an interview with the Herald-Leader last month. One of the most coveted transfers in the country after he pulled out of the NBA draft, Robinson immediately committed to Kentucky.

“Before anything had happened with the NBA, I already knew — if I had come back to college — this is where I’d be at,” he said Saturday. “Me and Coach Pope are super close, and that’s my guy. So I’m excited to be here.”

Pope’s first roster in the UK also had Koby Brea, a four-year Dayton player who finished the previous season with an incredible 49.8% 3-point shooting percentage. This offseason, Brea was considered by many to be the top 3-point shooter in the portal. As impressive as it gets, his selection of five finalists included UK, Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, and the two-time defending NCAA champion UConn.

He chose Kentucky, stating on Saturday that Pope and his coaching staff drew him in. He specifically mentioned how Pope’s offensive philosophy, which helped BYU finish second in the NCAA last season with 32.0 3-pointers made per game, fits very well with his own style of play.

Brea said he wanted to spend his final season in college at a place where a national title would be possible, and he was all smiles while talking about meeting with UK fans Saturday.

“It’s a dream come true, if I’m being honest,” he said. “Just to be in an environment where you get to see so much love and so much support from Big Blue Nation. And you get to see what it’s really all about — what you represent — that every time I put on that jersey, I know it’s bigger than me. It’s about all these other people. …

“Kentucky is Kentucky, man. Since I was little — I’m from New York — I’ve always dreamt about coming over here. So it was a big opportunity for me.”

One new teammate who needed no primer on UK basketball is Travis Perry, the state’s all-time leading scorer and reigning Mr. Basketball. Perry will be one of three freshmen on this team — joining fellow Kentucky native Trent Noah and former BYU recruit Collin Chandler — and he’s spent the past few weeks getting to know his new teammates. He can’t wait to get on the court.

“We’re all excited and itching to get going and get practicing and compete,” Perry said. “… It’s a dream come true. You always expect it a little bit. But until you get on the road and get up there, it’s a different feeling. I remember being — we’re having camps this week — I remember coming to camps, waiting outside the lodge trying to get autographs. And now I’m the one walking into the lodge, just to go to my room or whatever. It’s just stuff like that — it kind of puts it into perspective how blessed I am to be able to live out a dream. So it’s just really exciting.”

Lamont Butler might end up being the starting point guard on Pope’s first UK team. Or one of two starters at that position, if Kerr Kriisa is in the first five alongside him. Either way, he’s champing at the bit to get going with his new team.

Butler — a three-year starter at San Diego State with a Final Four on his résumé — has been billed by Pope as one of the best perimeter defenders in the country. He didn’t shy away from that reputation. Offensively, Butler said he looked forward to playing in Pope’s “free-flowing and fast” system and facilitating others within that style.

He also said he and Kriisa — more of a flashy, offensive-minded point guard — have already started building a bond before they get into this week’s practice sessions.

Butler remarked, “I think we’ll be great together.” Since being here, I’ve spent a lot of time hanging out with Kerr. We’re just going to play next each other and give it our all, I think we’re starting to develop synergy there.

Pope and his team will have a number of positional puzzles to solve, including the Butler/Kriisa dynamic.Among the top 40 national recruits was Chandler. At the wing, Robinson, Brea, and Otega Oweh have all scored in double figures. The frontcourt is loaded with talent as well, featuring 7-footer Williams, McDonald’s All-American center Brandon Garrison, and seasoned players Ansley Almonor and Andrew Carr.

An important step in determining how all those components fit is being taken this week. And when the real games start in November, the bonds that are forged between coaches and players both on and off the court during the next several weeks will probably play a significant role in this squad developing a sense of mutual trust.

“The best teams have to be able to have players sacrifice some things in order to play at this level, especially with a team this good and so great,” Brea remarked. And as long as we win and accomplish the objective, I think everyone will be completely okay with the sacrifice that we will have to make for one another.