With two exhibition victories down and by a combined positive margin of 102 points at that, the Kentucky Men’s Basketball team is facing down the official beginning of their first season without former head coach John Calipari.
Enough has been said about both his departure and Mark Pope’s hiring and subsequent offseason successes, but when the buzzer sounds, it’s about the product that hits the hardwood.
Can the team win? Against mid-major programs, absolutely. That may seem like a “gimme,” but given Calipari’s late-tenure struggles against such programs, Pope’s (thus far) domination has proven to be a fresh change of pace.
But, for the most part, those won’t be the teams in the way come tournament time in March. To test their resiliency to that standard, the Cats have a date with the highly touted Duke Blue Devils on Nov. 12, only their third game of the year.
As a part of the annual “Champion’s Classic,” the match will take place on a neutral floor in Atlanta, Ga. Not only will it mark Kentucky’s first legitimate matchup of the season to that point, but their first game away from Rupp Arena. To say there’s a lot at stake is a mammoth understatement.
The Blue Devils, ranked seventh nationally (Kentucky is ranked 23rd, for comparison), are led by supposed freshman phenom Cooper Flagg, among a bevy of other four and five-star prospects.
Kentucky on the other hand, as it’s been duly noted, took to the transfer portal to construct a roster almost totally comprised of veteran talent. Pope will look to draw larger freshman classes going forward, as he’s already begun to do for the 2025 season, but with only a few months to build a team from the ground up, he opted to spin the transfer wheelhouse and pick provenness over potential.
The aforementioned first-year Flagg will likely go toe-to-toe with Kentucky’s Andrew Carr, given their height and play-style similarities. Carr, who is in his final season and five years Flagg’s senior, will look to exercise his experience on the collegiate level on both ends of the floor. Matchups like this one exasperate the differences between the two teams and their philosophies, both on and off the court.
On the opposite end of the lineup, take the Tyrese Proctor (Duke) vs. Lamont Butler (Kentucky) square-off for example. Proctor is a junior guard, making him one of the senior-most players on the Blue Devils roster. He’s spent his entire collegiate career in the program, gradually developing under a system that, more often than not, sends players to the league after one or two years, tops.
Situated on the other hand is Butler who, much like the aforementioned Carr, is also entering his final season. Where he differs from Proctor, though, is in his past. Up to this point, Butler played starting point guard for San Diego State University, leading the Aztecs to a championship appearance with a game-winning shot in the final four just two seasons ago.
Of course, being a transfer to Kentucky, Butler has been developed under an entirely different system up to this point. He’s dealt with different coaches, schemes and players that are in no way equivalent to the place he’s in now. Further, the expectations have risen due to his change, as Kentucky, especially when contrasted with a school like San Diego State, has expectations far above that of the general norm.
Their matchup begs many questions, such as: what will it look like going forward for seasoned players, who may want to “up the ante” a bit, to step into Mark Pope’s system at Kentucky? How does he accommodate and acclimate? Or, how will Duke coach Jon Scheyer’s ideals stand up to those found new in Coach Pope?
The latter is especially interesting, given Scheyers’ similarities with Coach Calipari in regards to opting for a smaller roster of young players that rotate out every (or every other) season. Pope has made a point to value returning players over time, seeking a greater balance between the raw and the realized. Will that work as well as it sounds? Or is the idea one of unrestrained ambition, set to crash and burn on the biggest stage in the country?
While there are things to be said about Pope’s potential need to settle into his new job, if you will, in addition to more similarly cautious observations regarding time and place, the outcome of this “blue blood” battle will undoubtedly set the tone for either team’s season going forward.
Kentucky fans all around the state, country and world want the new-look Cats to make a statement. There is no better opportunity than in State Farm Arena on Nov. 12.
