Since his arrival at Kentucky more than a year ago, coach Mark Pope wanted nothing more than to compete against his former coach, Rick Pitino.
Pope, who played for Pitino and was the team captain on the 1996 national championship squad, worked on a home-and-home deal, which to date hasn’t materialized. When UCLA opted out of the CBS Sports Classic last month, St. John’s was added, paving the way for a Kentucky-St. John’s encounter set for Dec. 20 in Atlanta.
“I’m so hyped,” Pope said earlier this week. “I’ll be honest with you, just if I'm putting this out there so coach P can hear it, I am bringing the suit game. I've already started planning. … I’m bringing the thunder. I don't know what coach has prepared, but he better get with his tailor, because it's on right now.”
Aside from attire talk, Pitino is looking forward to the matchup against his former player and the place he called home for eight seasons.
“Obviously, Kentucky was Camelot for me, I’ve said it many times,” Pitino said. “So now to play against the captain (Pope), who made so many special moments for me and the team, in a battle that CBS is putting on is quite special. I will remember it for a long, long time.”
Kentucky will also play Big Ten powerhouse Purdue and coach Matt Painter in a preseason game at Rupp Arena on Oct. 24. Pope embraces the matchup and loves “playing great teams all the time.”
“Anytime there's any chance we can get great teams to come to Rupp, we're going to take it, if it's in the exhibition season or the preseason or the conference season, we'll take it,” Pope said. “We get to walk in here and in late October and play the No. 1 team in the country, and I'm really excited about that. I’m excited about that for our fanbase.”
Pope added that another exhibition game is in the works, but didn’t speculate on the potential opponent.
“We're working on another exhibition game that I think is going to be terrific,” he said. “I’m excited for our fanbase. I'm excited about it for college basketball. I'm excited about it for for our guys, because when you play against great teams, it teaches you so much about yourself. The chance to do that in an exhibition where the cost might not be so high, and get to do it really early in the season, where it's not just the data you receive after the game and during the game, but it's all of the energy and juice that it adds to your locker room every day, during the summer and during the fall, when you're like, hey, we're preparing it, guys, this is coming way faster than you might anticipate. I think those are all real bonuses.”
Kentucky’s schedule has yet to be completed, but the non-conference slate includes instate rival Louisville on Nov. 11, Michigan State in the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden a week later on Nov. 18, Gonzaga in Nashville on Dec. 5.
The renewal of the Indiana rivalry begins next season, but the date has yet to be set.
Photo by Les Nicholson
