Mark Pope is making sure that John Calipari’s Kentucky legacy doesn’t distract the Wildcats from their pursuit of national success. The first-year coach has renovated the program’s practice facility, untethering the player cards that showcased the Kentucky players Calipari developed for the NBA. As a result, all one can see now are the eight championship banners across the gym.
ESPN’s and SEC Network’s sportscaster Jimmy Dykes was the first to document the change on Friday, a day after he attended the Wildcats’ practice. Moreover, Dykes has retaliated positively to the chance, saying that Mark Pope’s initiative realigns Kentucky to its basketball standard.
“The first thing I noticed when I walked in the practice facility, all of those individual banners are down,” Dykes said on Kentucky Sports Radio.
“The only thing left on the wall is the national championships. That’s the standard. It’s about hanging those banners. It’s a new day for Kentucky,” he added.
Even though the player cards are set to catch dust in Wildcats’ storage, it doesn’t separate Calipari from the array of talent he cultivated in Lexington. In the last 15 years, he helped 50 players make the leap to the big leap.
Out of them, 37 were selected in the first round of the NBA draft (25 lottery picks), while three became the top picks (John Wall, Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns).
Mark Pope’s move brings to light John Calipari’s last five years in Kentucky
For John Calipari, the role at Kentucky was his “dream job,” and the coach treated it no differently.
The winningest active NCAA Division I coach mounted more than 400 wins for the school, resulting in 11 conference titles, 12 NCAA tourney bids, one national title (2012) and a winning percentage of 76%.However, as Mark Pope takes all eyes away from Calipari’s individual accolades, it also highlights the dismal run Kentucky has been on over the last five years.Since the 2019-20 season, Calipari has an overall record of 105-42. That puts the Wildcats at a near 72% winning chance, but the program has only won one NCAA game. It’s the worst track record in program history since 1941.