Episode 44 - Pope. Stein & Batt
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What did Mark Pope say about the upcoming Kentucky basketball roster and style of play?
Welcome everyone to Interrupted by Matt Jones here on News Radio 840 WHAS. I'm Billy Rutledge, the producer of the show, and today we're going to be playing some interviews that Matt did on Kentucky Sports Radio with the new football coach Will Stein, the new athletic director Jay Bat, but we'll kick things off with Mark Pope, who joined the guys in studio about a month ago.
Well, happy to be joined by Mark Pope. Mark, great to see you. I'm happy to be here, man. I like that blue sweatsuit you got going there. Thank you. Yeah. UK gear I think has improved in the last year or two. I don't know if you have anything to do with it or not, but I like it.
Man, when I was here thirty years ago we had All of it going on too. It was controversial at the time with the denim and then with the like Hey, look at this right here. The like look at these. Yeah. Yeah. I got the denim Converse on for you. Metal Lands. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I think we've been setting the the the standard for a long time.
Well let's talk I I I we only have you for a little while, so I actually want to get substantive basketball questions if you're good with that, 'cause I know people would like to hear it. Let's talk about the team coming up this year. You've got fourteen players, a lot of whom we don't know. How are workouts going? And uh what do you think of the group you've seen so far? I know a couple are injured.
I like our j I like our gym. Our gym feels good. Uh you know, we set out with some very clear intentions as we work through the portal trying to uh put this particular team together and And I think I like where we are. I think we have a ton of creator vibe. Um and we're seeing that on the practice floor. We got a ton of length, uh, ton of shooting, um it it some in some really fun different levels and I think uh I think we have some, you know, when we get healthy, uh this center spot's gonna be a real strength for us. So it's a good group. There's unbelievable juice on the practice floor. Is there always should be in the summer, but this group is Is gonna be special and and um it's been fun, man. Every day is a joy to walk into that gym.
Is there w was there anything you saw that maybe didn't work last year with the team that when you put this roster together you said, I wanna make sure I get that?
Well, y yes. I mean, this whole and we've talked about it a lot publicly over the last couple of months, but this whole vibe of of having more creators on the floor is really important to us and and we could get deep, deep into the weeds on that. Um Where we have more guys that are capable of actually creating shots for themselves and creating shots for teammates that are causing power plays on the floor. So power play is just a term we use from hockey. We stole it from hockey where any time that you can earn a second defender and you earn the rest of your team a four on three or a three on two, or sometimes a four on two if you're really good, uh we like to work out that space. And we didn't have as much of that last year as we truly
And so we came in with two major priorities. One, Malachi Moreno is a massively important piece of what we're doing. Did you ever think they were Did you ever think that
he was gonna loo you were gonna lose him?
Well you never know for sure. Malachi's heart is a Kentucky. He loves this place. I think he's got a lot of faith in our staff. He's got a lot of passion about what we're doing. But the NBA poll is real. Yeah. It is a real thing. But you never thought you were gonna lose him to another college. Uh no, I listen, anything can happen to the portal as we've seen. Yeah. Yeah, you know, day after day after day. It's such a dynamic place, but but I know Malachi's heart. I know what he cares about. Everybody in Kentucky knows how much he cares about this place. So he was a huge point of emphasis. And then this creator side of the ball was such a huge point of emphasis. Um and so we went really hard after those two spaces and then and then built in the rest of the roster.
Uh During the portal period, like it's hard to know sometimes who you guys are going after and who you aren't.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What did Mark Pope say about the upcoming Kentucky basketball roster and style of play?
0:00–4:30
2
How is Kentucky planning to improve its basketball recruiting and player development after last season?
4:30–8:54
3
What are the main priorities for the new football coach Will Stein as he prepares for his first season?
8:54–13:23
4
How does Athletic Director Jay Batt approach contract negotiations and financial strategy for Kentucky athletics?
13:23–18:13
5
What is Kentucky’s vision for player‑management and roster flexibility across all sports?
18:13–22:28
6
How does the department plan to keep fan engagement high and listen to the Blue Nation?
22:28–27:35
7
What changes are being considered for scheduling, non‑conference games, and SEC match‑ups?
27:35–32:40
8
How will Kentucky balance revenue growth, facility upgrades, and maintaining championship standards?
32:40–38:27