Mark Pope, Kentucky Basketball Championship Lottery Declaration by Buzz Williams

The The Kentucky basketball team turned in another impressive performance on Tuesday night as they easily handled the business at home against Texas A&M. The Aggies played well in the first half and had a seven-point lead at one point, but the Wildcats closed the half strong and controlled the second half for an 81-69 victory. Texas A&M head coach Buzz Williams is very impressed with what Mark Pope done with this Kentucky team in such a short time.

Mark Pope is in his first year coaching the Kentucky basketball team and he has a good team on his hands. The Wildcats are 14-3 and 3-1 in the loaded SEC, and Buzz Williams believes that they have the tools to conquer it all.

“They’re good enough to win a national championship,” Williams said after the game, per a post by Tristan Farris . “I think they play with great spirit.” I think their coach has a phenomenal spirit. I think it’s how he runs the right way in 2025 and you can tell, you can tell how they compete, you can tell how they play. You can tell by looking at their company. You can tell how they are in and out of substitutions. That ghost, I know it’s not a statistic. But I think the spirit is probably as important as the stats, just from listening to the coaches and learning from the coaches, I think it’s — I think those things are connected.”

It’s not easy to take over a college basketball program and immediately get the team firing on all cylinders. However, that is exactly what Mark Pope did this season with the Kentucky basketball team. It’s obviously very early in the season, but the Wildcats seem poised for success.

“I really enjoyed studying. I know that sounds condescending. “I mean that in the most respectful way,” Williams said of this Kentucky team. “Really good players, a lot of skill variety as you know, but I think the utilization of talent and skill, given the newness of the coach and his staff and the players, that’s really hard to do, so I haven’t seen any of their practices or their film sessions , but the lecture that takes place and the practice plan so that they have an execution that they have it outstanding.”

There were plenty of Kentucky fans who were skeptical of Mark Pope’s hiring when it happened, and early success doesn’t guarantee lasting success. However, it’s hard to imagine there are many Wildcats fans who could have had a better start to Pope’s first year.

Kentucky is off to a hot start, but they’ve had plenty of teams do well in the regular season in recent years. What Wildcats fans really want to see if they made a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. That is what is most important.

Pope and Kentucky will be looking for their 15th win of the season on Saturday, and it’s a big one. The Wildcats will host No. 4 Alabama. The two teams will tip off at noon from Rupp Arena in Leckington, and the game will be televised on ESPN.