Thursday Quickies: Mark Pope Edition

The former Wildcat was announced as the new head coach at BYU

By Zac Oakes@ZacOakes Apr 11, 2019, 6:40am EDT

NCAA Basketball: Utah Valley at Kentucky

Former Kentucky Wildcat Mark Pope made headlines out west yesterday when he was named as the new head coach of the BYU Cougars basketball program.

Pope, who played two years at Kentucky after transferring from the University of Washington, was a member of the 1996 National Championship squad before spending several years in the NBA.

Most recently, he was the coach at Utah Valley University, where in the last two seasons, he compiled a record of 48-21 and 77-56 over his four years there.

It’s a nice step up the ranks for Pope, who was formerly an assistant at BYU (2011-2015) under Dave Rose, who retired this year.

BYU is coming off of a 19-13 season, where they finished second in the West Coast Conference only to Gonzaga.

Best of luck from the BBN and don’t be surprised if Kentucky schedules a game against BYU in the near future.

Tweets of the Day

Keldon Johnson has submitted his name for the 2019 NBA Draft. Under new NCAA rules, he can sign with a certified agent, receive feedback and still have the ability to return to school if he chooses. He has until May 29 to make a final decision.

✍ https://t.co/7lCqBlaHmG pic.twitter.com/WDe6A8Ckrb
— Kentucky Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) April 10, 2019

Keldon leaving the door a little bit open.

.@JonnyDavid never took for granted what it meant to put on that Kentucky jersey every day. It’s going to be hard to imagine not seeing him in the locker room after four years in this program. What a great teammate.

Thank you, @JonnyDavid! #DreamBIG pic.twitter.com/vTJA2IJ3Y1
— Kentucky Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) April 10, 2019