Mark Pope’s plan for the basketball team at Kentucky? “We’re trying to figure out this game’s magic.”

Basketball players are needed by Mark Pope. That much is clear. However, the Kentucky Wildcats’ new head coach will have a bigger objective in mind as he fills up his roster for the 2024–25 campaign. The Cats’ success in the first season of the Pope era will depend on the pieces he assembles over the next weeks to construct his first UK team. However, these players, whatever they turn out to be, will most likely depart Lexington with a bigger legacy than their record at the conclusion of the following season, both in wins and losses.

Pope is committed to this endeavor for the long run, no doubt about it. Therefore, it is not expected of him to cut corners. This week, in a comprehensive interview with the Herald-Leader, Kentucky’s new coach discussed his expectations for his first team in great detail. In addition, Pope talked about the things he wants to stay away from as he searches the transfer portal for possible Wildcats for the 2024–25 campaign.

“A player is not my type if he is unable to see beyond himself. That’s precisely it, Pope declared, veering away from his usually jubilant tone to seem as straightforward as possible. The ability of young people to recognize that there is something greater than themselves is a trait that is genuinely becoming less and less prevalent. something greater than themselves.

Pope has stated unequivocally what kind of player he and his coaching staff will be looking for during the recruiting process, starting with his introductory statements to the Kentucky fan base during that Rupp Arena coronation less than two weeks ago. Pope, who captained the nearly flawless 1996 national championship team and played three seasons as a Wildcat under coach Rick Pitino, has stated that he is looking for players who will consider donning a Kentucky basketball jersey as “one of the great honors of their life” and that he expects to locate them as soon as possible.

“We are looking for synergy here,” Pope told the Herald-Leader. “We’re looking for exactly what we said: for when guys make a connection, that’s when things happen. That’s what elevates you as an individual. In this game of basketball, the great players and the great teams understand that, ‘Me being by your side actually elevates me.’ Like, ‘The way I’m going to become the best player that I can possibly be is by tapping into you, my teammate.’ And I think that’s the beauty of the game. I think that’s what attracts people to the game. I think that’s what makes fans feel connected to the game.

“And so if I was going to give you one nonstarter: if there’s somebody that’s just completely inward-looking, they’re just not going to work for me. I think those guys can go on and be good players. But we’re searching for something better, man. We’re searching for the magic of this game. You know what it feels like when you go watch a team function together and you leave inspired. That’s what we’re looking for. That’s why I love coaching. That’s why I love this game.”

‘BUILDING A CULTURE’ OF UK BASKETBALL Pope has already told the story of his first days in Lexington back in 1993, a transfer from Washington joining a UK team that was coming off a Final Four run the previous season with even bigger goals in mind for the immediate future. On the day he was reintroduced in Rupp Arena two weeks ago, Pope told the tale of heading over to Memorial Coliseum at 11:30 one night 31 years ago to get some work in, hoping to “catch up” to his new teammates on the court and assuming he’d be the only one in the gym at that late hour. He heard balls bouncing as soon as he opened the door, then saw — from his recollection — Derek Anderson, Tony Delk, Jared Prickett and Jeff Sheppard already in a full sweat. “Those guys taught me how to work,” Pope said that day in Rupp. “I learned about resilience here.”

Whoever plays for him at Kentucky will need to learn the same. When talking about the “culture” he wants to create around UK’s program, Pope skipped the cliches and generalities that often greet such questions, going far beyond the “play for the name on the front of the jersey” ideals that he and other coaches often adopt. Pope put his specific vision for this program — and his overall philosophy on team culture — in much more personal terms. “I think when we talk about building a culture, a lot of times we think about it like, ‘You build it, and then it’s done.’ You build a house, and there’s your house, right? But this is way different,” Pope said. “This is more like growing people. A team is every bit of a living organism. And if you’re a growing person, you’ve gotta eat every day. And you’ve gotta sleep every day. And you’ve gotta learn every day. And you’ve gotta be inspired every day. And so it’s something you manicure every single day. And also a part of growing is getting way outside your comfort zone.

“I think sometimes we say, ‘Building a culture,’ and we kind of think it’s like words we put on a wall. Really, building a culture is like words we put in people’s hearts. And then they communicate those. And people are living, growing, dynamic organisms. So the same word to one person might mean something different three weeks from now than it means today. And that’s why this is so great.” Pope spoke of team culture not as something that is handed down solely by coaches and reinforced along the way, but as a concept that is spread from player to player until everyone shares the same mindset, another nod to his viewpoint that teammates can and should be elevated by each other. When everyone on the team is on the same page and shares common, collective goals, that team and those players will find success — in one way or another — both as a group and as individuals.

Pope and his assistant coaches are obviously looking for talented players, guys who can — to borrow an oft-used line from his predecessor — pass, dribble and shoot. They want guys with size and length and basketball IQ. But, seemingly, most of all, they’re going to be looking for players who will be willing to adhere to those “culture” concepts Pope is making so clear from the beginning. They’ve already found some. MERGING ‘CULTURE’ AND RECRUITING So far, Pope has had nothing but good things to say about John Calipari and his achievements — four Final Fours and a national title, among them — over the past 15 seasons at Kentucky. But some of the new UK coach’s remarks — especially during that introductory press conference in Rupp — have been pointed out as thinly veiled references to the Calipari era, and how things are likely to go a little differently once Pope settles into the job. Kentucky’s new coach has already said he’ll pursue one-and-done players — the type of recruit that some fans often bristled at, especially when they didn’t leave a banner behind on their way out of town — but Pope has also made it clear he wants guys that will stick around and develop.

Calipari often said he never made promises for what would happen during a star recruit’s short stay in Lexington, but his constant, public obsession with the NBA draft as the grand prize at the end of the college basketball rainbow surely fed what became a self-fulfilling prophecy of some players leaving this level of the sport before their time had truly come. Pope will be looking to put guys in the league, too. But, so far, he hasn’t made that a major part of his pitch. And by not constantly hyping the NBA, he’s likely to attract a different sort of player. The first two UK freshmen of the Pope era are not projected as one-and-dones, and it would be a relative shock if either ended up going that route.

While Collin Chandler and Travis Perry — both top 75 national recruits — lack immediate NBA draft upside, they’ll both come to Lexington with the cemented reputation of players who will go all-out in practice to earn whatever time they get in games. That’ll be a start toward the kind of culture Pope envisions. “To me, that’s infinitely valuable,” 247Sports national analyst Travis Branham told the Herald-Leader. “In terms of — having guys like that will set a standard for your culture moving forward and how you’re going to build this program. Kids with no egos, about the work, about winning. And they’re going to set that tone every single day, regardless of them being freshmen. In the unique case of Collin Chandler, a 21-year-old freshman. “Obviously, players are going to be able to contribute and fit into his system right away. But they’re also going to be guys that can set a bar for what this culture is moving forward.”

Chandler will come to Kentucky straight from a two-year church mission trip that delayed the start of his college basketball career. Perry has played varsity ball since middle school and is Kentucky’s all-time leading scorer, leading Lyon County to a state title this past season. Another potential addition — BYU guard Richie Saunders — also delayed college for a two-year mission and, according to Pope’s previous comments, embodies what he looks for in a teammate. Former Drexel big man Amari Williams — the first transfer of the Pope era — was also the first recruit the new UK coach brought to campus and someone he’s clearly excited about as one of the foundational pieces to his program.

None of this is to say Pope won’t recruit high school superstars. He’s already said he will. And if a player is a “project” it doesn’t mean he won’t have a place at Kentucky, and if he’s a little behind in one of Pope’s key areas of importance on the court, it doesn’t mean UK’s coaches will pass.