A Kentucky Site Looks Ahead To The Duke Game

It’s a bit early, but Duke is always on Kentucky’s mind

Duke and Kentucky renew acquaintances in November in The Champions Classic, but a lot has changed since the last time these teams played in 2021. Former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has retired, turning the job over to his assistant Jon Scheyer, and John Calipari left Kentucky after last season for Arkansas.

Scheyer has put together two very solid seasons and has recruited brilliantly. Kentucky hired Mark Pope, who was initially seen as a disappointing hire since Kentucky, at least theoretically, should be able to hire whoever they want.

Didn’t work out that way as big-name coaches, starting with UConn’s Danny Hurley, passed.

Pope is one of their own though and when his old coach, Rick Pitino endorsed him, it seemed to make a difference with the fans (interesting, given their antipathy towards the former Louisville coach).

Pope’s introductory presser was held in Rupp and the Kentucky faithful embraced him fully in what seemed like a Bluegrass Woodstock. People talk a lot about how Kentucky is just different, and that scene really underscored it.

Now all he has to do is to win, and this Kentucky site is looking ahead to the Duke game and how UK will deal with sensational Blue Devil freshman Cooper Flagg.

There are nine other players on the floor at any given time though, and the other interesting thing in this game is seeing how Pope will manage his team.

He’s only had a few months in the job and you can’t really compare his recruiting with what Calipari did, at least not yet.

At the end though, Calipari was almost more like a collector of talent than a program builder. Kentucky has only won one NCAA tournament game since 2018-19. As we always say, everyone gets a pass on Covid. Leaving that aside though, in the last three years, UK lost to Saint Peter’s in the Round of 64, then to Kansas State in the Round of 32, then to Oakland last year as Jack Gohlke hit 10 threes to lead the Bears to a shocking 80-76 win over Cal’s Wildcats.

Pope is probably not going to recruit on the same level Calipari did, but he is probably going to be smarter about team building than Calipari was. His BYU teams were very smart and well-coached.

That’s true of Scheyer too. However, given the history of this rivalry, trying to guess what’s going to happen in November, more than two months away, is a fool’s errand.

What is going to be fun is to see two young coaches put their stamps on one of the best non-conference rivalries in the country.