The Kentucky Wildcats have a basketball coach who refuses to be unprepared for a matchup. He proved it before and during the Duke game in many ways, but there were five noticeable ways in which he outcoached Jon Scheyer and pulled off the early-season top-10 win.
1. Spalding Balls
When coach Pope found out that the Champions Classic was not going to be using the normal Wilson balls but instead a specific Spalding ball, he decided to make the switch in practice during the week leading up to the game. There was no mention of Duke making a similar adjustment. Many people are wondering if Pope may have been the only coach who did because of how much better Kentucky shot than every other Champions Classic team. Read more here.
2. Half-time adjustments
Kentucky was down by nine as they entered halftime, but they came out with a plan to take down Duke. They needed some adjustments on transition defense and ball screens. Pope made sure his players were defensively ready for the second half by making these adjustments. Read more here.
3. The clarivoyant final time-out
This was unknown until Kentucky released its "The Journey" mini-documentary on the Duke game. In that 15-minute video, it went inside the final timeout. Pope described how Cooper Flagg was going to be going to ISO, and they needed to be ready to steal the ball when he spun toward the middle. That's exactly what happened. Read more here.
4. Lineup adjustments
Duke stuck with essentially one lineup the entire game: Caleb Foster, Tyrese Proctor, Kon Knueppel, Cooper Flagg, and Khaman Maluach. They used three subs, two of them played for only 13 minutes and one played for 17 minutes. Kentucky on the other hand used a 10 man rotation and Pope worked in lineups to help adjust to Duke. Brandon Garrison was a pivotal play during the game to not only spell Andrew Carr but provide needed energy off the bench. This is just one example of many of the lineup adjustments Pope made to disrupt Duke and provide depth overall.
5. Utilizing veterans: the masterclass
You may say this one isn't fair because Duke has three stars, and they are all freshmen. However, if you read any Duke blog or site or listen to any Duke podcast, one of the major grips is... "what happened to our veterans?! Foster and Proctor disappeared down the stretch." One of the things a coach has to do is be able to get their veterans to lead. In key moments of the final seconds of a big college game, there's nothing quite like experience. Nothing in high school prepares you for those final moments in which Flagg was asked to take over a game. He just doesn't have those reps yet. As Scheyer reminded in the post-game presser, "He's only 17." Well then, why did you force him to carry the team when he wasn't ready? Get your veterans going.
The Kentucky Wildcats have to be proud of how Mark Pope is coaching this team.