For some reason, Mark Pope is having a hard time getting this Kentucky basketball team to focus. And it's been going on since the preseason.
Some will point to the staggering $22 million NIL budget, the highest in the country, as the reason. If these guys are earning millions regardless of the scoreboard, does the coaching message still carry any weight? The checks are coming regardless. Whatever the cause, both the players and the staff admit that "locking in" has been a problem since the doors opened.
The Otega Oweh admission
The red flags appeared as early as the Georgetown exhibition. After Kentucky knocked off Purdue, they looked like world-beaters. Then a Hoyas team that would finish the year 16-18 walked into Rupp Arena and did whatever they wanted. Everything looked broken.
After that game, Otega Oweh suggested the team would "lock in" once the games started to matter. But the Champions Classic loss to Michigan State proved that was not the case, with Oweh admitting his biggest hurdle was simply "giving 100% effort all the time." When your preseason SEC Player of the Year is still negotiating his effort levels in November, it sets a dangerous precedent for the rest of the roster.
One that has carried over all season long.
The 'Taylor Swift' distraction
Perhaps the weirdest moment of the season came before the Louisville game. Pope alluded to an "uncharacteristic" pre-game experience that derailed the team’s focus, only to later dismiss it as a "Taylor Swift-style" tease to keep fans guessing.
I am still not buying that for a second. Though Mark Pope is a massive Swiftie.
For a fanbase obsessed with results, seeing a rivalry game slip away while the coach "teased" the cause didn't sit well. It was worse when he just played it off, and just said it was nothing. Clearly it was something.
We just may never know what.
Pope's final warning
After losing to Florida for the third time this season and getting eliminated from the SEC Tournament, Pope was still selling a message his players haven't fully bought into. "If we can hang on to that ability to focus for 40 minutes... we're going to make a great run," Pope said.
When you are still searching for a complete game in the second week of March, you aren't a contender, you're a mystery.
Whether it’s the pressure of the $22 million price tag or a roster built with too many "alpha" personalities and not enough "glue" guys, the focus issue has been there all year long. Don't expect it to go away now.
The biggest issue Kentucky has faced all season is looking right back at them in the mirror: themselves.