'Coming For 9' - It Took One Year For Mark Pope To Shut Up Any Doubts About Him, Has Kentucky Back Where We Belong As The Face Of The Sport

I will not apologize for writing about Kentucky basketball on May 29. Why? Because May 28 is the day that Mark Pope should have shut everyone complaining about him up. The day Otega Oweh decided to come back to the greatest place on Earth. 

A guy who is going to be an All-American. The leading scorer from last year's team. A guy who should be one of the most fun players to watch in the country for anyone who likes the sport. But, this is about Mark Pope. This is about the fact that he brought the joy of Kentucky basketball back. He got Denzel Aberdeen from Florida to leave the reigning national champs and come play for us. He put it perfectly 

It's not just Kentucky fans or players either. The most respected people in this business are saying Kentucky is a national title contender. This is what happens when you see injuries destroy you a year ago, so you go get 14 guys to play. You bring back 4 out of 5 guys who played meaningful minutes in a sport where people want to leave after a year. 

And, yeah, NIL helped here. It's why every big name is basically coming back to college basketball. Guys are no longer chasing 2nd round picks or even late 1st round, Tahaad Pettiford, Oweh, Nick Martinelli, Miles Byrd, Nate Bittle, Milos Uzan, Labaron Philon, Alex Condon etc all announced they are coming back this week. All I know is Mark Pope took advantage, went and got the best transfer class and a couple elite freshmen coming in. We're back where we belong, talking about national titles.