2025 Point guard Coleman Hawkins commits from Illinois to Kentucky Wildcats Mark Pope’s Era….
When La Familia was in action in TBT vs. Herd That, head coach Mark Pope made an appearance to see the team in action inside Rupp Arena.
After coach Pope made his rounds in the arena, he chatted with the TBT broadcast team about the future of the Kentucky Wildcats, and fans will like hearing what he had to say.
Pope has been working towards a massive Year 1 in Lexington, and the new head coach is excited about what the future holds.
“I think we’ve got a chance. We have a ton of work to do, but we have super, super interesting pieces. We have great young men. I’m talking about young men you’d hire to work a high-intensity job. The same guys you’d have come babysit your children. We’ve got some of the best young men in all of college basketball,” Pope stated.
Pope continued sharing his excitement for the team.
“We have the right pieces, but if we can build the connective tissue and synergy, which is a huge challenge in a short amount of time, we have a chance to be what Kentucky expects. That’s our goal,” he said.
Pope also shared the importance of pacing this summer as he implements his unique style of play with his guys.
I know BBN is excited about a new chapter inside Rupp Arena, and Mark Pope is clearly as well.
For Jaxson Robinson, the dream of college basketball had nightmarish beginnings.
Now, the 21-year-old guard from Ada, Oklahoma, is entering his fifth season of college, the biggest name on Mark Pope’s first Kentucky roster and — according to the expert predictions — the most likely Wildcat to be selected in the 2025 NBA draft.
But getting to this point wasn’t the smoothest process. And even those coaches that have come to appreciate Robinson the most weren’t sure if he’d ever get anywhere close to the position he’s in now.
A high school graduate at age 17, Robinson was more than ready to move on from his hometown, and he put in the academic work to make it happen as quickly as possible. That left the No. 82 recruit in the class of 2020 with a choice: spend a year in prep school or head to college a year early.
He chose the latter, enrolling at Texas A&M in the summer of 2020, which, as it turned out, wasn’t the best time to be a 17-year-old kid trying to get acclimated to high-level college basketball.
That was the summer of COVID-19 and the pandemic restrictions that kept teams from operating in a normal fashion. Getting up to speed was tough. Getting on the court was difficult. And, toward the end of the season, the Aggies rarely even made it to the gym.
A flurry of positive COVID-19 tests within the team limited practices and led to several canceled games. From Jan. 30 to March 3 of that season, Texas A&M didn’t play at all, every game postponed as a result of positive tests.
The Aggies finished the season with an 8-10 record and 2-8 mark in the SEC, playing the fewest conference games of any team, by far. Robinson averaged just 2.1 points in 9.7 minutes per game.
“People just kept getting sick,” Robinson said. “We never could find a rhythm. So it was a tough time for me, just because going into your first year, it’s COVID. I mean, you’re the last team in the SEC. It’s tough.”
Looking for a fresh start, he hopped across the conference to ArkansasOklahoma
