Breaking news;Paul Finebaum Reveals mark Pope Kentucky Wildcats   Team As Best To Win SEC Tournament coming..

Breaking news;Paul Finebaum Reveals mark Pope Kentucky Wildcats   Team As Best To Win SEC Tournament coming..

Mark Pope exits the bus with holding a trophy as he enters Rupp Arena greeting thousands of fans for his introductory press conference on Sunday, April 14, 2024.

Mark Pope exits the bus with holding a trophy as he enters Rupp Arena greeting thousands of fans for his introductory press conference on Sunday, April 14, 2024. / Clare Grant/Courier Journal / USA TODAY

Mark Pope’s goals are clear at Kentucky. It’s about national championships. There’s no secondary goal or expectation. He understands that better than anyone else since he lived it and won one of the banners hanging inside Rupp Arena.

But, he also understands that doesn’t happen overnight and if you get too caught up in the end goal, the process and progress along the way can get hidden and forgotten.

So, it’s how he attacks the goals that sets him apart.

“Our goals and expectations are clear and they are different than anywhere else,” Pope said on the Paul Finebaum show during the SEC Spring Meetings. “It’s number 9. That’s what we talk about every single day. Our job is to come here and hang the ninth banner at University of Kentucky and nothing short of that is going to be acceptable.

“With that understood as the goal, there’s this dichotomy, that you have that on the horizon but what your focus has to be every day is getting better every day. That’s how you g

et there.”