Mark Story: For Mark Pope and Kentucky basketball, what are realistic goals for Year 2?

LEXINGTON, Ky. — It wasn’t perfect, but Mark Pope’s first season as Kentucky men’s basketball coach should be judged a success.

Now, it’s time to start contemplating what will need to happen for year two of UK’s Pope coaching era to also be deemed a triumph.

Prior to Pope’s debut season coaching at his college alma mater, there were four realistic expectations he needed to meet.

In a year in which Pope led UK (24-12) to the men’s NCAA Tournament round of 16 for the first time since 2019, this is how the ex-Wildcats center fared in reaching those goals:

Goal one. Install an exciting style of play.

Kentucky ended Pope’s first season seventh in NCAA Division I men’s hoops in scoring, averaging 84.4 points a game. The formulas of basketball statistical mavens Ken Pomeroy and Bart Torvik rated the Wildcats 10th and 12th in the country, respectively, in adjusted offensive efficiency.

At 25.3 3-point shots a contest, UK fell short of Pope’s stated goal of averaging 30 trey tries a game. Even so, the up-tempo, five-out offense Pope brought to Kentucky was fun to watch and should give the UK head man a solid platform on which to recruit.

— Verdict: Expectations met.

Goal two: Win more than Kentucky’s share of rivalry games.

UK played seven rivalry contests in 2024-25. The Wildcats won five of them.

Kentucky beat Duke in the Champions Classic, bested intrastate rival Louisville at Rupp Arena, outscored eventual national champion Florida, 106-100, in Lexington and swept two regular season contests vs. border rival Tennessee.

On the debit side, Pope lost a game that really mattered to UK fans when the Wildcats were defeated at Rupp Arena by Arkansas — and former top Cat John Calipari. The Cats also lost the season’s most consequential meeting with Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament round of 16.

Nevertheless, a 71.4 percent success rate in rivalry games meets the criteria of “winning more than UK’s share.”

— Verdict: Expectations met.

Goal three: Prove you can recruit at the “Kentucky level.”

The decommitment Thursday night of point guard Acaden Lewis, ranked the No. 20 prospect in the Class of 2025 by Rivals, and the earlier recruiting loss of forward Caleb Wilson, the No. 5 prospect in the Rivals 150, to North Carolina took some of the luster off of UK’s incoming high school signing class.

Still, homegrown prospects Jasper Johnson (No. 18 in the Rivals 150) and Malachi Moreno (No. 27) were the two Class of 2025 players Pope had to get — and he got them.

Pope is also doing good work in the transfer portal, having so far added added the players that 247Sports ranks as No. 10 (Jayden Quaintance), No. 29 (Jaland Lowe), No. 36 (Kam Williams) and No. 52 (Mouhamed Dioubate) among those who are switching colleges.

— Verdict: Expectations partly met.

Goal four: Win multiple games in the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.

Entering this past season, Kentucky had not won more than one game in an SEC tourney since 2018. The Wildcats had not won more than one contest in an NCAA tourney since 2019.

In his first try, Pope went 1-1 in SEC Tournament play and 2-1 in the NCAA Tournament.

— Verdict: Expectations partly met.

UK basketball’s 2025-26 goals

With Pope having broadly succeeded in year one, what must the coach achieve in 2025-26 for his program to be seen as progressing?

Goal one: Improve defensively without slipping offensively.

While UK ranked No. 7 in NCAA Division I in scoring in 2024-25, the Cats were No. 308 in points allowed, surrendering 77.2 points a contest. Some of that, obviously, was pace related, but UK needs to be better in defending high pick and rolls and protecting the rim in 2025-26.

With the additions of the 6-foot-9, Quaintance, the 6-8 Williams and 6-7 Dioubate from the portal, Pope appears to have recruited with a defensive emphasis in mind.

Goal two: Win more than Kentucky’s share of rivalry games.

After playing all three at Rupp Arena this past season, UK will presumably travel to Arkansas, Florida and Louisville in 2025-26. Assuming the SEC schedules Kentucky-Tennessee as normal, the Wildcats and Volunteers will play home and home.

Historic rival Indiana will return to the UK regular season schedule for the first time since 2011-12 with a game in Rupp Arena. The Wildcats will not face Duke or North Carolina in 2025-26 — unless it comes in the ACC/SEC Challenge.

Due to the game locations, it will be more challenging for UK to thrive vs. its primary rivals in 2025-26 than it was this past season.

Goal three: Contend for the SEC regular-season title.

Kentucky has not won the SEC regular-season championship since 2019-20. That is the only time in the last eight seasons that UK has finished first in the Southeastern Conference.

While it’s impossible to handicap the league for 2025-26 until final rosters are set, the best four teams in the SEC from this past season — Florida, Auburn, Alabama and Tennessee — all lose significant contributors due to eligibility expiration.

That reality could create a path for Kentucky to climb back toward the top of the league.

Goal four: Do better in the postseason tournaments in 2025-26 than in 2024-25 .

That would mean winning at least two games in the SEC tourney and at least three in the NCAA Tournament.

Obviously, at Kentucky, the stretch goals always involve cutting down nets.

For Year 2 of the Mark Pope coaching regime, however, the baseline on what Kentucky needs to get done is more basic: Just keep making progress.