avoiding the Euro players entirely — & not really tapping into the UK machine all that much.

By doing so he pretty much avoided any steep fund-raising in the booster hornet-nest in Lexington (which was reportedly NOT at all thrilled w the hire as a whole).

He might have an athleticially underwhelming team per UK's standards — without the Lottery talent they're used to — but I think he's got a hot-shooting team that will run a similarly successful offense to what we all saw last season.

Only Pope has a much more talented & balanced team on his hands this season, of course. What he's got is a bunch of coachable kids who I'm sure are THRILLED to be Wildcats. And they'll do whatever it takes to be winners.

I'm probably only catch their 3-4 biggest regular season games, but I'll definitely be rooting for them. I think our fans are underappreciating how good Pope being successful at UK helps BYU in the clout department. Particularly if KY can take us to new heights simultaneously.