Will Kentucky coach Mark Pope stick with ten players getting action all season long?

Mark Pope shared if he plans to reduce how many players are getting relevant minutes.

Kentucky head coach Mark Pope yelled out defensive instructions during the Wildcats' season-opening game against Wright State at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. on November 4, 2024. / Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Kentucky was able to take down Wright State by a score of 103-62 to get the Mark Pope era started off with a bang.

In this game, Coach Pope had ten players play substantial minutes, which is a big number in college basketball. Most teams only have around eight players in a rotation, so it will be interesting to see if Coach Pope starts playing fewer guys. Now, this is most not all. The platoon style of basketball Coach Pope ran at times in the big win worked, and this would help the Wildcats keep their legs fresh.

After the win, Mark Pope was asked if he would take his lineup down from ten players to fewer as the season goes on. Here is what Coach Pope had to say, "I would be really blessed to keep those 10 guys healthy. Listen, there is real space in there. Travis Perry is a really good basketball player, and Trent Noah is a really, really good basketball player, and those guys can win, also. And Walker Horn is also going to be mad that I left him off the list. So, Walker Horn is also a really good - shout-out to Walker. And so if we can stay healthy, I would like to just keep coming in waves. As much as we can. There's times when the game is not going to allow that but I would like to keep coming in waves. I think it's hard and really challenging with the opponents we have. It's interesting. Our guys, they all fit the way we play but we really have 12 guys with very unique skill sets. And so every time someone new rolls onto the court, it's like, oh, we've got a new little toolkit we can work with, and as a coach, it's such a blessing and allows us to be really creative. The game normally makes you constrict to eight or nine. Sometimes seven or eight. I would like to live in this ten space as long as the game will let us."

Coach Pope has a lot of talent on this roster, and it will be hard for him to take some guys off the floor this season if everyone keeps playing well. Depth is a great thing, especially when some players start to get banged up, and the Wildcats have plenty of it.