Should Mark Pope be considered a top 20 coach is college basketball?

When Mark Pope was hired to be the next head basketball coach at the University of Kentucky, some fans had their fair share of concerns.

Coach Pope had not yet won an NCAA Tournament game and didn't have the reputation as an elite recruiter.

While this was all the case, there was no denying Pope's on-court coaching as he is one of the best X's and O's coaches in college basketball.

In year one as the head coach of the Wildcats, Coach Pope took a banged-up team to the Sweet 16, which was the first time the Wildcats had been this far since the pandemic.

Now, this season, Kentucky is looking like one of the best teams in college basketball, and fans are fully bought into the thought that Pope is going to get Kentucky its ninth national title sometime soon.

An article came out this morning from Sports Grid that ranked the top 20 coaches in college hoops, and Coach Pope was not on this list.

This should not come as a surprise to Kentucky fans, as Coach Pope is still young as far as coaching is concerned, and he still has a lot to prove over the rest of his time at Kentucky.

Ironically, former Kentucky coach John Calipari was also not on the list, which does come as a massive surprise.

What does Mark Pope have to do to be a top 20 coach in college basketball? Heading into the 2025-26 season, it looks like Coach Pope has one of the best rosters in college basketball, and his team, without a question, is good enough to hang a banner.

Knowing this, the Wildcats need to find a way to make it to the Elite Eight.

Some fans might believe these are too high of expectations for a second-year head coach, but Pope has one of the best rosters in the sport.

At his press conference a few weeks ago, Pope was asked about these high expectations, and he talked about how he loves them.

Kentucky also needs to get back to its ways of winning the SEC.

There is no question that the SEC is the best that it has ever been, but the Wildcats need to find a way to get back to the top of the best conference in college hoops.

Coach Pope will be one of the top 20 coaches in college basketball ahead of the 2026-27 season after taking Kentucky on a deep run this year..

This article has been shared from the original article on si, here is the link to the original article.