It’s SEC Tournament time. What is Mark Pope’s coaching history in conference tournaments?
It’s finally postseason time for Kentucky basketball.
Mark Pope’s Wildcats are the 6 seed for this week’s SEC Tournament, which runs from Wednesday to Sunday at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
UK will begin SEC Tournament play in the late game on Thursday night against either 11 seed Georgia or 14 seed Oklahoma.
Well before Pope guided Kentucky to a 21-10 overall mark (with a 10-8 record in SEC games) in his first season coaching the Wildcats, he made it known that winning in the postseason — and specifically winning in the SEC Tournament — would be a priority during his coaching tenure.
During his grand public unveiling as the UK basketball coach at Rupp Arena last April, Pope said that his program is “here to win banners in Nashville.”
Obviously, the rest of the SEC — which has staked its claim to being the best conference in the history of men’s college hoops this season — will have something to say about that.
Case in point: Kentucky’s potential quarterfinal matchup on Friday would be against 3 seed Alabama, which beat UK twice this season.
“These conference tournaments are great and being in the SEC now — in the best conference in the country, in the biggest tournament in the country — one of the things that’s special is it’s just back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back,” Pope said last Thursday. “There’s no in-between games. It’s a fever pitch going from game one to game two to game three. It’s all teams and fan bases that you’re intimately familiar with, and a lot of times have a beef with and a history with and some frustration with or some ownership of, or whatever. It’s a really unique dynamic. It’s really special.”
Something that should be studied with relation to expectations for the Wildcats this week in Nashville is how Pope has fared in the past in conference tournament settings.
Prior to this season, Pope was the head coach for four seasons at Utah Valley in the Western Athletic Conference and for five seasons at BYU. The Cougars spent four of those seasons in the West Coast Conference and one season in the Big 12 Conference.
Combined, this gives us nine past data points to study of Pope as a head coach in conference tournament settings.
What do these past conference tournament showings tell us?
What has Mark Pope done as a coach in conference tournaments?
In total, Pope owns an 8-9 (47.1%) record in conference tournaments as a head coach.
Pope went 3-4 in WAC Tournaments while at Utah Valley and 4-4 in West Coast Conference Tournaments while at BYU. Pope and the Cougars went 1-1 in their lone Big 12 Conference Tournament appearance last season.
At Utah Valley, Pope never won more than one game in a single conference tournament. In each of the 2017, 2018 and 2019 editions of the WAC Tournament, Pope’s Utah Valley team won its first game in the event before losing its second game.
Pope and the Wolverines went one-and-done in the 2016 event.
At BYU, Pope enjoyed more success in conference tournaments. After a one-and-done trip with the Cougars as the 2 seed in the 2020 WCC Tournament, Pope won at least one game in each of his final four conference tournaments with BYU.
This included reaching the championship game of the 2021 WCC Tournament: BYU, the 2 seed in the 10-team event, knocked off 3 seed Pepperdine in overtime in the semifinals before falling to top seed Gonzaga by 10 points in the title game.
This is the only time a team coached by Pope has played for an automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
The 2023 WCC Tournament marked the only time in Pope’s head coaching career that he won multiple games in one conference tournament. BYU, the 5 seed, beat 8 seed Portland in the second round and 4 seed Loyola Marymount in the quarterfinals. The Cougars lost to top seed Saint Mary’s in that year’s semifinals.
That victory over Loyola Marymount is also the only time Pope has won a conference tournament game as the worse seed compared to the opponent.
Last season, BYU made its first appearance in the Big 12 Conference Tournament. The Cougars were the 5 seed in the event, and beat 12 seed Central Florida in the second round before losing to 4 seed Texas Tech in the quarterfinals.
Going under the hood a little bit more, Pope’s teams are 7-4 in conference tournament games as the better seed compared to the opponent. Pope’s teams are 1-5 in conference tournament games as the worse seed compared to the opponent.
Pope’s previous conference tournament games have also included some familiar faces. In the 2021 WCC Tournament title game, Pope’s BYU team lost to Gonzaga, coached by Mark Few. Earlier in this Kentucky basketball season, Pope’s Wildcats overcame an 18-point second-half deficit to defeat Few and Gonzaga in an overtime game played in December in Seattle.
In the 2022 WCC Tournament, BYU and Pope lost to San Francisco — then coached by current Florida head man Todd Golden — in the third round.
When BYU lost to Saint Mary’s in the semifinals of the 2023 WCC Tournament, the Cougars allowed 18 points to guard Aidan Mahaney, whom Kentucky targeted in the transfer portal last offseason. Mahaney committed to UConn out of the portal.
Pope is also 0-2 all-time in NCAA Tournament games, losing in the round of 64 with BYU as a 6 seed in both the 2021 and 2024 editions of March Madness.
A lack of postseason coaching success was one of the knocks against Pope when he got the Kentucky job last spring. Obviously, it’s a label he hasn’t had a chance to shed until now.
That process will start Thursday night in Nashville against either Georgia or Oklahoma.
SEC Tournament
At Bridgestone Arena in Nashville
WEDNESDAY
Game 1: No. 9 seed Arkansas vs. No. 16 seed South Carolina, 1 p.m. (SEC)
Game 2: No. 12 Vanderbilt vs. No. 13 Texas, about 3:30 p.m. (SEC)
Game 3: No. 10 Mississippi State vs. No. 15 LSU, 7 p.m. (SEC)
Game 4: No. 11 Georgia vs. No. 14 Oklahoma, about 9:30 p.m. (SEC)
THURSDAY
Game 5: No. 8 Ole Miss vs. Game 1 winner, 1 p.m. (SEC)
Game 6: No. 5 Texas A&M vs. Game 2 winner, about 3:30 p.m. (SEC)
Game 7: No. 7 Missouri vs. Game 3 winner, 7 p.m. (SEC)
Game 8: No. 6 Kentucky vs. Game 4 winner, about 9:30 p.m. (SEC)
FRIDAY
Game 9: No. 1 Auburn vs. Game 5 winner, 1 p.m. (ESPN)
Game 10: No. 4 Tennessee vs. Game 6 winner, about 3:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Game 11: No. 2 Florida vs. Game 7 winner, 7 p.m. (SEC)
Game 12: No. 3 Alabama vs. Game 8 winner, about 9:30 p.m. (SEC)
SATURDAY
Game 13: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner, 1 p.m. (ESPN)
Game 14: Game 11 winner vs. Game 12 winner, about 3:30 p.m. (ESPN)
SUNDAY
Championship game: Game 13 winner vs. Game 14 winner, 1 p.m. (ESPN)
