Mark Pope’s open-door policy for former Kentucky players continues, this time with a trio of Cats that came after his first run in Lexington. The likes of Jack “Goose” Givens and Cameron Mills were special guests at the Joe Craft Center last week, and now, Oscar Tshiebwe, Marcus Lee and Tod Lanter are representing the Coach Cal era at practice.
Shortly after Pope wrapped up his first summer press conference with the media, he shared a photo of the four of them together where they spent a combined 11 years wearing the blue and white as players — three for Pope, Lee and Lanter, two for Tshiebwe.
“It’s always an honor to have guys walk in our gym and teach our players what it means to wear Kentucky across your chest,” Pope said.
Givens was a guest at practice back on Saturday, the 1978 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player and All-American breaking things down after things wrapped up while Pope paid him the ultimate compliment.
“This dude in his day would have cooked every single one of you,” he told his team.
Meanwhile, Mills was a guest on Thursday, leaving the gym feeling good about his alma mater — specifically when it comes to his own specialty as a Wildcat.
“Loved being there! And loved watching the hardest working teammate I ever had, working his new team out, hard,” Mills said. “This was after practice this morning. Weight room was next. (By the way), A LOT of 3’s made today. A LOT!”
Who will be the next former Wildcats to swing by practice at the Joe Craft Center? You won’t have to wait long to find out. Wednesday is Media Day for Kentucky’s squad in The Basketball Tournament, La Familia.
More big names are on the way and will continue into July when TBT takes over Rupp Arena in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.
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