UK Fans of the Day want Friday Evening Notes on Mark Pope's Q&A

It’s safe to say that at the start of this week, Kentucky fans were restless. Roster and recruiting news had slowed to a crawl, the Cats’ rivals were loading up, and we still hadn’t heard from Mark Pope since the season ended. Thankfully, there was movement on two of those fronts this week, with Kentucky Zooming with top portal target Milan Momcilovic and Pope asking for and answering three rounds of fan questions from social media, to almost universal praise.

All of that makes it a little easier to close the laptop on a Friday. But first, some notes on a surprisingly newsy week.

Pope seems to like his General Management Team

As mentioned, the reviews for Mark Pope’s Q&A videos have been overwhelmingly positive. He chose a good mix of hard questions and softballs, hyped up his new team in the answers, and included some Easter eggs for fans to pore over. Above all, it was just good to see Pope again. The fanbase needed that after a stressful six weeks of silence.

The only complaint that I’ve seen thus far has been Pope’s answer about why Kentucky has not hired a general manager. Pope said that instead of a singular, traditional GM, UK has chosen to go with a four-person “general management team,” three of whom already worked with the school. Keegan Brown is the newbie, hired in April as the program’s director of roster management. He worked with Pope at BYU and, for the last two years, served as the video coordinator for the Wisconsin Herd, the Milwaukee Bucks’ video coordinator. In his new role in Kentucky’s front office, Pope says Brown will handle data analysis and roster construction.

The other three names should be somewhat familiar by now. Nick Robinson has been on Pope’s staff at UK since the start, serving as director of men’s basketball operations. Per Pope, he is UK’s salary cap strategy and management specialist. Kevin Sergent has worked at UK for almost a decade, spending the last five years as the liaison between the men’s basketball staff and department leadership. He is the compliance officer for the program, dealing with contracts and legal language. Kim Shelton is the final piece, a senior vice president at JMI Sports who serves as the men’s basketball program’s liaison to the university’s multimedia rights partner. Per Pope, Shelton handles all of the program’s NIL contracts and deals with corporate sponsors.

After Brown was hired, Pope suggested that he would not be the final piece to Kentucky’s front office. Currently, the only job openings on the basketball staff are for an assistant coach (there is still one spot vacant) and an associate director of player development. Pope’s comments today suggest he likes his team as is.

“In this ever-changing, dynamic college basketball environment, everybody is trying a different solution,” Pope said. “For us, instead of hiring a singular GM, we’ve gone with a more comprehensive general management team approach.”

Hopefully, the ink is not dry on this year’s roster. Kentucky still needs a good backup center, and there’s a 6’8″, 225 lbs. former Iowa State Cyclone that would fit beautifully at the three-spot. Land both of those pieces, and I’ll feel a lot more confident about this team and the team that built it.

It’s amazing what even a hint of Milan will do

During Pope’s first Q&A video, he included Milan, Italy as one of the places he’d visited in the past week. Fans speculated Pope was there to see Luigi Suigo, a four-star center, but it was never confirmed. Pope did confirm that he visited future Cat Ousmane N’Diaye in Cremona, Italy, which is just an hour and a half’s drive from Milan. What if Pope flew in to Milan en route to Cremona and just threw in the city’s name as a coy reference to Milam Momcilovic, whom the staff Zoomed with on Thursday? Pope knows how this fanbase works.

That’s why it was no surprise that the fanbase reacted like they did to the news of Pope’s Zoom with Momcilovic and his agents. It remains to be seen whether or not Momcilovic will stay in the draft or return to college, and some familiar additional suitors are throwing their hats in the ring, but the fact that the two sides met virtually was a shot of hope for a fanbase that needed it. He could do wonders for next year’s roster.

For more on Kentucky’s pursuit of Momcilovic, I’ll direct you to Jacob Polacheck’s latest insider notes on KSR+.

Want more Kentucky basketball intel? Join KSR Plus for access to bonus content and KSBoard and House of Blue, the most vibrant message board communities in BBN, to chat with fellow Cats fans and get exclusive scoop.

Don’t miss the “Many Men” reference at the end of video three

At first glance, today’s video ended oddly, with Pope pulling up a question about his favorite hype song, the video turning to black and white after a record scratch, and Pope leaning into the camera before smirking and walking out, question unanswered. Early 2000s rap fans knew the song instantly, 50 Cent’s “Many Men.” When you pull up the lyrics, it makes even more sense.

Many men, wish death upon me
Blood in my eye dawg and I can’t see
I’m trying to be what I’m destined to be
And guys trying to take my life away

Mark Pope with “Many Men” to close the video. Cold. 🥶

“Many men, wish death upon me.” https://t.co/MAophcdCMf pic.twitter.com/mdF9Ve56tR

— Tristan Pharis (@TristanUda) May 8, 2026

The clip went semi-viral this afternoon as fans recognized the song. Drew Franklin even weighed in, suggesting Mark Pope come out to the song at Big Blue Madness wearing a bulletproof vest ala 50 Cent. So far, the Courier-Journal’s Ryan Black has the best response:

"How many times was 50 shot? Nine! We think it's a sign! Let's go get No. 9!" https://t.co/Dk1ATAHSOQ

— Ryan Black (@RyanABlack) May 8, 2026

There’s also a chance that the clip could be used against Pope and the fanbase if things go south this season, but it’s a Friday, and we finally have some good Kentucky Basketball stuff to talk about, so let’s stay positive.