Mark Pope was upset to learn that a crucial player had injured himself after being scheduled to play in a series with…
As soon as Mark Pope took over at Kentucky, he started organizing future schedules and was quite specific about the players he wanted to play. It was John’s St.
Pope, who played under Pitino at Kentucky and the two teams’ 1996 National Championship, was questioned about his non-conference scheduling process, the factors that go into selecting neutral site matchups, and preseason tournaments during his first news conference.
Pope said, “Who’s up for a game with St. John’s?”
It was stated that Rick Pitino would be more than happy to put up that series.
Pitino said on social media, “St. John’s accepts, this year at UK, next year at the Mecca (Madison Square Garden)”. “Looking forward to saying goodbye to Kentucky.”
That was a month ago.
It seemed like talks advanced on Monday, with the development of an official series.
College basketball insider Adam Zagoria reports that the series will start in 2025–2026.
The game will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1996 National Championship team.
Pitino informed Zagoria, “We will be celebrating our 30th anniversary at Rupp [Arena] next year, and they will be back at MSG the following year [2026-27].”
Pitino spoke out a lot about Pope’s hiring at Kentucky, highlighting the implications for the program.
