Mark Pope left BYU 10 months ago to return to his alma mater Kentucky, where he plied his craft at the direction of legendary coach Rick Pitino. Now, as head coach roaming the sidelines of Rupp Arena, that leap of faith is paying off big time.

Pope took over after John Calipari left for Arkansas in a stunning turn of events. However, Pope wasted no time winning over the fanbase, especially since he is a former Kencutky basketball player. Moreover, moves such as this one only helped Pope's case more, and fans were excited to see the fan interaction with the Wildcats coach.

And not every coach is John Calipari. Yet when Kentucky basketball plays host to the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday night for the long-awaited return of Coach Cal, Mark Pope’s Wildcats will have one job and one job only.

With three key Kentucky players sidelined, Mark Pope’s team pulled off its most impressive victory of the season. Here’s how the Wildcats did it.

On the court, Golden and the Gators are a national championship contender. They opened the season with 13 straight wins, then pummeled a then-undefeated and top-ranked Tennessee by 30 points in early January. They were ranked No. 21 in the preseason AP poll, but Golden supplemented five key returnees with Florida Atlantic transfer Alijah Martin.

Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats are getting ready to head to Nashville to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores. There should be a good amount of Kentucky fans

SEC home teams continued to dominate. John Calipari picked up a huge win, and much more after Week 3 of SEC play.

Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats are getting ready to make the trip down to Nashville to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores. This is a road game, but there wi

A former Starkville High School teacher avoided jail time by pleading guilty Monday to molesting a student nearly three years ago. Randy M. Carlisle, 50, of Hickory Grave Road, Starkville, was scheduled to go to trial this week on the felony charge of touching a minor for lustful purposes.

Paired with their win at No. 18 Mississippi State over the weekend ... "I love winning a game where we never felt great," UK coach Mark Pope said. SEC basketball has best product, but league ...

After a brief break, Kentucky is back in action on the road in the SEC. The ninth-ranked Wildcats will travel to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. EST. One week ago, Kentucky fell at home to Alabama,

They don't give out national coach of the year awards in January, but if they did, CBS Sports college basketball analyst Gary Parrish is going with Kentucky first-year head coach Mark Pope.