Mark Pope should have one goal this offseason for the Kentucky Wildcats

The 2024-25 season was an excellent first year in Lexington for Mark Pope as he took a team full of transfer portal players to the Sweet 16 despite a ton of injuries.

While it was a terrific season for the Wildcats, there are still some things Coach Pope and his staff need to improve for the 2025-26 season, and the top priority will be improving the defense.

Last season, Kentucky’s defense was ranked 51st in KenPom. Throughout the season, the defense did improve for the Wildcats, as it was ranked in the 120’s at one point of the season.

While the defense did improve over the course of the season it did collapse in the Sweet 16 loss to the Tennessee Volunteers.

Kentucky’s offense was exceptional last season, and it will be again this season, but the defense needs to improve next year.

The historical numbers are there that for a team to win a national title, they need to have high ranks offensively and defensively in KenPom, so Kentucky needs defensive improvement if they want to hang a banner.

Luckily, the roster Coach Pope was able to put together consists of a bunch of athletes who will be able to defend at a high level. This team should be much better defensively, and if they can put up great numbers on the offensive side of the floor, the Wildcats will be tough to beat.

If Mark Pope has a top 25 defense in KenPom next season, his team will be one of the best in the nation.

Mark Pope has done an A+ job in his year as the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats. Coach Pope has done a heck of a job getting the Kentucky fan base back into this program and took his first team to the Sweet 16 despite being banged up.