In a period of six weeks last offseason, first-year Kentucky coach Mark Pope ... this season. But Pope was this close to being even better. UK narrowly missed on bringing in BYU transfer Richie ...

The Wildcats wound up replacing Calipari with Mark Pope, a former Wildcat who was coming off a strong season as a head coach for BYU. Calipari's decision to step down did not devastate Wildcats ...