Coach Mark Pope talked about the difference between this year's squad and his first UK team that made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
"We're not quite as veteran as we were last year. I mean, and that's just going to be a work in progress. We were blessed last year. We had seven super seniors to start the season on the roster. And so that's hard to replace in that sense so, you know, our in game experience was so huge last year in terms of guys, even though we were brand new guys hadn't played together. They'd been on the court for just an enormous amount of reps. And so that's the one thing where I'm like, there'll be a little bit of a growing process there, but otherwise I like where we are."
When it was his time at the microphone UK women's coach Kenny Brooks said height will not be a problem to overcome this year.
"This is probably the tallest team I've ever had in my 25 years of coaching. And I think we're going to be able to use that to our advantage, you know, just because obviously we might not be the quickest team, but like last year we led the country in blocked shots. And I think we have the catalyst to still do that again with Teonni Key and Clara Strack, you know, holding down the middle, but they're, very tall and they're long. And so we're looking forward to using that to our advantage."
Fans will get their first look at the teams this Saturday night at Big Blue Madness. The festivities get underway at 6 p.m. in Rupp Arena.
More Media Day coverage:
https://ukathletics.com/news/2025/10/06/pope-likes-competitive-cats/
https://ukathletics.com/news/2025/10/06/brooks-cats-hope-to-build-off-year-one-success/