Forget playing favorites, Pope rode the hot hand against Bucknell

The last 15 years of Kentucky basketball often featured extremely confusing and sometimes frustrating substitution patterns. Whether it was playing favorites more minutes than other deserving guys, yanking players for simple mistakes, or not starting two lottery picks, Calipari evoked some head-scratching with who he put on the floor. Like so many other aspects of coaching, Mark Pope has brought a refreshing approach to allocating minutes.

On Saturday against Bucknell, this was on full display by playing the players who were playing well. Specifically, when Kerr Kriisa was racking up no-look assist after no-look assist, he stayed in the game at the expense of starter Lamont Bulter. It’s not that Butler played poorly (he didn’t), but Kerr was in the zone and as a result, he finished with 21 minutes to Butler’s 19.

Compare that to the Wright State game when Butler played 22 minutes to Kriisa’s 14. In that game, Kerr wasn’t quite in the same form we saw against Bucknell, and as a result, Butler played more.

The same thing happened with Koby Brea and Otega Oweh. With Brea doing his best Steph Curry impression from behind the 3-point line, he led Kentucky in minutes at 26, despite coming off the bench. That meant Oweh, the starter, saw his time on the court diminished to 19 after playing 27 against Wright State, a game when he was 3-3 from deep.

It shouldn’t be a novel concept, the idea of rewarding good play with more minutes, but for the Wildcats, it kind of is. What is Pope going to do next? Start the best players based on their play throughout the season? It’s a new era in Kentucky basketball.

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