Kentucky Basketball Coach Mark Pope Trolls ESPN Analyst Karl Ravech For His Embarrassing SEC Gaffe

Originally posted on BroBible | By Grayson Weir | Last updated Feb 13, 2025 4:23 PM ET

Kentucky head coach Mark Pope was asked about the SEC and its inability to eclipse the .500 mark in conference play during the 2024/25 college basketball season. Think about that for a second.

It would be impossible to do so.

However, it continues to be a real narrative that comes up in real life. Pope leaned into the hilarity on Thursday after an embarrassing gaffe on ESPN earlier this week.

Before we go any further, we must first explain the joke. The whole thing started on Jan. 26 when Jacob Pickle posted the following quip to X.

Wow. The “best conference in the history of college basketball” is 54-54 since January 4th. ESPN once AGAIN showing their SEC bias for some teams that can’t even get above .500

— @pickleo7

People were furious. A large number of SEC homers immediately tried to defend the winning percentage, claiming that it proves how difficult it is to win in the most dominant conference in college basketball. Others used it as a reason to clown the conference for being inferior.

Rhode Island head coach Archie Miller also brought up the 54-54 record during a press conference. He did so as part of a larger point about how hard it is to win in every league, not just the SEC.

They all missed the point.

Every single conference in the country is .500 during conference play and always will be. One team has to win. The other team has to lose.

Unfortunately, Karl Ravech still managed to fall for the intentionally deceiving statistic. He proudly stated that there is “no dominant group of teams” in the SEC because SEC teams are 84-84 since the start of conference play while live on an ESPN broadcast.

To make matters worse, Ravech tried to claim his comment was a joke. It wasn’t…

Jacob Polacheck asked Mark Pope about the SEC’s record against itself on Thursday morning. The question, which seemed annoying at first, led to a hilarious discourse with the head coach at Kentucky.

There's been a lot of talk about the SEC being the best conference in college basketball, but the league is still .500 since the start of conference play.

I asked Mark Pope about it to get to the bottom of this. pic.twitter.com/cPj4qBUSwQ
— Jacob Polacheck (@PolacheckKSR) February 13, 2025

Tough scene for Karl Ravech. Not only did he get buried on social media for the dumbest on-air comment of the year so far, a head coach in the very same league that he tried to praise had a full-blown belly laugh at his expense. You hate to see it. Pope is hilarious for keeping the bit alive!

This article first appeared on BroBible and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: