Mark Pope doesn't want his players to miss the moment of playing at Kentucky

Mark Pope's first team at Kentucky set a standard of what exactly playing for Kentucky is all about, which is being grateful for the opportunity, representing the name across their chest, and doing whatever it takes to win. That mindset is what made last season's team so special. Pope is now looking to carry that over to his future teams at Kentucky, and the upcoming squad is already understanding the mindset.

As a former player at Kentucky, Mark Pope knows exactly how quick a player's time at Kentucky can pass them by. He wants his players to take time to enjoy the moments of their career at Kentucky before it's too late. He knows last season's team felt the love all season from Big Blue Nation. Pope talked about that in an interview with KSR earlier this week.

"Our guys could (feel the love) for sure. As much as I was happy about that, I was happy that our guys didn't miss it. Because the craziest thing is -- this is almost incomprehensible to me -- you could actually come here for a year as a player and miss it. You could miss the whole thing. ...We talk to our recruits about this all the time. If you came here and you were just only dialed in to yourself, you could actually miss the great uniqueness the monstrosity that this experience can be. ...I felt like one of the reasons why there was such a great relationship between BBN and our players was because our players also were really engaged in growing the relationship. They meant something to them from our guys coming in. Our guys logged almost four hundred hours of community service. ...Their interest in embracing the magnitude of this opportunity was pretty special. ...As the head coach here running this program, I cannot bring guys in here that are gonna miss this. It would feel like I'm disrespecting this place that I love so much. And sometimes uber-talented guys could come here and miss this. But I think the guys are gonna serve us well as a community and a commonwealth."Pope on players embracing the moments.

Pope talked about incoming Crotatian forward Andrija Jelavic and just how emotional he got when the two Facetimed each other. That's exactly the point that the head coach is getting across to his players. Embracing the moments and taking every little detail in is what it's all about to play at Kentucky. Last season, every player said the same phrase when they arrived on campus, "I understand the assignment." That's the tone Mark Pope set for the standard of Kentucky basketball, and his future players understand it.

The saying "you don't know what you have until it's gone" can be true, but Pope is making sure that doesn't happen to his players at Kentucky, and he's done a great job of instilling that mindset into his players, who understand what playing in front of Big Blue Nation on a big stage in college basketball is like.