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Rick Pitino attends Kentucky practice: ‘There are very few places in all of basketball like Kentucky’

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By ADAM ZAGORIA

Rick Pitino attended Kentucky basketball practice on Saturday and came away impressed with their offense while praising the school’s basketball tradition to its current players.

Pitino, now in his second year as the St. John’s coach, praised the “offensive movement” of the Wildcats, who are now coached by Mark Pope, a key piece of Pitino’s 1996 NCAA championship team at Kentucky. Pitino also attended Kentucky’s “Big Blue Madness” Friday night.

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In a separate interview at the football game, Pitino said Pope reminds him of Billy Donovan as a coach. Donovan, of course, won back-to-back NCAA championships at Florida and now coaches the Chicago Bulls.

“Highly, highly intelligent, runs great offensive schemes, he’s at the right place,” Pitino said of Pope. “The people are going to love him.”

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On Saturday, Pitino spoke to the current Wildcats and discussed some of the stars of the 1996 team, including Ron Mercer and Antoine Walker, both of whom were lottery picks.

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Pope, meantime, took to social media to praise Pitino and said the coach “changed the trajectory of my life.”

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Pitino and Pope have discussed a home-and-home series, with one game at Rupp in the 2025-26 season and one at either Madison Square Garden or Arthur Ashe Stadium the following year.

Meantime, Kentucky fans had a good time trolling Louisville fans during’s Pitino’s visit.

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