Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball head coach Mark Pope is facing a long offseason after another early exit in the NCAA Tournament.
No. 7 seed Kentucky lost to No. 2 seed Iowa State 82-63 in the Round of 32 on Sunday at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Mo. A day later, Pope spoke to reporters, and one question was asked about Michigan star Yaxel Lendeborg’s claim of receiving an NIL offer from Kentucky in the $7-$9 million range.
Pope strongly shut down that report, saying it is “false.”
“I don’t want to spend all my time chasing out, chasing all the false stories and correct him. I actually don’t want to be a fact check, but stories like that, for example, that story is 100% categorically false with no truth to it whatsoever,” Pope said, via Keith Taylor of The Associated Press.
Pope added that there are a lot of false narratives while mentioning that “stories like that just aren’t true.”
Lendeborg, who spent the previous two seasons at UAB, transferred to Michigan last offseason. Prior to the NCAA Tournament, the Wolverines’ star told the AP that Kentucky’s offer started in the $7-$9 million range, so that came directly from Lendeborg himself.
“They started the number with $7 to 9 (million),” Lendeborg said. “They were pretty much going off on the route like we’ll pay him anything to get here.”
It’s quite a statement from Pope, especially with Lendeborg stating otherwise.
Kentucky’s blowout loss to Iowa State has some wondering whether or not Pope is the right coach for the program.
A year ago, Kentucky made the Sweet 16, but the Wildcats lost to Tennessee. At the start of SEC play this year, fans wanted Pope fired after a winless start, but things slowly improved with the Wildcats making March Madness.
Kentucky enters a very important offseason, and Pope has a lot of work to do in hopes of bringing this program back to the Final Four.
