Jury duty comes for everybody eventually, and often at the worst possible time.
Thankfully, Mark Pope was able to avoid it this week.
The Kentucky basketball coach, after revealing on Saturday that he had been randomly selected for jury duty on Friday, shared an update on social media on Sunday night. He had called into the courthouse in Lexington to check on his status and see if he was needed for a case.
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Thankfully, Pope was not required to show up on Monday. And since Tuesday is Veterans Day, the courthouse is closed. That ensured that Pope will be free for their rivalry matchup with No. 12 Louisville on Tuesday night.
“I’m done! So I’m out! I love you, telephone service,” Pope said. “Let’s go beat the Cards.”
While Pope probably could have gotten dismissed early, given his career, he now doesn’t have to worry about that on Tuesday. Instead, he can focus on the Battle of the Bluegrass.
Pope is in his second season at Kentucky this fall. The Wildcats went 24-12 last season and reached the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament under his watch after he made the jump from BYU to replace longtime coach John Calipari. No. 9 Kentucky started the season with back-to-back blowout wins, first over Nicholls and then over Valparaiso on Friday.
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Louisville marks the Wildcats’ first true test of the season. The Cardinals — who went 27-8 last season and made the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019 — are also 2-0 after two easy dominant wins to start the season. This will mark the first rivalry game between the two schools in which both are ranked nationally since the 2019-20 campaign. Kentucky has won 14 of the last 17, too.
While a road win at the KFC Yum! Center won’t be easy, at least Pope won’t have to focus on any deliberations in the hours before the game tips off.
