The committee has released its second crack at the top 25, and it's (almost) all Big Ten at the top.

That might seem a bit strange to the conference that boasts the most playoff-caliber teams, the most non-conference wins against other Power 4 leagues and Paul Finebaum there to remind everyone just how angry they should be at this affront to good judgment.

With that, we'll handle much of Finebaum's homework for him. Here's this week's Anger Index.

1. The SEC

Eleven weeks into the 2024 season, and one thing seems abundantly clear: The SEC is the best conference in college football. Take a look at Bill Connelly's SP+ rankings, for example, where nine of the top 17 teams are from the SEC. Or use ESPN's FPI metric, where the SEC has spits 1, 2, 4, 5 and 9. Consider the team currently ninth in the SEC standings, South Carolina, has three wins over SP+ top-40 teams and losses to the committee's No. 10 and 22 teams by a combined total of five points.

Yes, the SEC's dominance and depth seem obvious.

So, of course, four of the top five teams in the committee's rankings this week are from the SEC.

Wait, no, sorry about that. We're getting late word here that, in fact, it's the Big Ten with teams No. 1, 2, 4 and 5 in this week's rankings.

It's not that those four Big Ten teams aren't any good. Oregon (No. 1) has chewed up and spit out nearly all comers this season. Ohio State (No. 2) is the best squad the gross domestic product of Estonia can buy. Penn State (No.4), well, the Nittany Lions still haven't beaten Ohio State, but we assume the rest of the résumé is OK. Indiana (No. 5) is blowing the doors off people.

But that's it. The rest of the Big Ten is a mess. You need a magnifying glass to find Michigan's QB production. Iowa finally learned how to score and somehow has gotten worse. Minnesota looked like the next-best team in the conference, and the Gophers have losses to North Carolina and Rutgers.

A lack of depth does not inherently mean the teams at the top are not elite. Indeed, the other teams in any conference remain independent variables when addressing the ceiling for any one team. If the Kansas City Chiefs joined the Sun Belt, Patrick Mahomes would still be a magician, and Andy Reid would still be saying "Bundle-a-rooskie-doo" in your nightmares.

But the cold, hard facts are these: Indiana's best win came last week against Michigan (No. 40 in SP+) by 3. Penn State (by SP+) came by 3 against a below-.500 USC team that just benched its QB. Ohio State is absolutely elite on paper, but on the field, the Buckeyes' success is entirely buoyed by a 20-13 win at Penn State, whom we also know very little about.

The SEC gets flack for boasting of its greatness routinely, and to be sure, that narrative has often bolstered less-than-elite teams. But this year, every reasonable metric suggests the SEC's production actually matches its ego, and when Ole Miss (No. 11), Georgia (No. 12), Alabama (No. 10) and Texas A&M (No. 15) -- all with two losses -- are dogged as a result of playing in a league where every other team warrants a spot in the top 25, it undermines the entire point of having a committee that can use its judgment rather than simply look at the standings.

2. SMU Mustangs (8-1, No. 14)

Let's compare two teams with a blind résumé.

Team A: 8-1 record, No. 14 in ESPN's strength or record. Best win came vs. SP+ No. 20, loss came to a top-10 team by 3. Has four wins vs. Power 4 teams with a winning record, by an average of 14 points.

Team B: 8-1 record, No. 11 in ESPN's strength of record. Best win came vs. SP+ No. 28, loss came to a top-15 team by 15. Has one win vs. a Power 4 team with a winning record, by 3.

So, which team has the better résumé?

This shouldn't take too long to figure out. Team A looks better by almost every metric, right?

Well, Team A is SMU, who checks in at No. 14 in this week's ranking.

Team B though? That'd be the Mustangs' old friends from the Southwest Conference, the Texas Longhorns. Texas checks in at No. 3.

Perhaps you've watched enough of both Texas and SMU to think the eye test favors the Longhorns. That's fair. But should the eye test account for 11 spots in the rankings? At some point, the results have to matter more.

Or, perhaps it's the brand that matters to the committee. If that same résumé belonged to a school that hadn't just bought its way into the Power 4 this year, it's hard to imagine they wouldn't be in the top 10 with ease.

3. Arizona State Sun Devils (7-2, unranked) and Iowa State Cyclones (7-2, unranked)

Let's dig into three different teams still hoping for a playoff bid, even if the odds are against them at this point.

Team A: 7-2, 1 win over SP+ top 40. No. 28 in ESPN's Strength of Record. Losses by a combined 18 points.

Team B: 7-2, 1 win over SP+ top 40. No. 25 in ESPN's Strength of Record. Losses by a combined 13 points.

Team C: 7-2, no wins over SP+ top 40. No. 24 in ESPN's Strength of Record. Losses by a combined 21 points.

You could split hairs here, but the bottom line is none have a particularly compelling résumé, and they're all pretty similar.

So, who are they?

Team B is Iowa State, which plummeted from the rankings after losing two straight. But the committee isn't supposed to care when you lost your games. Losing in September is not better than losing in November. At least that's what they say.

Team A is Arizona State. Its 10-point loss to Cincinnati came without starting QB Sam Leavitt and was due, at least in part, to a kicking game so traumatic head coach Kenny Dillingham held an open tryout afterward. The Sun Devils and Cyclones are two of three two-loss Power 4 teams unranked this week (alongside Pitt), but unlike Iowa State and Pitt, Arizona State isn't coming off back-to-back losses. The Sun Devils' absence seems entirely correlated to the fact that no one believed this team would be any good entering the season, and so few people have looked closely enough to change their minds that the committee feels comfortable ignoring them.

The team the committee can't ignore, however, is Team C. That would be Colorado. Coach Prime has convinced the world the Buffaloes are for real, even if nothing on their résumé -- a No. 77 strength of schedule, worse than 7-2 Western Kentucky 's -- suggests that's anything close to a certainty.

The Big 12 remains wide open, but it's to the committee's detriment that it has so eagerly dismissed two of the better teams just because they're not as fun to talk about.

4. Missouri Tigers (7-2, No. 23)

Has Missouri played with fire this year? You betcha. Just last week, the Tigers were on the verge of falling to Oklahoma before the Sooners' woeful QB situation reared its ugly head again and the game ended in a 30-23 Tigers win.

But here's the thing about playing with fire: So long as you don't turn your living room into an inferno, it's actually pretty impressive.

Missouri is 7-2 with wins against SP+ Nos. 26 and 28, and its only losses are to the committee's No. 10 and No. 15 teams. SP+ has Missouri at No. 17, though we can chalk that up to Connelly's hometown bias. But No. 23? After a top-10 season in 2023, don't the Tigers deserve a little benefit of the doubt? They currently trail three three-loss teams (Louisville, South Carolina and LSU) and are behind Boise State, Colorado, Washington State and Clemson, who, combined, have exactly one win over SP+ top-40 teams.

There's a good chance that, should Brady Cook not return to the lineup, Missouri will get waxed at South Carolina on Saturday, and then the argument is moot. But the committee isn't supposed to look ahead and take guesses at what it believes might happen (Florida State's snub last year notwithstanding). It's supposed to judge based on what's on the books so far, and putting Missouri this far down the rankings seems more than a tad harsh.

5. UNLV Rebels (7-2, unranked)

The committee threw a nice bone to the non-Power 4 schools this week, with four teams ranked, including No. 25 Tulane Green Wave. That feels deserved, given Tulane's recent run. But what is it, exactly, that puts the Green Wave ahead of UNLV?

UNLV has the No. 31 strength of record. Tulane is No. 32.

UNLV has the No. 98 strength of schedule played. Tulane is No. 96.

Tulane has a one-possession loss to a top-20 team. UNLV has a one-possession loss to a top-20 team.

The key difference between the two is UNLV has wins against two Power 4 opponents -- Houston and Kansas. Houston, by the way, just knocked off Kansas State, a team that beat Tulane.

So perhaps the committee should spread a bit more love outside the Power 4.

Also Angry: Pittsburgh Panthers (7-2, unranked), Duke Blue Devils (7-3, unranked), Georgia Bulldogs (7-2, No. 12), Utah Utes AD Mark Harlan (the Utes would be ranked if Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark hadn't rigged the system!) and UConn Huskies (7-3, unranked and thus prohibiting us from Jim Mora Jr. giving a "You wanna talk about playoffs?!?" rant).

Oregon remained No. 1 in the second rankings released by the College Football Playoff selection committee on Tuesday night.

The Ducks, who cruised past Maryland 39-18 last week to improve to 10-0, were followed by No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Penn State and No. 5 Indiana.

BYU, Tennessee, Notre Dame, Miami, Alabama, Ole Miss and Georgia round out the committee's top 12.

Miami's first loss of the season, 28-23 at Georgia Tech, and Georgia's second defeat, 28-10 at Ole Miss, shook up the committee's rankings. The Hurricanes fell five spots to No. 9, while the Bulldogs dropped nine spots to No. 12.

Using the current rankings, Oregon (Big Ten), Texas (SEC), BYU (Big 12) and Miami (ACC) would be the four highest-rated conference champions and would receive first-round byes in the 12-team playoff.

Boise State is No. 13 in the committee's rankings, but the Broncos would be included in the 12-team playoff as the fifth-highest rated conference champion from the Mountain West.

The first-round matchups would look like this: No. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Ohio State; No. 11 Ole Miss at No. 6 Penn State, No. 10 Alabama at No. 7 Indiana; and No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 8 Tennessee.

Although Georgia, which captured two of the past three CFP national championships, is ranked No. 12 in the committee's rankings, the Bulldogs would be the first team left out of the 12-team playoff.

SMU is No. 14, followed by Texas A&M, Kansas State, Colorado, Washington State, Louisville and Clemson.

South Carolina, LSU, Missouri, Army and Tulane close out the top 25.

The updated College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings pic.twitter.com/ymA9wlI1dB

ESPN (@espn) November 13, 2024

The Gamecocks and Green Wave made their CFP rankings debut this season, replacing Iowa State and Pittsburgh, who were Nos. 17 and 18 last week, respectively.

There were nine SEC teams included in the committee's rankings, four each from the ACC and Big Ten and three from the Big 12.

Georgia, which also fell 41-34 at Alabama on Sept. 28, plays what might be a CFP elimination game against Tennessee at Sanford Stadium on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET/ABC, ESPN+). Georgia is 14-3 after a loss under coach Kirby Smart, bouncing back after each of its previous eight defeats. The Bulldogs haven't lost back-to-back games in the regular season since 2016, Smart's first season coaching his alma mater.

Georgia has defeated Tennessee in seven of its past eight contests, including a 38-10 win on the road last season.

Asked about the CFP implications of the game on Monday, Smart said his team had to solely focus on beating the Volunteers.

"I don't ever take those approaches," Smart said. "I don't think they're the right way to go about things. I think you're trying to win your conference all the time, and to do that you've got to win your games at home. You've got to play well on the road, which we have and haven't. We've done both, but I like making it about who we play and how we play, and less about just outcomes."

BYU survived a 22-21 scare at Utah last week. With Miami's loss, the Cougars jumped the Hurricane as the third-highest rated conference champion. BYU hosts Kansas on Saturday, followed by a road game at Arizona State on Nov. 23 and home game against Houston the next week. According to ESPN Analytics, BYU is the heavy favorite (92%) to earn a spot in the Big 12 title game and also win it (40%).

Army would be the next highest-rated conference champion behind Boise State, one spot ahead of fellow AAC program Tulane. The Black Knights improved to 9-0 with last week's 14-3 victory at North Texas. They'll have their best chance to make a statement to the selection committee in their next game, against Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium in New York on Nov. 23.

The four first-round games will be played at the home campus of the higher-seeded teams on Dec. 20 and 21. The four quarterfinal games will be staged at the VRBO Fiesta Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl presented by Prudential and Allstate Sugar Bowl on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.

The two semifinal games will take place at the Capital One Orange Bowl and Goodyear Cotton Bowl on Jan. 9 and 10.

The CFP National Championship presented by AT&T is scheduled for Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic was ruled out of Tuesday night's game at the Utah Jazz because of left ankle soreness.

Nurkic started each of the Suns' first 10 games, averaging 9.9 points and 10.2 rebounds in 24.4 minutes. He played just 15 minutes in Sunday's 127-118 overtime loss to Sacramento, going scoreless and grabbing seven rebounds before exiting after the first half with the ankle injury.

The Suns were also missing Kevin Durant, who suffered a left calf strain in a win over Dallas on Nov. 8 and is expected to miss at least two weeks.

Ryan Dunn started in Durant's place and Mason Plumlee started for Nurkic.

Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve and Los Angeles Dodgers utilityman Mookie Betts led the field of Silver Slugger honorees by picking up the award for the seventh time in their careers.

Major League Baseball revealed the 2024 Silver Sluggers on Tuesday, as voted on by major league managers and coaches. The group features seven first-time winners and 14 different clubs with at least one honoree.

Altuve, 34, was picked as the American League second baseman winner after he batted .295 with a .789 OPS, 20 home runs, 31 doubles and 65 RBIs in 153 games in 2024. He was an All-Star for the ninth time.

Betts, 32, hit .289 with an .863 OPS, 19 home runs, 24 doubles and 75 RBIs while being limited to 116 games for the World Series champion Dodgers. He earned his eighth career All-Star nod and was named a Silver Slugger for the third year in a row.

MVP favorites Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers predictably made the list after their strong seasons. Judge hammered 58 homers and 144 RBIs with a 1.159 OPS to lead the majors in all of those categories. Ohtani posted career highs of 54 home runs and 130 RBIs with a 1.036 OPS; he added 59 stolen bases to become the first 50-50 player in major league history.

It is Judge's fourth Silver Slugger win and Ohtani's third.

The full list of winners is as follows:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Catcher: Salvador Perez, Kansas City Royals

First base: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Toronto Blue Jays

Second base: Altuve, Astros

Third base: Jose Ramirez, Cleveland Guardians

Shortstop: Bobby Witt Jr., Royals

Outfield: Judge, Yankees; Juan Soto, Yankees; Anthony Santander, Baltimore Orioles

Designated hitter: Brent Rooker, Oakland Athletics

Utility: Josh Smith, Texas Rangers

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Catcher: William Contreras, Milwaukee Brewers

First base: Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies

Second base: Ketel Marte, Arizona Diamondbacks

Third base: Manny Machado, San Diego Padres

Shortstop: Francisco Lindor, New York Mets

Outfield: Jackson Merrill, Padres; Teoscar Hernandez, Dodgers; Jurickson Profar, Padres

Designated hitter: Ohtani, Dodgers

Utility: Betts, Dodgers

SOUTHPORT, Conn. -- The nation's largest owner of regional sports networks will offer single-game pricing for NBA and NHL games beginning next month.

Diamond Sports Group, which owns 16 RSNs, announced Tuesday that the option will be available on its direct-to-consumer streaming package starting Dec. 5.

Viewers will have the option for single games at $6.99, as well as the chance to sign up for monthly or season pass subscriptions.

Diamond has the rights to 13 NBA and eight NHL teams. Its stations are known as FanDuel Sports Network after FanDuel took over naming rights last month. Diamond had an agreement with Bally Sports since March 2021.

"The addition of single-game pricing allows fans to now catch their local NBA and NHL teams on a game-by-game basis, enhancing the flexibility of our offering," FanDuel Sports Network CEO, direct-to-consumer Michael Schneider said in a statement. "This is yet another example of how we remain committed to delivering an array of viewing options and features to make it easier for our viewers to watch their favorite teams."

A final hearing on Diamond's bankruptcy reorganization plan is scheduled for Thursday. Diamond Sports has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the Southern District of Texas since it filed for protection in March 2023. The company said in a financial filing last year that it had debt of $8.67 billion.

The Argentine justice department launched an investigation on Tuesday into potential links to illegal sports betting after top-flight side Deportivo Riestra fielded an influencer in their 1-1 draw with leaders Velez Sarsfield.

Riestra started Ivan Buhajeruk, who is better known as "Spreen" and has more than 7 million subscribers on YouTube, as a striker before coach Cristian Fabbiani subbed him off after only 50 seconds of Monday's match.

The 24-year-old had no professional football experience, but the lowly Buenos Aires club gave him a professional contract and registered him with the Argentine FA (AFA) in February.

"The Specialized Prosecutor's Office on Gambling initiated a case to investigate whether (...) the Deportivo Riestra coach, Cristian Fabbiani, and the influencer Ivan Buhajeruk had the intention of attracting gamblers on illegal platforms," the Public prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The club declined to comment when contacted by Reuters about the betting investigation.

The AFA said it had opened proceedings through its Ethics Tribunal as it considered that the inclusion of Spreen could involve "conduct likely to damage the reputation and integrity of Argentine football".

"When there are things we don't like, we have to correct them," AFA president Claudio Tapia told local sports newspaper Ole.

Riestra, who are known for their unconventional marketing strategies, released a statement apologising to "those who felt offended" by the publicity stunt.

"Unfortunately, this marketing action generated many negative opinions. We would like to offer our most sincere apologies," it said.

"At no time was it our intention to disrespect Velez or Argentine football in general."

Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Chamari Athapaththu, 0.4 ov), 2-15 (Georgia Voll, 2.6 ov), 3-47 (Phoebe Litchfield, 7.6 ov), 4-52 (Heather Knight, 9.3 ov), 5-57 (Anika Learoyd, 10.6 ov), 6-66 (Sammy-Jo Johnson, 12.3 ov), 7-81 (Hannah Darlington, 15.3 ov), 8-81 (Tahlia Wilson, 16.1 ov), 9-89 (Shabnim Ismail, 17.2 ov), 10-97 (Samantha Bates, 19.3 ov)  DRS

MARK POPE felt uncertain.

There was a moment, he admitted, after it was clear that he was Kentucky's choice, when he stood alone at home and grappled with apprehension about a job that offered both spoils he knew well and obstacles, too.

Pope was the head coach at BYU, the second-winningest program in the state of Utah. If he took this job, he would be the head coach of the winningest team in men's college basketball history -- following John Calipari, whose run included a national title and four trips to the Final Four in five years.

"You never follow a legend, right?" Pope said he wondered for a few minutes that night. "You never follow a legend."

Pope decided to anyway, even after Kentucky fans had publicly campaigned for more notable and successful coaches. But in the months since, Pope has converted a lot of the naysayers by being himself. That authenticity -- and an accelerated push to build his first team -- have turned concern to excitement about his first season.

But on the day of his introductory news conference at Rupp Arena, it was hard not to consider the stakes.

It was the biggest moment of Pope's career, and he was riding on a charter bus carrying him and dozens of former Wildcats players through campus -- and then through a loading dock and onto the court.

"The expectations at Kentucky are higher than anywhere else," Pope said to the crowd. "That's the standard and that's the history of Kentucky. If you don't hang a banner, then you haven't had a successful season. And I love that."

Arriving on a bus? That kind of flashy statement hadn't been Pope's style. But everything at Kentucky is exaggerated. In that moment, it was another reminder that he was no longer living in the mountains of Provo, Utah, but had now entered an active volcano that has turned up the heat on every person who has held the job over the past 30 years. At Kentucky, you usually get burned.

Once Pope descended the bus's steps on that Sunday in April, more than 15,000 fans -- many of whom had decided to embrace the hire only hours earlier -- rose and cheered for the captain of Kentucky's 1996 national title team and their new leader.

"It was like a family reunion," Pope said.

Pope's former teammates reminded him of the task ahead just before he grabbed the microphone to reintroduce himself to the Kentucky fan base at his first news conference.

"My former teammates were like, 'Don't mess it up, man ... Don't mess it up,'" Pope recalled.

TONY DELK HAD warned Pope for the last time.

For the 1995-96 Kentucky Wildcats -- a team with nine future NBA players led by Rick Pitino -- every practice had been contentious leading up to their run to the national title. But five days before the 1996 Final Four, Pope had set a series of hard screens on Delk, later to be named the Most Outstanding Player of the 1996 NCAA tournament, during a team drill. Delk told Pope to stop.

Instead, on the next play -- and four more times after that -- Pope moved into position at the top of the key and set the same hard screen that had bothered Delk before.

"It was like maybe five minutes from when we ran the play, and I go by him and I just hit him in his midsection," Delk said. "He drops and he's down for the count. I said, 'Mark, I gave you a warning.' And Coach Pitino was like, 'Tony, go run on the treadmill!'"

For Pope, Delk's warning wasn't enough to change his assignment. Pitino said Pope earned the nod as captain of that Kentucky squad for the same reasons his teammates might have resented him in the moment for the hard screens on Delk: He always did what he was supposed to do.

Pope's attention to detail and instruction carried him throughout his basketball journey. He had left Washington and transferred to Kentucky in 1994 after coach Lynn Nance had been fired following his second year with the program. His teammates quickly noticed his detailed approach, his upbeat demeanor and his willingness to work.

Pitino said he assumed Pope would do something other than coaching in the future because of his intellect. He was a Rhodes Scholar candidate who later enrolled at Columbia University's medical school while he was in the NBA before he considered a path in coaching.

But his teammates knew he had leadership qualities. He was Pitino's translator and liaison. After one game, Pitino let the players know he had not been pleased with their performance, but before he could get through his monologue, Pope stood up and addressed everyone.

"He's like, 'We're being complacent,'" Delk said. "And we're like, 'Wait a minute? What the heck? What do you mean complacent?' You know, we were working our butts off. We're doing everything the coaches asked for. That stuck in the back of my mind. The main reason I was mad was that I didn't know what 'complacent' meant. I had to go to the library and look the word up."

Added Pitino: "Every little thing that I would say, he would back it up to the team. He just had that quality of loyalty and leadership that made a team great. I've coached very few Mark Popes in my life."

Those qualities also made him an endearing figure throughout his basketball career. Pope, according to those who've witnessed his journey for decades, has always had the ability to connect with people from a variety of backgrounds.

Although he averaged just 1.9 PPG in a six-year NBA career, Pope managed to find a spot in pro basketball for nearly a decade (he also played in the CBA and overseas) because of his personality.

"I always thought Mark was going to be a leader," said George Karl, who was the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks when Pope was on the team in the early 2000s. "He had a respectful fear but a tremendous amount of courage in almost everything he did. And I think he understands his challenge at Kentucky is going to be difficult, but I think he's also excited about the challenge of getting it done."

AT THE FINAL Four in Phoenix last April, Tubby Smith sat down for breakfast at his hotel just as Calipari walked into the room. Moments later, Pope -- who was staying at the same hotel -- appeared after a workout. The trio talked, and Pope asked for a picture with a pair of coaches he'd always admired.

Just 24 hours later, Calipari announced he was leaving Kentucky to take the Arkansas job, which opened when Eric Musselman left for USC. Days after that random meetup, Pope emerged as an unlikely candidate for the Kentucky job.

"It was really surreal," Smith said. "Now that I look back on it, I can see how people might have said, 'They must have been plotting something.'"

Smith, perhaps more than anyone else on the planet, can relate to Pope's plight. In 1997, the former Kentucky assistant was hired to replace Pitino, who had won the national title in 1996 and made a run to the title game in 1997 before bolting for the Boston Celtics. Smith won a national title in his first season, then spent nearly a decade attempting to repeat that feat to no avail. He left Kentucky in 2007 for Minnesota.

"Well, you're always on at Kentucky," Smith said. "You have to win and you have to be productive. And even when you win, sometimes it's not enough. Obviously, every coach wants to win championships. We all want to win. But it's not as easy as it looks or as it seems to win. And at Kentucky, you have the tools, you have the resources, but even with that, you've got to have some luck. But I think [Pope] will do a great job."

Pope is not an outsider listening to cautionary tales about the Kentucky experience. He has lived it -- and loved it. Pope had the option to temper the anticipation after he accepted the gig. He never did.

"You think about how Coach Pitino changed the game with the 3-point line," Pope said. "You think about how Coach Tubby revolutionized the game in terms of being a great citizen for the game. You think about Cal revolutionizing the game in terms of recruiting. Kentucky is a great program. Kentucky is a leadership program. So how do we continue this beautiful [legacy]?"

Calipari, who arrived prior to the 2009-10 season, injected optimism into the program when future NBA stars John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins led the team to the Elite Eight in 2010. Two years later, Anthony Davis won the Wooden Award and carried the Wildcats to their first national title in more than a decade. Overall, Calipari reached the Final Four in four of five seasons from 2011 to 2015.

But he slowly lost his grasp on the top young players in America, and once the transfer portal became the most important hub for talent in the country, Calipari's knack for luring elite freshmen to Lexington no longer mattered as much. In his last four years with the program, he waded through a nine-win season and failed to escape the first round of the NCAA tournament twice, unforgivable sins to Kentucky's fan base. But those mishaps opened the door for a new voice.

Pope has already begun to sculpt the program in his image and personality. By the end of his tenure, Calipari had left his news conferences to his assistants and mostly refused to do interviews with local and national outlets. After the 9-16 season in 2020-21 and three first-weekend exits in the NCAA tournament in three years, Calipari seemed to shut down.

Not Pope, who has literally kissed babies and taken pictures with hundreds of Kentucky fans. He also has crisscrossed the country and even made an international trip to assemble his first team. He flew to South America to watch Jasper Johnson, a five-star recruit from Lexington, compete in the FIBA U18 AmeriCup, and circled the United States to construct a roster from scratch through the transfer portal. A few weeks ago, he sent a signed jersey to Dolly Parton, the country music superstar. And he and his team also built a house with Habitat for Humanity and attended the Kentucky football season opener against Southern Miss, which was delayed for two hours because of lightning. Instead of sneaking the group through a VIP entrance, he and the players waited with everyone else outside the gates. Every move Pope made this offseason -- locally, nationally and internationally -- was documented by the Wildcats' social media channels, including a recent trip to the US Open, where he sat in a VIP box.

"They're having a Kentucky basketball tailgate at the next football game where you can just come and meet the players," said Drew Franklin, a radio host with Kentucky Sports Radio in Lexington. "That never happened under [Calipari]. It was almost like a president. You had to call someone to call someone to get to [Calipari]. Now you just walk out your front door and there's a high probability you're going to run into Mark Pope somewhere in Lexington."

It's as if Pope wants to send the message to a passionate fan base that he's willing to work harder than anyone else who might have taken this job. He's a basketball coach who seeks the popular vote.

It helped that Pope never rejected the doubters, which was one of his predecessor's strengths. In fact, shortly after Pope's arrival, a prominent booster was vocal about his disappointment in Kentucky's decision. Pope never flinched.

"Give me his number," he told Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart. "I'll call him."

"We talked, and now he's one of our top supporters," Pope said.

"The only thing I worry about is I think he's overextending himself too much," Pitino said. "I just hope he doesn't get fatigued. It's a long season, and he's just doing everything to satisfy the thirst of the fans. I just don't want him to fatigue himself because it's great to do what he's doing and he ingratiates himself very well to the fan base, but also, he has to have a lot of energy in that tank because the SEC is really tough."

ON A STUFFY July afternoon near the Georgia-South Carolina border, Pope took a call as he grappled with the newfound attention the letters "UK" on a crisp white polo attracted.

As he hustled from one gym to the next at the packed Peach Jam event in North Augusta, South Carolina, spectators, coaching colleagues and friends all tried to catch the eye of the new Kentucky men's basketball head coach in the hallway.

"Hey, Coach!" one man yelled before Pope turned for a quick fist bump.

"Coach Pope!" a boy said as Pope looked his way and nodded his head.

But Pope didn't break his stride, and the phone stayed glued to his ear.

"At the University of Kentucky, it's got more eyes on it," Pope acknowledged. "It's got more attention on it than any other program."

Thus far, Pope has found a balance between chasing banners and building a program -- and most importantly -- making some time to enjoy it all. He used the portal to assemble a group that secured a top-25 ranking entering the season, and he has a collection of veterans and playmakers who bought into his pitch about what Kentucky can be.

"Well, just him as a person and as a coach," said Lamont Butler, who transferred from San Diego State, on what drew him to Pope. "I feel like he really prioritized recruiting me, and I felt like he had a great vision for me for this year and even for the future, which I really respected and I really wanted to be a part of."

In early September, Jasper Johnson -- the five-star prospect from Lexington -- announced his commitment to Kentucky over Alabama and North Carolina, a major win for the first-year head coach who had already secured a commitment from another in-state prospect, four-star center Malachi Moreno, a 7-foot-1 talent. Moreno said he enjoyed Pope's offensive scheme at BYU, a team that shot 3-pointers on more than half of its field goal attempts last season and allowed big men to play a significant role, too.

"He was just honest with me, and he told me what I was really good at and what things I could get better at," Moreno said.

"And then he told me he could coach me on what I could get better at."

At Peach Jam, Pope sat at center court to watch A.J. Dybantsa, the No. 1 recruit in the 2025 class, and a selection of decorated prospects. On the baseline, Calipari mingled with his friends, including TCU's Jamie Dixon. Bill Self laughed on the sideline, and Sean Miller searched for a seat. It's a casual affair, a mini vacation for the coaches who attend the biggest grassroots event each summer, which often includes nine holes at a nearby golf course if they can squeeze it in.

Not Pope, who would soon hop on another plane back to Lexington the following day to watch former Kentucky players in The Basketball Tournament, the $1 million winner-take-all event. That day in North Augusta, he sat there at Peach Jam and watched every play, every dribble, every movement Dybantsa and his teammates made.

His phone was in his right hand. His notebook was in his lap.

"There are great programs all around the country with incredible fan bases, and the vast majority are in this league and in the Big 12," Pope said. "And then there is just Kentucky and it's almost unexplainable. It is a one-of-one in that sense."

"I think the fans are going to fall back in love with him and really appreciate what he's going to bring," said Antoine Walker, Pope's former teammate and a former All-American at Kentucky. "Because he's going to be a hard worker. He's going to demand excellence. I'm looking forward to it. It should be an exciting time in Lexington."

Former Duke star Kyle Singler's cryptic Instagram post saying he fears for his life has drawn an outpouring of concern and support from former teammates and others.

Singler, 36, spoke slowly and was shirtless in the short video, which was posted Tuesday morning.

"I have been mistreated and abused, neglected, made into a mental example," Singler said. "And I fear for my life every day. And people in my community make me look out as if I'm going to be someone that's going to be a problem and make things difficult for people when I'm only trying to be helpful.

"I feel like I have a certain way about myself and strength and purpose that does not get valued or get treated properly."

The video cut off abruptly after about 90 seconds. It was shared more than 1,200 times in the 12 hours after it was posted.

Several NBA players responded.

Kevin Love of the Miami Heat wrote, "I love you Kyle. Hit me whenever. Please."

Veteran guard Isaiah Thomas said: "Here for you bro! Always and forever."

Philadelphia 76ers center Andre Drummond added, "You aren't alone brother! I'm here for you."

Many of those who responded included Duke men's basketball and the NBA in their comments, hoping to get their attention.

Singler was on Duke's 2010 national championship team and was named Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA tournament.

He posted another video Tuesday afternoon. He repeated grievances from the first post but seemed more stable.

Singler was the 33rd pick in the 2011 draft and started his career overseas before playing in the NBA. He played three seasons for the Detroit Pistons, who drafted him, and was on the All-Rookie second team in 2013. He played parts of four seasons for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Duke basketball, the Thunder and the National Basketball Players Association did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Toronto Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley has a partial tear to the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow and will be reevaluated in a week, the team announced Tuesday.

Quickley sustained the injury in Sunday night's loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

It has been a rough start on the injury front for the Raptors guard; he suffered a right pelvic contusion in Toronto's regular-season opener that kept him out eight games.

Quickley, 25, was acquired in a trade last year that sent OG Anunoby to the New York Knicks.

He has appeared in just three games so far this season for the 2-9 Raptors.