Mark Pope faces major expectations as he begins his third season as Kentucky’s coach on Tuesday when the No. 23 Wildcats host Manhattan in Lexington, Ky.
The Wildcats, who went 22-14 last season, enter the season ranked for the 18th straight year and for the 35th time in the last 36 seasons. Still, there is pressure on Pope to produce at his alma mater. In his first two seasons, the Wildcats have not finished higher than sixth in the Southeastern Conference, and the program has not made a Final Four since 2015.
While Kentucky lost four starters and 11 players overall, Pope landed one of the top players from the transfer portal, Milan Momcilovic. As a junior at Iowa State last season, the 6-foot-9 forward led the nation in 3-pointers made (136) and 3-point shooting (48.7%) and earned All-Big 12 honors while averaging 16.9 points per game…