THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 4, 1996 TAG: 9604040479
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
Kentucky's Mark Pope could be either the most tired or the most wired player at this year's PIT. He's not sure which.
But he's not much worried about it.
``I haven't had a whole lot of sleep lately,'' he said Wednesday. ``But that's all right. What do I have to complain about?''
Not much. Less than 48 hours before he arrived in Portsmouth Wednesday afternoon, Pope was snipping a net in Continental Airlines Arena, following Kentucky's 76-67 win over Syracuse in the national championship game.
The next two days were a blur. The Wildcats celebrated Monday night, and stayed in New York until Tuesday afternoon. They arrived in Lexington Tuesday evening. Five thousand fans greeted them at the airport and thousands more lined the route to Rupp Arena. Pope, a co-captain, carried the national championship trophy off the team bus as 23,000 cheered.
``It's been unbelievable,'' Pope said. ``Just to play at Kentucky in that atmosphere is something that's really tough to describe. The last little while it's just been magnified.''
Pope went to a couple of classes Wednesday morning and then hopped a plane for Norfolk. The 6-foot-10 forward will play for Sales Systems in the 9 p.m. game tonight at Churchland High.
Pope has had less time to prepare for the PIT than most of the other players here, but again, he's not worried.
``I think with all the games on TV, and with the scouting, they know if we can play or not. They know if they like us or not.
``It's not something where you're going to come out and all of a sudden be the greatest player in the world, or be the worst. You're going to play your game.''
Pope's game at Kentucky was rebounding, inside scoring and defense. He's got an idea of what the scouts think of him.
``The rep on me is that I'm not very athletic, but I'll work hard. I don't have great legs, I'm not that quick, but I'll run the floor.''
If Pope doesn't make the NBA, he's got more to fall back on than most players. An english major, he was a Rhodes Scholar candidate. He hopes to teach literature someday, and sounds nearly as excited about a Tennyson book he's reading as winning the national championship.
``It's so powerful,'' he said.
A cycling buff, Pope's favorite athlete is Tour de France champ Miguel Indurain. He and roommate Jeff Sheppard were planning to bike from Lexington to Indianapolis one summer until coach Rick Pitino got wind of their plan and ``went ballistic.''
Pope's looking forward to having more time for cycling, and for literature. That's not to say he won't give the NBA his best shot.
``This is a great opportunity and I want to do the best I can here,'' he said. ``If it's not good enough, I'll live with that.'' by CNB