Cal who? Mark Pope won over Kentucky fans with win against Duke

It didn't take long for new University of Kentucky head coach Mark Pope to endear himself to Big Blue Nation. When you respect your players and the game itself, you're bound to win over the admiration of the fans, too. Pope has done that — he seems to connect with his players pretty deeply. As a former player himself, he understands the grind and from the outside, it looks like he's good at communicating that knowledge and experience to his players.

Oh, and beating Duke definitely helps win you some fans, too. Pope and Kentucky did that on Tuesday night, defeating the Blue Devils 77-72 in the most thrilling game of the young college basketball season.

Afterwards, Pope deflected all credit back to his players.

Mark Pope is leading a brand new Kentucky Wildcats team

During the John Calipari era at UK, it was never a shock when the Wildcats trotted out a lineup chock full of freshmen. So while turnover isn't new for this program, this type of turnover is.

Mark Pope had to rebuild this roster after Calipari's exit and did so mostly through the transfer portal. This team is still highly talented, but it's more of a random collection of experienced talent, rather than a 5-star freshmen influx like Calipari often had at UK.

Pope's trust in those transfers paid off massively on Tuesday. Otega Oweh hit four giant free throws and grabbed a steal in the final minute to win the game, Andrew Carr led the team in scoring and Koby Brea provided some nice minutes off the bench.

This isn't a typical Kentucky team — at least, not one from the Calipari era. But Mark Pope is building something different in Kentucky, and he already has the BBN riding with him. They were setting fires on campus, which is always a good sign.

A coach also being a fan of his team creates such a fun dynamic, and Pope appears to be a big fan of his guys.