Image Credit: @coachmarkpope/Instagram

Kentucky Wildcats coach Mark Pope appeared at a press conference after the exhibition game against the Minnesota State Mavericks on Tuesday and brought with him some special shoes. He held up his shoes and explained the features and meaning behind the many logos.

The shoes featured the year he played for the Wildcats and were designed by Kentucky great Devin Booker. The Kentucky coach held the shoes up and said:

“There are incredible, right? Well, these are special shoes for a lot of reasons. They are a special edition from Nike, they’re the Book 1’s. They got the 34-2 from 1996 with the old classic, beloved UK logo on them. Inside also. And then also, they’re Book 1, Chapter 1, which I think is super cool and appropriate for us, trying to start this season, the first one.”

The player-exclusive colorway of the Nike Book 1 definitely grabbed the attention of many on-lookers. Details like ’34-2′, the championship record from Pope’s 1996 NCAA championship were also added on the shoes.

This version of the shoes will not be available to the public.

Mark Pope joked about fans burning his house down if the Wildcats lost the first game regular season game

The Big Blue Nation loves Mark Pope and is looking forward to seeing him work his magic on the team in the upcoming college basketball season. After the 123-52 preseason win against Kentucky Wesleyan, Pope talked about the Kentucky fanbase while trying to lead his team to an impressive start. He said (7:23):

“You know, I mean, like, we’re deadly serious about winning,” said Pope. “Winning matters. We’re here to win. Like, this is Kentucky. The first time we don’t win a game, you guys are all going to go burn my house down, okay.

“You know, I mean, like, we’re deadly serious about winning,” said Pope. “Winning matters. We’re here to win. Like, this is Kentucky. The first time we don’t win a game, you guys are all going to go burn my house down, okay.

“I don’t spend a lot of time, I don’t spend as much time on outcome,” said Pope. “This sounds very contradictory. I don’t actually know how to explain it but.”