Episode Transcript
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(00:06):
Bulglement'sa behind Kentucky basketball. I'm CurtisBurch the UK Sports Network. I could
sit down with the new members ofthe Kentucky men's basketball stack. We've been
sharing these interviews on this feed,so be sure to be following or subscribed
today on your favorite podcast platform.The two episodes before this one were with
associate head coach Alvin Brooks, thethird and assistant coach Mark Fox. Today
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we're going to be hearing from JasonHart. Mark Poten named Jason Hart as
an assistant coach in April. Heis a nine year NBA veteran with extensive
coaching experience in the high school,collegiate, and professional levels. Hart most
recently served as the head coach ofthe NBA's G League and Night Squad.
A nine year NBA vet, heis also a member of Sarahcuse' All Century
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Team, which honored the top twentyfive players in the program history. I
got a chance to sit down withCoach Hart to discuss his history with Mark
Pope, which goes back decades,and what it's like to work with him
now. Plus find out Coach Hart'scoaching philosophy. Now joined by Coach Hart
walking through the process. You knewCoach Pope a little bit from your playing
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days, right, Yeah, Sohow I'm sitting here with you. I
got drafted in two thousand to theMilwaukee Bucks out of Syracuse, and when
I came to training camp, aguy named Mark was on the team that
had never met him before. Idid watch the National Championship game that year
in nineteen ninety six because they playedSyracuse, a school I was about to
attend. And so when I gotto training camp, guy named Marcus on
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the team, then learned who hislast name was, Pope and he ended
up being our starting forward. Andthat team was he for one He made
the team and then end up startingThat was with Ray Allen, Sam Cousell,
Glenn Robinson, Tim Thomas, somereally good players. So for him
to become our starter, that wasa testament to his hard work. And
you know, we've just been friendsever since. And so where I just
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came from here, I was thehead coach of the G League night and
when the NBA decided to shut ourprogram down, Coach Pope, you know,
he reached out and uh actually tohave interest in I glad to say
yes. He's often joked about howhe was one of the worst players in
the NBA. You're kind of settingthe record straight. What was this game
like, Well, he's he wasvery hot, high IQ, played a
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lot of energy and just knew whatthe coach wanted in terms of So George
Carl you know, felt that hewas the best fit as one of our
starters. And he wasn't the worstplayer because, uh, the NBA is
not into feelings, they're into winning, and so if he was the worst
player, he wouldn't have been there. So he was very heavy, smart,
made open threes and helped the teamwin a lot of games that year.
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What was your initial impression of himas a as a teammate when you
join the team, Well, sohe just got there and so I was
new to the team. He wasnew to the team and the team was
already constructed prior to so you know, at the pro level, you come
in and you just fit right inand you know, you learn personalities and
so, uh, he was alwaysenergetic and everybody liked him. He says.
He reached out asked if you hadinterest in the job. But what
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was that conversation, Like, whatpoints were you guys going over to make
sure that fit was right. Well, when he reached out, I got
a text and I responded, butI'm pretty sure that text probably went unread
because he was getting probably a thousandtexts, so I didn't know if it
was real or not. So Ijust decided to call and then when he
when he picked up the phone,it was real. And so, uh,
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I know, you want to winand this is his school, and
I want to be a part ofthat and help him those dreams come true.
You're in a unique position because you'recoming back from the pro level,
but a lot of those things Ithink probably translate to the to the college
because you were recruiting to a certainextent, to the to the Ignite program.
Yep, yep. Well, youknow, being the head coach at
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Ignite, you you privy to thesame level of talent. So I was
going against the Kentucky's, the Dukes, the Kansas and recruiting and so you're
still looking for that same caliber player, but you're also looking for players that
are being school for four years aswell to help you win a lot of
games. So it changes a littlebit. I think with Ignite you just
look for strictly pros now with thetransfer portal, you want some players that
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can grow and develop your program aswell. With the transfer portal, you
have running that night program a lotof experience fitting in young talented guys with
I mean there's twenty two twenty threeyear olds you're going to be having transfer
in playing with the freshmen on yoursquad. You're thirty year olds and eighteen
year olds, right, yeah,So how do you make those pathways that
guys are on different timelines. Well, I think it's the way. It's
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communication. I think me coaching,I have a seventy year old, me
coaching the seventy year old, anda thirty five year old is treating them
as young men with respect, andso that thirty five year old still wants
to win, still wants to becoached, and so it messes well,
one of them is just going toteach, you know, it's going to
help me coach and teach those youngerguys. And that messed well. And
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so now with the transferport with theolder guys, the super seniors with freshm
their job is to lead by exampleand that freshman is to listen. And
so that's the beauty of college.Now, although this is the last year
of Super Seniors, so I thinkit eventually go back to normal. But
having older guys and young guys isalways good because someone could learn that someone
can teach one of those freshmen.Coach Pope and one of the editor was
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talking about Travis Perry said, youpopped on some film and walked into his
office. You're like, Hey,this guy's a player. Yeah. Yeah,
I didn't even know. I've seenthat on on social media. I
was like, who told him that? So I guess coach told But yeah,
I watched this film because I alwayswanted to be familiar with players.
Every player wants to be respected andwants you to know a little bit about
their game. And so when Ipopped it in film, didn't lie excellent
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player, looking forward to working withthem. I'm happy he's here with us.
We'll get right back to that conversationwith Coach Hart, but I want
to let BBN know that can stayconnected to the Cats with the Big Blue
Brew. The only official newsletter ofUK Athletics. It's presented by Commonwealth Credit
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Big Blue Brew is completely free andhits in boxes every weekday morning, ukathletics
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dot com, slash Big Blue Brew. Some of the other guys, who
were you reaching out to during thisprocess? You know, who are you
calling up trying to get to jointhis program? Who's ultimately on this roster?
You guys constructed so far? Well, we all did that together,
and far as the recruiting portal,and so we all like how we recruit
here is everybody chips in to helpeach other. But whoever coach wanted me
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to call, we all called andwe all brought them together. So I
don't want to start or just beenin the process of saying my guy,
this guy. They're all our guys. So but what is that process?
What's the conversation when you reach outto somebody you want to join the team?
Well, right now, we didn'thave no players, so we was
desperately calling transfer a portal young menand just saying if they wanted to come
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somewhere and help raise banner number nine, and if they wanted to be a
part of a basketball tradition, whichone of the best in college basketball.
And obviously we got a lot ofinterest. And so then we start sifting
through and picking through what we feltwas the best fit for us. In
your college days, you're one ofthe all time greats to come from Syracuse.
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You played Kentucky a couple of times. Yeah, looking back, like
though it is you ever been becauseyou obviously from all the way through college
you had a ton of experiences.Well, my two memories of Kentucky one
when I was at home as asenior going to Syracuse and they beat us
in the championship. And then inninety six in November my freshman year in
a last because they beat us meby thirty so that was tough. But
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my finest was my senior year togo to Sweet sixteen we beat Kentucky.
Keith Bogan's was a teammate of mineand Tayshawn Prince was a child friend of
mine. So being able to beatthose guys and still see these guys to
this day and rub that in onthem that that was good for me.
Did you reach out to any ofthose guys when you were thinking through this
position. I did not. Iseen Keith last December, and I always
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and I keep contact with Tayshawn becausethese front office with Memphis recruiting a lot
of our guys in night so Ididn't, but when I see him,
I know they'll congratulate me. Whathave what have you learned since that G
League Night Team since you were atSouthern cal Like, what lessons did you
learn not only from being in thatprogram but also being a head coach as
you mentioned, well, head coachthat taught me Patients. I think when
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Adam Silver put the Night program together, it was about developing and just trying
to turn our pros. You know, you wanted to win, but you
want to win developing draft picks.So it was no different from any NBA
team playing young right, So thattaught me patients. Coming from USC,
the challenge was building a program tryingto win. Kentucky has a brand already
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and they're expected to win every singleday in practice, and so the expectations
changed now, not some more morefrom development, but trying to win and
win a championship. What's it likeworking with coach Pope because everybody sees all
his energy, Yeah, well heis, that's who he is. He's
the energetic person. I think hecares and that's the main thing. I
think a parent, I have ason that's playing college right now, I
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think the main thing parents want toknow does a coach care? And I
think he shows that first and foremost, and I think young men will be
excited to play for him. Howdoes he show that he cares? Just
passion, take time, talk toyou, you know? In this profession?
What have you done for me lately? Not every head coach is sitting
down talking to these young men.Again, I have a child and my
son kind of went through that aswell, so in college, I have
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a center in college, so everycoach doesn't sit down and make sure you're
okay and talk to you and makesure you're right, you know. So
it's all Although were in school,it's still a profession. And so I
think he's shown that he's willingness tomake sure these young men understand that he's
there for him in this fight.How different is it now since you were
at Southern cal within in il andall of that. NIL has changed the
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game dramatically. I think I'm happythat young these guys are being able to
profit, but I'm also a littlesad at the same time. Is because
it's about money, and so anytimes about money, you're going to always
have young men leaving. So howdo you deal with that? Like make
sure guys don't go once you getthem here. How do you combat that?
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You just try to build the bestrelationship you can and hope it works.
You guys just are building the roster, I know. But what is
kind of your philosophy style of playthat you really really like as a coach.
Well, obviously you want to movethe ball and get a lot of
assists. I think that's the mainthing. I think Coach Pope team last
year was top five and assists andthree porters attempting in May. So I
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think just sharing the basketball, movingwithout the basketball and playing ultimate team basketball.
Is that why it seemed like shootingwas a real priority in your guys
is Yeah, Well, you know, at the end of the day,
that's how you win. So Ithink the shooting piece is very important.
It keeps you in games and thenalso blows teams away will and then the
other flip side of it. Also, you guys got defensive player multi time
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Conference Defensive Players of the Year onthe team, So that toughness. How
do you identify it and use itas much as you can? Well,
you need defense. I think atsome point the ball is not going to
go in. That's just how itgoes. And I think if you start
out front with a defensive h tanacityon the ball, I think it sets
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its one for your team and setsit on with the crowd that we're here
to compete. Coach. Thank you, so thank you, brother. Thanks
to Coach Hart for his time.As I mentioned at the top, if
you aren't already, please subscribe tothis podcast. Coming up next on this
speed we'll be hearing from Cody boom. Figure also wanted to let you guys
know about another exciting podcast we gotin our Arsenal UK Sports Network Today with
(11:41):
Andrew Capus. It covers all ofUK Athletics. Jill, you'll definitely want
to be following on with that asthe Batcats make their runs into postseason.
Find it on your favorite podcast player, or you can go to UK Athletics
dot com slash uk sn today andfind the podcast that way. Thanks so
much, were listening to Behind KentuckyBasketball. H