"We get to be shepherds": Kentucky HC Mark Pope's clever press conference pun draws "one more year" chants for guard Reed Sheppard

The Kentucky Wildcats welcomed their new head coach, Mark Pope, in Rupp Arena on Sunday afternoon. Though only the lower seven sections of the 20,000-seat arena were opened, the arena was full of fans eager to know about the new announcements and plans from their new coach.

Amid the introductory conference, fans were curious about the future of their star guard, Reed Sheppard, who was not present in the arena. Pope started the conference by talking about how special it is to play for Kentucky, as he was a part of this team during their NCAA title win in 1996.

He got many cheers from the crowd and all of a sudden he dropped a clever pun to hint at the comeback of Reed Sheppard and the crowd went mad after it.

"I believe these players - our jobs as coaches is we get to be shepherds," said Pope.

After saying this, he took a dramatic pause, and as expected, the crowd understood the pun and went nuts as they started the chants for Reed Sheppard.

"Reed! Reed! Reed!," Rupp roared.

Followed by the chats of, "One more year! One more year!".

After experiencing the electrified environment in the Rupp, Pope said:

"Sometimes no words are the most powerful words of all."

Sheppard is a key guard for the Kentucky Wildcats. In the 2023–24 season, he had 12.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. He was named the Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year during his junior year of high school and was chosen to play in the 2023 McDonald's All-American Boys Game.

As a senior, he was named the Kentucky Mr. Basketball after averaging 22.5 points, 8.5 assists and 8.4 rebounds per game. He finished his high school career after securing 3,727 points, 12,14 assists and 1,050 rebounds.

He enrolled in Kentucky in June 2023 and proudly wears jersey number 15. This jersey number was also worn by his father, Jeff Sheppard, who was a part of Kentucky's NCAA title-winning team in 1996 and 1998.

His father was a 6-foot-3 guard and was named the most Outstanding Player in the NCAA tournament in San Antonio in 1998.

Reed Sheppard was named the Freshman of the Year 2024

SEC Basketball Tournament: Quarterfinals

Reed Sheppard was named the Freshman of the Year 2024 by NABC. He is the first player for Kentucky to secure this honor.

In the 2023–24 season, he secured 148 assists for the Wildcats, which was the eighth-most for a Kentucky player in one season. He also managed to grab the second-most 82 steals. In addition, he also made 70 3-pointers for his program this season.

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