When Mark Pope was hired to be the next basketball coach of the Kentucky basketball program many questioned if he was ready for the job. All of Big Blue Nation

Mark Pope’s Kentucky Wildcats won the first meeting over Pat Kelsey’s Louisville Cardinals, but both college basketball coaches are inspiring hope.

Transition remains for Mark Pope with No. 5 Kentucky and Pat Kelsey with Louisville, growing pains and all. But judging from the intensity Saturday for the latest Bluegrass showdown, the first-year coaches have already succeeded in re-igniting excitement into their programs along with the rivalry that had recently become rather stagnant.