By Larry Vaught
(LEXINGTON, Ky.)-Former University of Kentucky player Darius Miller played for coaches Billy Gillispie and John Calipari, two very different types of coaches, at UK. Now he’s enjoying what former Wildcat Mark Pope is doing as Kentucky’s coach.
“I love his approach to the game. I feel like he’s like a mad scientist in the way he’s got it down to a science but he’s also a genius with how he does it,” Miller said. “I can really appreciate that as a guy who studies a game, who really appreciates guys who study the game. I love that about him.
“I feel like he paid attention to the small details. There’s been plenty of games where we’ve seen us struggling in the first half and then in the second half they come out and look like a totally different team. I think that says a lot about his leadership and his coaching ability. But I’m a fan.”
Miller said he “loved” Calipari even though he’s now at Arkansas. Miller played on Calipari’s 2012 national championship team.
“As everybody knows, he’s done a lot for me, and I wish he would have ended on better terms (at Kentucky),” Miller said. “I think if he had to go, I think this is the next best thing (as UK’s coach).
“A former player (Pope) who understands the expectations, understands the University of Kentucky, understands how big the program is to everybody in the city and the state. So I love it. I love what he’s brought to the university so far.”