KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After fifth-year BYU basketball coach Mark Pope addressed the media from the dais at the Big 12 Men's Basketball Tipoff on Wednesday morning at the T-Mobile Center in downtown Kansas City , one local reporter here approached another and asked if he had BYU 's coach talking about Taylor Swift's favorite number on his bingo card.
But that's exactly what Pope did, responding to a Deseret News question about the Cougars being picked to finish 13th in the 14-team league by mentioning that he has four daughters and "managed to make it to a couple of the Taylor Swift concerts this year, and her favorite number is 13."
Added Pope: "So we are super excited about the 13th pick. … I think that bodes well for BYU basketball this season. I am really excited about that."
After 12 years of being picked no worse than third in the West Coast Conference, the Cougars find themselves a decided underdog in what every coach who spoke Wednesday morning called the best basketball conference in the country. Pope said the low expectations don't take any pressure off the Cougars, but that's how they like it.
"I think the pressure is always there. If you are running from pressure you shouldn't be in athletics. Like, actually we love it," Pope said. "So I think you are pressured picked at 13th, pressured picked at one, pressured picked everywhere."
That doesn't mean the Cougars aren't approaching the new league with profound respect.
"Certainly we are very humbled moving into this league, but we are very confident also," Pope said. "And we are coming in here to compete and grow into winning, and we are really excited to do that. So, I don't know if anybody puts a lot of stock in preseason picks. But we are excited to come compete."
Later, guards Spencer Johnson and Dallin Hall and forward Fousseyni Traore spoke to reporters in breakout sessions and reiterated what Pope said about getting picked 13th.
"There's nowhere to go but up ," Johnson said.
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Only UCF, which is breaking in 10 new players, is picked to finish below BYU.
"We could not be more excited to be here. This has been 100 years in the making for BYU athletics and men's basketball to have a chance to be in the best league in all of college basketball," Pope said. "We are incredibly humbled and excited and also bring in some confidence in our work into this league, and can't wait to get going."
One of the first questions Pope was asked Wednesday was about Marcus Adams Jr. , the heralded recruit from the 2023 signing class who signed with Kansas and was with Gonzaga for a time before landing at BYU over the summer.
Because he is technically a two-time transfer, Adams must receiver a waiver from the NCAA to be eligible this season. Pope said BYU and Adams are still playing the waiting game with the NCAA.
"So Marcus is doing an unbelievable job," Pope said. "He's working really hard, kind of finding his way academically and getting healthy, and we're really excited to have him.
"We won't know about his eligibility this season for a while," Pope continued. "That's in process. But we are certainly hopeful."
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Several questions from Big 12 and national media members focused on playing in Provo and the Marriott Center, and what that will be like for visiting teams.
"I am happy for every team in the Big 12 and every player and every fanbase, because like so many venues in the Big 12, Provo, and the Marriott Center in particular, are incredible places," Pope said, noting that when BYU was in the West Coast Conference it still drew upward of 15,000 fans for several games.
"We expect that (attendance number) to bump up to 18 or 19 (thousand) a game this year," he said.
BYU sold out of season tickets for the 2023-24 season before they were available to the general public (non-Cougar Club members).
"So we have an unbelievable student section, the ROC (Roar of Cougars) that is legendary," Pope said. "The Marriott Center is an incredible venue to watch a game, and we have passionate fans."
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Pope described this iteration of the Cougars as a team that will play with pace on offense and attempt to be disruptive on defense.
"We are blessed to play in an incredible environment at home at the Marriott Center, which is going to be a wonderful addition to the Big 12, which is the best-attended conference in the country," he said. "We are a bunch of guys that play together and play for each other and play really tough."
Dallin Hall moves the ball during BYU basketball practice at the Marriott Center Annex Court in Provo on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023. Hall was one of three BYU players to represent the team at Big 12 Men's Basketball Tipoff on Wednesday. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News
