Mark Pope recently shared some changes he’d like to see in college hoops on the “Eye on College Basketball” podcast with Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.
Most notably, Pope said he would like to see the regular season extended to 40 games. The NCAA recently added one game, taking the regular season from 31 to 32 games in 2026-27.
“I would love to get to 40,” Pope told Norlander.
Check out his reasoning:
College basketball will increase to a 32-game regular season starting in 2026. Mark Pope wants @KentuckyMBB and most D-I teams to go to 40. Yes: 40. Here's his argument in favor of expanding the regular season: pic.twitter.com/Te7oXGp00B
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) August 14, 2025
Pope also said he would like to see a big change to the transfer portal window.
“If I could change it, I would probably move it to the day after the national championship game and make it a really tight window, make it a five-day window,” Pope explained. “That way, everyone’s had time to evaluate, everyone’s had time to see, and just make it a shorter window so we could get through the process. The process is already crazy-fast.”
You can listen to the full episode here:
