Kentucky chose Mark Pope as its last, best head coaching option and it doesn't feel great

Good luck, Mark Pope!

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Gooood morning, Winners! Welcome back to The Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking along with us this morning?

Y’all ever watch Shrek? I’m sure you have. Remember that scene after Shrek rescues Fiona from the tower she’s locked in? She eventually finds out Shrek is actually an ogre instead of the Prince Charming she’s looking for and immediately demands Shrek put her back in the tower so somebody cute can get her.

That’s kind of the vibe I’m getting from Kentucky right now.

The school is reportedly in talks with Mark Pope to make him the school’s new head coach for the next five years, according to ESPN. And, look, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude. But there’s no way you can tell me this is what Kentucky wanted.

The school had a great list of coaches they were interested in. Nate Oats, Scott Drew, Jay Wright, Dan Hurley. Kentucky even reportedly reached out to Billy Donovan, who is currently going nowhere with the Chicago Bulls.

They all said no. They were good. They were uninterested in what is supposed to be one of the best coaching jobs in the country. That’s how Kentucky got to Mark Pope.

Don’t get me wrong — Pope is cool. He’s done some nice things with BYU basketball over the years. But let’s be honest — this is Kentucky swapping out the guy who had the worst loss of the NCAA tournament for the guy who might’ve had the second-worse loss of the tournament. No way BYU should’ve lost to Duquesne.

I don’t want to disparage Pope—he’s a solid coach! Is it concerning that he’s only made two tournament appearances in nine seasons? Sure. But it’s not like he was coaching powerhouse programs between Utah Valley and BYU. He’s won 63 percent of the games he’s coached. That’s a good mark.

RELATED: Five things to know about Kentucky’s expected head coach, Mark Pope

Plus, he’s got roots in Kentucky. This school is his alma mater. He played there and won a championship. That’s the sort of thing boosters love. They’ve reportedly pledged $4 million in NIL contributions to the school’s collective following the hire. That should make his job a lot easier.

All I’m saying is this: When we finally get to the introductory press conference and we’re told that Pope was the top choice all along, don’t believe it. Because that’s very clearly not true.

Answers on Shohei Ohtani

That didn’t take long at all. The details on the betting investigation involving Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, are out. This dude is a menace.

Here’s Prince Grimes with more on how deep in the hole Mizuhara was:

“In a federal complaint filed Thursday, Mizuhara was accused of bank fraud in the theft of more than $16 million from Ohtani, a figure significantly more than the $4.5 million from initial reports in March. His debts with the illegal bookmaker were even more, according to the complaint, reaching more than $40 million on a total of more than $180 million in losing bets.”

Yo, man. That’s insane. How on earth does someone let things get that bad?

There’s also still the question about how, exactly, Mizuhara gained access to Ohtani’s money like this. Apparently, the dude has one heck of an Ohtani impersonation. Front Office Sports reports that he impersonated Ohtani to hide the money transferred to the illegal sportsbook he was gambling with.

So, as it turns out, Ohtani seemed to be telling us the truth with his story. Mizuhara obviously seems to be a terrible friend and a legitimate thief, who will probably get jail time from this.

What’s also very clear here is that Ohtani still has plenty of cleaning up to do around his camp. Because there’s no way this should’ve been allowed to happen right under his nose without anyone knowing about it.

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What’s wrong with Jordan Spieth?

It’s sad to see the way Jordan Spieth has played as of late. He’s already completely fallen apart at The Masters this year, carding a quadruple bogey on the 15th hole this morning.

This dude really … just isn’t that good anymore. It’s heartbreaking. But it’s been this way for a while. Charles Curtis has a bit of perspective:

“Sure, he’s a three-time majors winner, including the 2015 Masters. But he hasn’t been as dominant as he was in the mid-2010s, and it’s been rough to see. He came into Augusta this year having missed cuts in two of his last three starts, but a T10 finish at the Texas Open gave us hope.

Then, it all fell apart on one hole on Friday at the Masters. He carded a quadruple bogey with nine (NINE!) shots on No. 15 .”

Jordan Spieth might be cooked, y’all.

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Photo Friday: Jason Day, what on Earth?

Say what you want about Spieth. At least he didn’t come out of the house dressed like Jason Day.

I get what we’re trying to do here. Day is endorsed by Malbon Golf, which is a lifestyle golf brand. It’s much less formal than the traditional stuff we’re used to, which I think can be good.

But this might just be a bit too much? Sweaters shouldn’t give us vintage tee vibes. There are too many mixed signals there.

READ MORE: Fans hated Jason Day’s new golf sweater

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Quick hits: The men’s basketball coaching carousel … The women’s basketball transfer portal … and more

— Bryan Kalbrosky has updated our coaching carousel for men’s college hoops now that Pope is at Kentucky.

— And here’s Meg Hall with an update on the women’s basketball transfer portal.

— This tribute from ESPN to Verne Lundquist for his final Masters broadcast is awesome. Cory Woodroof has more.

— Here’s Cory again on Tom Brady talking about unretiring…again. Go be a family man, dog.

That’s a wrap for today, folks! Thanks so much for reading. We appreciate you. Let’s do this again next week. Til then! Peace.

-Sykes