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.