Tayshaun Prince got a Closer Look at Kentucky in the SEC Tournament

Mark Pope‘s pursuit, or lack thereof, for a Kentucky basketball general manager has been the talk of Big Blue Nation for the last month. A former Wildcat who could check enough boxes to fill that role was in the Bridgestone Arena stands for Friday’s SEC Tournament quarterfinal between the Cats and the Gators.

Tayshaun Prince was spotted making his way through the crowd of Kentucky fans in Nashville. You know the lengthy lefty best as the 2001 Second-Team All-American. He spent 14 years in the NBA. Once his playing days were over, he joined the Memphis front office. Prince has been the Grizzlies’ Vice President of Basketball Affairs since 2019.

Before you put the cart in front of the horse, let me say that this comes with absolutely zero inside information. KSR is NOT saying that Mark Pope is lining up Prince to be the Kentucky basketball general manager. We’re simply connecting some dots. However, it would be really cool if Prince returned to work for the Wildcats, for a variety of reasons.

Tayshaun Prince is Kentucky Basketball Royalty

If you weren’t around for the early 00s, it’s difficult to quantify what Tayshaun Prince meant for Kentucky basketball fans. I spent my adolescent years fighting with my friends to wear No. 21. He was the coolest Cat and there wasn’t anyone close.

Keith Bogans was his contemporary, but we had seen players like Bogans excel in college basketball. Prince was a unicorn before that phrase became ubiquitous in the sports world. He was a 6-foot-9 lefty with incredibly long arms who could play inside or out. He’d hit a three in your face, or post up and hit a fadeaway hook shot. Even though he was slender, he showed big kids that you could develop guard skills, too.

In four years at Kentucky, Prince scored 1,775 points and is currently 8th on UK’s all-time scoring list. A three-time All-SEC selection, during his final NCAA Tournament, he made history in St. Louis. He scored 41 points in a second round win over Tulsa, the same number of points in the same city where the left-handed Jack Givens took down Duke in the 1978 National Championship. That wasn’t his most memorable moment as a Wildcat. Tayshaun hit five threes to start the game against North Carolina, with the last from the logo, producing an incredible crowd pop at Rupp Arena. “He’s got the puppies set off the bus!”

Tayshaun spent most of his professional career in Detroit, where he helped the Pistons win the NBA Finals in 2004. A defensive specialist, his chase-down block of Reggie Miller is an iconic playoff moment. Last fall, Prince was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a part of the Redeem Team that won the 2008 Olympic Gold Medal in Beijing.