Last week was a big one for Mark Pope. This week will be, too. Here’s what to expect next.
Last week was expected to be a big one for new Kentucky men’s basketball coach Mark Pope, and it didn’t disappoint. Things are unlikely to slow down in the coming days.
In addition to officially announcing four members of Pope’s first UK coaching staff — assistants Alvin Brooks III, Mark Fox, Cody Fueger and Jason Hart — the program actually added some players for the 2024-25 roster, which was left at zero following John Calipari’s departure to Arkansas earlier this month.
By Monday morning of last week, Pope had just two players for next season: former BYU commitment Collin Chandler, a top-40 national recruit who flipped that pledge to the Wildcats on April 16; and ex-Drexel big man Amari Williams, who was Pope’s first official visitor and committed to the Cats on April 21.
Last Monday night, Kentucky Mr. Basketball Travis Perry confirmed he was all-in on his UK commitment — he had signed while Calipari was still the coach — after a meeting with Pope that day. On Friday, the Cats got a commitment from former San Diego State guard Lamont Butler. On Saturday, it was announced that Oklahoma guard Otega Oweh had committed to Kentucky. And then Sunday night, Wake Forest big man Andrew Carr committed to the Cats, a move that upped the UK scholarship roster to six players.
More additions could be coming this week.
Pope and his coaching staff have kept busy, hosting a revolving door of transfers and even hopping on a last-minute flight to Las Vegas on Friday morning, a trip that resulted in a commitment from Butler, who is likely to be one of the Wildcats’ top players next season.
Fox, who gave Pope his first job in college basketball 15 years ago, spoke to the Herald-Leader about the new UK coach last week, before he officially landed a spot on Pope’s staff.
The former Georgia head coach said before joining the staff that he expected big things on the recruiting trail from Pope, who will be pursuing higher-profile players in an intensely competitive environment, compared to the circumstances he recruited under as BYU’s coach for the past five seasons.
“He’s a relentless worker,” Fox said. “And his energy level is one of the things that separates him. We all have the same amount of time given to us each day, but not all of us use the same amount of energy. And he is — and he’s always been — someone that gets people to connect to him. And so I don’t think that will change one bit, with this new role.”
Still less than three weeks into the gig, Pope has done an impressive job of filling Kentucky’s roster so far. There’s plenty of work left to be done, however, and the visitors will continue to arrive in Lexington in the coming days. Here’s what to watch for next.
Who’s next for Kentucky?
Jaxson Robinson: The leading scorer for Pope at BYU last season, Robinson — a 6-7 guard with one year of college eligibility remaining — confirmed over the weekend that he will enter the transfer portal. Kentucky is the major favorite to land his commitment. Robinson is also entered in the NBA draft, and while ESPN projects him as a possible second-round pick, the expectation is that he will follow Pope to Kentucky, where he’ll likely be one of the Cats’ top players next season. He made 81 3-pointers at a 35.4% clip at BYU last season.
There’s no set timetable for Robinson to reveal his future plans, so he might not technically be “next” for Kentucky, because someone else on the recruiting radar could announce a commitment to the Cats first.
Commitment watch?
Great Osobor: The Utah State big man arrived in Lexington for his official visit on Sunday, and he would be a perfect complement to Williams and Carr in the Wildcats’ frontcourt. Osobor — a 6-8, 250-pound player with one season of eligibility left — averaged 17.7 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.4 blocks for the Aggies this past season. He has the type of passing ability that Pope is looking for in a post player, and — while Osobor has some other official visits on his schedule — Kentucky might very well be the favorite going into this week.
Wait and see
Koby Brea: The sharpshooting transfer from Dayton (100 made 3-pointers at a 49.8% clip last season) narrowed his list to UK, Duke, Kansas, North Carolina and UConn last week, but the Cats didn’t appear to have much of a chance heading into the weekend, with the Huskies viewed as the most likely landing spot. It looked then like the 6-6 guard with one year of eligibility left wouldn’t even make it to Kentucky for a visit before picking a new school. Now Brea is expected to be in Lexington for a recruiting trip this week, and the Cats are seemingly in the picture for perhaps the best available 3-point shooter in college basketball. (Pope’s BYU team attempted 32.0 3-pointers per game last season, ranking second nationally in that stat.)
Elijah Hawkins: Minnesota’s starting point guard this past season, Hawkins averaged 9.5 points and 7.5 assists as a junior, and he’s the type of pass-first playmaker that could fit well in Pope’s offense. The 5-11 point guard is tentatively scheduled to be in Lexington this week. He shot 36.4% from 3-point range with the Golden Gophers last season and hit 54 3-pointers at a 46.6% clip as a sophomore at Howard University. (Hawkins visited Texas Tech over the weekend.)
Javon Small: Another point guard to keep tabs on, Small — a 6-3 playmaker from South Bend, Indiana — averaged 15.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game at Oklahoma State this past season after playing his first two years of college ball at East Carolina. His 3-point shooting has improved considerably over each of his three seasons of college — Small made 61 long-range shots at a 37.4% clip in 2023-24 — and he’s a career 86.5% free-throw shooter. His recruitment has been hard to get a handle on so far — and there are many suitors — but UK is expected to be a player for Small, and this week should reveal more about what’s next.
Deivon Smith: The former Utah point guard averaged 13.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, 7.1 assists this past season, recording five triple-doubles, the second-most in a single season in NCAA history. Smith was planning to visit UK over the weekend, but possible admissions issues — he’s already been at three schools over the past four years — have his recruitment in a holding pattern. Kentucky likes Smith’s game, but his situation will need to be monitored over the next few weeks to see if the talented point guard will be able to enroll at UK.
Not likely or already gone
Johnell Davis: At one point last week, it looked like Kentucky might be the favorite for arguably the top available player in the portal. As of now, Arkansas appears to be the team to beat for the former Florida Atlantic star, though things have been quiet over the past few days. The 6-4 guard averaged 18.2 points and shot 41.4% on 3-pointers last season.
Aidan Mahaney: Pope and company hosted Mahaney — a 6-3 guard from California — for an official visit starting Friday, making him one of UK’s top early priorities in the transfer portal. Coming out of the weekend, his recruitment was viewed as a toss-up between Kentucky and UConn, and the flashy offensive playmaker committed to the two-time reigning national champions Monday afternoon. Mahaney averaged 13.9 points per game at Saint Mary’s over each of the past two seasons and has shot 157-for-419 (37.5%) from 3-point range during his college basketball career so far.
Richie Saunders: Perhaps the biggest early surprise of this roster-building process was Saunders not following Pope to Kentucky, opting instead to stay at BYU, where he played his first two seasons of college ball under the new UK coach. Saunders was one of the Cougars’ top players this past season, and BYU will also return its starting point guard under Pope, with Dallin Hall announcing that he will stay put. Pope hosted Saunders for a visit in Lexington last week, but Hall was not a Kentucky target.
Andrej Stojakovic: The former McDonald’s All-American and son of ex-NBA player Peja Stojakovic was tentatively scheduled to visit Kentucky over the weekend, but he ended up giving a commitment to the Cal Bears on Saturday, before he could make a trip to Lexington.
Adou Thiero: A couple of weeks ago, Thiero narrowed his list of options to five: staying at Kentucky, following John Calipari to Arkansas, or transferring to Indiana, North Carolina or Pittsburgh. Both then and now, a return to UK for a third season seemed unlikely. UNC and Pitt are the favorites.
Calipari’s former players and recruits
As expected, John Calipari has already been able to secure a handful of players from his formerly No. 2-ranked Kentucky recruiting class over in Fayetteville, with combo guard Boogie Fland and wings Karter Knox and Billy Richmond flipping their commitments from UK to Arkansas. Those are the No. 26, 20 and 22 recruits in the 2024 class, respectively, according to the 247Sports rankings.
Aside from Travis Perry, the other two players that had committed to Calipari at Kentucky were power forward Jayden Quaintance and center Somto Cyril.
Louisville was looking like the heavy favorite for Quaintance (ranked No. 8 in the class) toward the end of last week, but he committed to Arizona State on Monday, a tough blow to new coach Pat Kelsey’s efforts in rebuilding the Cardinals’ program.
Cyril (ranked No. 46 in the class) visited Georgia and Georgia Tech last week. He’s not likely to end up back with Kentucky, and he’s not expected to rejoin Calipari in Fayetteville either. The Bulldogs are now looking like the favorite, with a decision possibly coming this week.
So far, the only former UK player who has followed Calipari to Arkansas is Zvonimir Ivisic, who became the first commitment of the new era there. Former Kentucky teammate Jordan Burks is also expected to end up in Fayetteville this offseason.
Other than Adou Thiero, the only additional ex-Cats in the transfer portal are Ugonna Onyenso and D.J. Wagner.
Wagner could still follow Calipari to Arkansas, though Southern Cal (where former Hogs coach Eric Musselman landed) is also a possibility. Illinois might be a school to watch for Onyenso, if he pulls out of the NBA draft and stays in college, after ex-UK assistant Orlando Antigua joined the coaching staff there, though Alabama was picking up steam as a possible landing spot as this week began.
Aaron Bradshaw (Ohio State) and Joey Hart (Ball State) have both committed to new schools. Rob Dillingham, Reed Sheppard and Justin Edwards will stay in the 2024 NBA draft.
And all of that means — barring a major surprise — there will be no scholarship players from the Calipari era who come back for the first season of UK basketball under Pope.
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