Top recruiting classes were the norm for Kentucky under John Calipari, but could Mark Pope pick up where his predecessor left off?

Pope’s first order of business as the coach of Kentucky was to assemble a staff and he added two of the best recruiters in the country to the staff in Alvin Brooks III and Jason Hart. Together they’ve already locked down in-state, five-star talents Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno. Currently sitting with the second-ranked class in 2025, Pope and Co have their eyes set on a few more top recruits, including two who are publicly hinting at joining forces in Lexington.

This past weekend, Kentucky hosted top-five target Caleb Wilson and it could not have gone better as they rolled out the carpet for him. Amidst the visit, fellow Wildcat target Acaden Lewis announced his finalists, Kentucky being one of them. To which Wilson replied, “come on over bro.”

The following day, Wilson posted photos from his visit, to which Lewis commented, “I wanna play w(ith) this guy.”

The most recent interaction came Tuesday night as Wilson and Lewis shared some cryptic emojis.

Recruiting is fluid and young prospects can say a lot of things. However, you have to like this for Kentucky as Wilson and Lewis are expected to make their final decisions this fall. If Pope can get commitments from both, it would be big for recruiting momentum, besting Calipari for Wilson and three other blue-blood schools for Lewis.

Current Kentucky commit Jasper Johnson is even doing his part to recruit them, sending a direct tweet to Wilson.

The week of John Calipari’s departure from Kentucky and acceptance of the Arkansas job was one of the biggest stories in sports, so much so that it overshadowed the Final Four.

Details have slowly leaked out in the months since, but Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yuracheck provided the most detailed story of events so far during a speaking event in Little Rock.

According to Yurachek, Calipari arranged for a man with a “black Phillies hat” to meet him out front of the Hilton hotel he was staying at in Phoenix. In what is described as a mobster-esque scene, the anonymous man provided Yurachek with a key card during a handshake, and whispered to him the room number, “523”.

Yurachek says after a few hours of talking with Calipari about Arkansas’ open men’s basketball coaching position and discussing other candidates, he posed the question, “Why not you?”

While the offer was not presented on paper, a verbal offer was made and discussions of prospective employment did take place. This was possibly (for legal reasons) a breach of Calipari’s contract at Kentucky as he did not inform Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart, prior to or after the meeting with Yurachek, according to reports.

During the term of this Agreement, Coach [Calipari] shall notify the Director of Athletics [Barnhart] of any offers of employment, employment opportunities or requests for meetings or discussions with respect to possible employment opportunities before engaging in substantive discussions regarding such employment or employment opportunities.

On April 9th, Calipari resigned from his position at Kentucky, forfeiting $33 million that he would be owed in a buyout, and was introduced as the head coach of the Razorbacks the following day.

This probably isn’t the first situation like this, nor will it be the last. However, it is likely a story the Calipari didn’t want to be said out loud.

A crazy turn of events.

The Kentucky basketball team is set to shoot a lot of three-pointers this season under Mark Pope and his offense. This summer, assistant Cody Feuger went as far as to say he wants to see the Wildcats attempt 35 threes per game. For context, North Florida led the nation in three-point attempts last year with 33.2.

To shoot that many threes, you need a lot of good shooters on the roster and the Kentucky added several this offseason. A lot of talk has been on freshman Travis Perry, but the Wildcats added Dayton transfer Koby Brea, who shot a nation-leading 49.8% from three last season on 201 attempts.

With proven ELITE shooting ability at the collegiate level, it should come as no surprise that Brea was listed as the top shooter in the nation going into the 2024-25 season, by Andy Katz.

Brea is excited to see what he can do in Mark Pope’s offense, which he cited as the reason he transferred to Kentucky.

“That was the biggest draw for me. I was probably coming here just to see how perfect the system was for me,” said Brea during summer interviews. “Coach Pope did a great job of explaining to me where I can excel in the offense, the hit system in general, and the defensive system as well.”