Since taking over in Lexington, Mark Pope, the head coach of Kentucky basketball, has made two recruits in the 2025 class his top priorities. Both of these recruits seem to be gradually approaching graduation.
There have been more than a dozen trips to Kentucky by both 5-star guard Jasper Johnson and elite 4-star center Malachi Moreno. In fact, throughout the past few months, they have been on campus together.
Johnson might not be leaning toward Pope and Kentucky as much as Moreno appears to be.
Since Kentucky seems to be on the outside looking in, the local product appears to be leaning elsewhere in his recruitment.
Regarding Johnson’s recruiting, 247Sports national analyst Travis Branham declared, “This has turned into a two-man race.” “A lot of smoke has been seen on social media, but I wouldn’t believe it. North Carolina and Alabama are competing in this race.
“At this point, I would classify Kentucky, although they are the hometown team, I would classify them as a distant third behind Alabama and North Carolina.”
Johnson’s final five institutions were Kentucky, North Carolina, Alabama, Louisville, and Arkansas; nonetheless, it seems that there is a distinct heirarchy.
Johnson, who is originally from Woodford County, Kentucky, moved to Link Academy, a nationally renowned program, in Missouri last year. Last month, he made the announcement that he would be spending his final season at Overtime Elite, in Georgia.
Johnson has been Mark Pope’s first objective since taking over four months ago. He demonstrated it earlier this summer when he went to Argentina for the FIBA U18 AmeriCup to watch Johnson play.
Even while it seems that the guard ranked in the top 10 will be moving on, it’s crucial to keep in mind that you need to be in these recruitments frequently in order to win them. Compared to John Calipari, this recruitment strategy will be different. and it’s alright.
I have a feeling that Mark Pope will be well going forward.
•
The center rotation for Kentucky basketball is one of the most fascinating in the nation.
•
Which grade would you give Kentucky basketball during the off-season? Two analysts deconstruct it.
•
Mr. Versatile: Barion Brown of Kentucky has been added to the Paul Hornung Award Watch List.
•
Willie Cauley-Stein’s victory as TBT Defensive Player of the Year comes as no surprise.
House
/
Basketball recruitment in Kentucky
The center rotation for Kentucky basketball is one of the most fascinating in the nation.
According to CBS Sports, Kentucky’s front court rotation is one of the most intriguing in all of college basketball for the next campaign.
On August 10, 2024, by Alec Lasley
February 2, 2023, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA: In the second half at Daskalakis Athletic Center, Drexel Dragons forward Amari Williams (age 22) scores a basket over Charleston Cougars forward Ben Burnham (age 25). Required Credit: USA TODAY Sports/Kyle Ross
February 2, 2023, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA: In the second half at Daskalakis Athletic Center, Drexel Dragons forward Amari Williams (age 22) scores a basket over Charleston Cougars forward Ben Burnham (age 25). The mandatory credit goes to Kyle Ross of USA TODAY Sports.
One of the most fascinating big men joining the SEC this year, the first commitment made by Mark Pope to Kentucky basketball truly set the tone for the rest of the team.
Amari Williams, a transfer from Drexel, is that. Williams, a fifth-year senior, finished the previous season with averages of 12.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks. He finished with eight double-doubles and ten games with ten or more rebounds.
Many high-major programs were vying for his services, but Kentucky offered him the chance to immediately make a significant impression.
Williams kept his word, even in the face of speculation that his commitment was questionable once the Wildcats began to recruit more players up front.
With one of the nation’s most versatile front courts going into the 2024–25 campaign, Kentucky is now well-prepared.
Brandon Garrison, a former McDonald’s All-American who only spent one season at Oklahoma State, is standing outside of Williams. With the addition of Ansley Almonor and fifth-year senior Andrew Carr, you have four players who are very skilled on both sides of the court.
However, going into the season, Garrison and Williams, the center combo, are ranked among the best duos.
Kentucky’s two centers were included in the “Top 8 big man platoons” that were announced by Isaac Trotter of 247Sports and CBS Sports for the upcoming campaign.
“Mark Pope’s sharp offensive system requires big men who can pass the rock. That’s a huge piece of Williams’ game. The fifth-year senior out of Drexel gives Pope a smart dribble handoff hub who can whip backdoor dimes or spray it out to Kentucky’s cavalry of 3-point shooters. Garrison can also do a bunch of those things, too. Williams is the vet. Garrison is the young, rising sophomore,” Trotter stated. “Together, Kentucky should be able to have 40 minutes of a real playmaking big man on the floor who also has plenty of defensive chops. Williams’ durability is a real question. He only played 30+ minutes twice last season, so Garrison is clearly poised to play early and often. Don’t be surprised if this is close to a 50-50 split.”
Despite being the younger of the two, Garrison has a larger upside and more potential.
This season, he averaged 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks for the Cowboys. He is a 6-foot-11, 245-pound big man. His field goal percentage was 57.2 percent.
“(He) crushed me at BYU last year and crushed Coach [Alvin] Brooks at Baylor last year,” Pope said of Garrison. “We’re unbelievably glad he’s on our team now.”
Even though Kentucky will be led by its wings and guards, it’s obvious that this pair and their front court play will be crucial to the team’s success in hitting the ceiling and achieving its objectives.
•
The center rotation for Kentucky basketball is one of the most fascinating in the nation.
•
Which grade would you give Kentucky basketball during the off-season? Two analysts deconstruct it.
•
Mr. Versatile: Barion Brown of Kentucky has been added to the Paul Hornung Award Watch List.
•
Willie Cauley-Stein’s victory as TBT Defensive Player of the Year comes as no surprise.
Which grade would you give Kentucky basketball during the off-season? Two analysts deconstruct it.
Rob Dauster and Jeff Goodman, co-founders of Field of 68, graded Kentucky basketball in the off-season.
Aug. 8, 2024 | By Alec Lasley
Mark Pope, the head coach of Kentucky, supports La Familia as they go on Herd That in the TBT Lexington Regional Final.
23 July 2024
Mark Pope, the head coach of Kentucky, supports La Familia as they go on Herd That in the TBT Lexington Regional Final. July 23, 2024 / USA TODAY NETWORK / Scott Utterback / Courier Journal
The Kentucky basketball team will usher in a new era in three months, one without John Calipari on the sidelines. Mark Pope has re-established Kentucky as a club that may cause some noise in the latter stages of the season following a hectic, but productive, offseason.
Kentucky’s entire roster is full of new players, thus the team will appear completely different. Only one former UK commit remained with the team once Pope took the helm; the other eleven players on the roster are foreign recruits.
Although the last six months have undoubtedly been turbulent, how should Kentucky be rated for its offseason? A pair of experts made a try.
Before releasing their offseason rankings for Kentucky basketball, Field of 68 co-founders Rob Dauster and Jeff Goodman discussed some of their conclusions from the previous four months.
Mark Pope, according to Goodman, “first and foremost, he’s won over the fan base quickly.” “Now the question becomes; can Mark Pope blend some of the really, really talented players, some of the pros John Calipari had in Lexington, with some of the more experienced program guys he had success with at BYU? If he can do that, then I think — you have a team and program that can contend for Final Four’s.”
Goodman said that he understands Kentucky’s desire to win, even though he believes that a Final Four or high expectations for Kentucky this season are unattainable.
It’s understandable why supporters are famished given that Kentucky hasn’t advanced past the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2019 and has exited the first round of the last two postseasons.
Many of the players on Pope’s squad are fifth-year seniors, so the team’s veteran leadership should be able to facilitate chemistry and speed up the offseason process. However, that will be the main query in general.
“What I’m more worried about with this Kentucky team and their chances of getting to the tournament. Evan Miya of evanmiya.com did a study,” Dauster stated. “There has only been one program at the high major level that had fewer than 16 percent of their returning minutes, right, make the NCAA Tournament the next year … Kentucky has 0 percent of their minutes coming back.”
Goodman responded, “They’re all nice pieces, but do you have that dude?” “They don’t really have that.”
What grades then did they assign? Their grades and justifications are as follows:
Goodman: B-plus
“I think given the circumstances and where they were at, a lot of people were happy with the hiring of Mark Pope and I thought it was a really good hire. I’ll say this over and over for people that don’t know. This dude is a worker. I don’t think people understood that when he was hired at Kentucky … I think what Pope and his staff did — I just want to see how the pieces fit.”
Rob Dauster: minus
“They missed on (Dan) Hurley, the missed on (Nate) Oats and they missed really publicly on Scott Drew … I will say, they got through the (hiring) process very quickly, but they missed on the three names they went after as the University of Kentucky. And while he (Pope) put a good roster together, you are Kentucky and I don’t know if there’s an NBA player on the roster. I don’t know if there is a star on the roster.”
•
The center rotation for Kentucky basketball is one of the most fascinating in the nation.
•
Which grade would you give Kentucky basketball during the off-season? Two analysts deconstruct it.
•
Mr. Versatile: Barion Brown of Kentucky has been added to the Paul Hornung Award Watch List.
•
Willie Cauley-Stein’s victory as TBT Defensive Player of the Year comes as no surprise.
Kentucky is the first place a top-15 2025 talent will visit as part of his recruitment.
Later this month, Nate Ament will travel to Kentucky for the first time as part of his official recruitment process.
On August 11, 2024, by Alec Lasley
On April 14, 2024, at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky, fans cheered when Mark Pope was named the next head coach of Kentucky.
On April 14, 2024, at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky, fans cheered when Mark Pope was named the next head coach of Kentucky. Sam Upshaw Jr./USA TODAY NETWORK/Courier Journal
Later this month, the Kentucky basketball team will begin the formal visitation schedule for a top-15 recruit.
According to Jacob Polacheck of KSR.com, Nate Ament, a five-star prospect in the 2025 class, will make a visit to Kentucky on August 28.
After a fantastic spring and summer, Ament emerged as one of the class’s best players and seen a significant increase in interest in him. Schools including North Carolina, Duke, UConn, Indiana, Florida State, Tennessee, Texas, Kansas, Louisville, Virginia, and others have extended offers to him.
But as of right now, he only has one more appointment scheduled. That relates to September 14, Virginia.
On June 17, Mark Pope made Ament an offer, and things have progressed well between them ever then. A 41-point, 27-rebound, and six-block performance in front of the Kentucky coaches back at the DMV Live event went a long way toward that.
Ament is a 6-foot-9 hybrid forward that excels at both wing and mid-range shooting.
This past weekend at Under Armour’s Elite 24 in Brooklyn, New York, he continued to perform well.
Eric Bossi, National Director of 247Sports, commented, “He showed off his ability to shoot from deep, handle the ball, and fluid movement early in the scrimmage.” “He faded a little as the scrimmage went on, but his wow moments were the type that most in the gym would have a hard time replicating. He’ll maybe play some faceup four in college but long term he’s looking like a jumbo wing who as good as he is, may just be scratching at the surface.”
Ament is ranked 13th overall in the 2025 247Sports Composite Rankings of players.
It’s evident that some of the most gifted athletes in the 2025 class are the focus of Kentucky and head coach Mark Pope’s attention. Pope understands he needs to recruit a fantastic class for next year in order to maintain any momentum he brings into the summer, even if there are probably plenty of open slots on the roster.
It seems that Ament is the next 5-star talent to receive a full court press from the Kentucky staff, as Jasper Johnson’s recruitment appears to be moving away from Lexington while Malachi Moreno’s is holding steady.
•
The center rotation for Kentucky basketball is one of the most fascinating in the nation.
•
Which grade would you give Kentucky basketball during the off-season? Two analysts deconstruct it.
•
Mr. Versatile: Barion Brown of Kentucky has been added to the Paul Hornung Award Watch List.
•
Willie Cauley-Stein’s victory as TBT Defensive Player of the Year comes as no surprise.
According to a national recruiting analyst, Mark Pope’s two largest recruits were from Kentucky.
For Kentucky and Mark Pope, the additions of Malachi Moreno and Jasper Johnson are significant.
Written by Alec Lasley on July 31, 2024
Keaton Baird, 10, of Spencer County watches as Malachi Moreno, 24, of Great Crossing scores two points during the first round of the 2024 UK Healthcare KHSAA Boys’ Sweet 16 in Lexington. March 20, 2024
Keaton Baird, 10, of Spencer County watches as Malachi Moreno, 24, of Great Crossing scores two points during the first round of the 2024 UK Healthcare KHSAA Boys’ Sweet 16 in Lexington. March 20, 2024 / USA TODAY NETWORK / Matt Stone / The Courier Journal
Mark Pope used the transfer site in particular to spend a large portion of the offseason hiring for this season. However, he and the rest of his team at Kentucky are now working nonstop on the 2025 class.
Pope is prioritizing keeping the best talent in the state local, as he has been adamant about doing.
Malachi Moreno and Jasper Johnson are two local possibilities who can be of immediate assistance with that and set the tone. Johnson was raised in Woodford County and is currently enrolled in Overtime Elite in Georgia for his senior high school year, even though he is no longer in Kentucky.
Moreno is still enrolled in Georgetown, Kentucky’s Great Crossing High School.
How significant are these two, then, for Pope? Rob Cassidy, a national basketball analyst for Rivals, argues Kentucky should retain one or more players in the state.
“Most important at the moment are the recruitments of local products Jasper Jonson and Malachi Moreno, both of whom are from the Lexington area,” said Cassidy. “It feels as though Pope needs to land at least one of the two in-state stars if he hopes to avoid hearing some groans from Big Blue Nation.”
It goes without saying that Mark Pope’s recruiting strategy will differ from John Calipari’s. It’s unlikely that the reliable five-star and top-10 players will visit Lexington as frequently as they did in the past.
However, that does not preclude it from occurring occasionally. And future success could be accelerated by the 2025 class.
“To some extent,” Cassidy went on. “The 2025 class is the chance to make an opening statement for a coach who needs to advance in the NCAA Tournament every year in order to appease his fan base.”
Moreno appears to be the one who is currently leaning more toward committing to Kentucky and has scheduled an official visit; nevertheless, Johnson’s decision is probably nearing its conclusion.
If Mark Pope and the Wildcats are able to retain some of the local talent, only time will tell. regional.
Leave a Reply