Mark Pope and his staff made some noise in the class of 2025, landing three top-40 players in the class.
Now, their attention shifts to the class of 2026 as the staff looks to make some more noise in their true first full recruiting cycle.
With the summer circuits tipped off and plenty of school and in-home visits over the last few months, we are starting to get a clearer picture of who the Kentucky Wildcats staff will really target heading into the fall.
AAU is several weeks in for the rising seniors, and now we also start to figure out the updated rankings for the class heading into the summer.
On3 was the latest to update their rankings, and 10 of the top-15 players in the class hold offers from UK. Including top ranked player and Kentucky native, Tyran Stokes.
With Stokes leading the way, the Cats also have offers out to Brandon McCoy (No. 2 overall), Christian Collins (No. 3), Anthony Thompson (No. 5), Jordan Smith (No. 6), Caleb Holt (No. 7), Tajh Ariza (No. 8), Ikenna Alozie (No. 10), Jason Crowe (No. 13), and Miikka Muurinen (No. 15). Tay Kinney also holds an offer from Coach Pope and comes in at No. 23 in the class.
With plenty of California kids cracking the top-25, Jason Hart’s connection to SoCal will likely play a huge part in landing a player of two. But it is very obvious this staff and the UK program are trying to continue stamping their footprint as the premier program in all of college basketball. A good season in 2025-26 should only help that cause going forward.
Keep an eye out, folks. It should be a busy few months of recruiting.