{"id":125567,"date":"2025-06-26T06:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T06:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/125567\/"},"modified":"2025-06-26T06:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T06:50:11","slug":"caleb-holt-says-mark-pope-coaching-him-with-usa-basketball-was-big-advantage-for-kentucky-he-believes-in-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/125567\/","title":{"rendered":"Caleb Holt says Mark Pope coaching him with USA Basketball was ‘big advantage’ for Kentucky: “He believes in me.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Caleb Holt<\/a> is a consensus top-10 prospect in the country, sitting at No. 5 overall in the 2026 On3 Industry Ranking and No. 2 at his position. A native of Huntsville, AL, the 6-5 shooting guard is a plus athlete with physical tools and the ultimate winner who plays with relentless energy and picks up 94 feet. He\u2019s the guy every team needs to raise a championship floor \u2014 just as Team USA did by adding him to the U19 National Team for the 2025 FIBA U19 Men\u2019s World Cup in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

He may not score every possession or go nuclear from deep, but he\u2019s going to find a way to positively impact the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like my motor \u2014 like, I never stop,\u201d he told KSR at USA Training Camp in Colorado Springs last week. <\/a>\u201cComing down the court, I\u2019m always gonna come at you here. If I\u2019m guarding you, I\u2019m always gonna come at you. I wear people down with my motor, that separates me.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s also why every school in college basketball is fighting to earn his commitment \u2014 including the Kentucky Wildcats.<\/a><\/p>\n

He says his recruitment is \u201cgoing pretty good\u201d with a \u201ca few more official visits between August and October\u201d on the horizon. The five-star just wrapped up a trip to Ole Miss in April with previous unofficials to Houston and Georgia Tech. <\/p>\n

How did the official in Oxford go?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty good, I got to build a relationship with Coach (Chris) Beard,\u201d he told KSR. \u201cHe believes in me a lot, he believes in my game. He wants me to come in there and change the program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside of Ole Miss, his first official, Holt says Alabama, Tennessee, Houston, Kentucky, Baylor and Kansas are the schools prioritizing him the most at this stage. For now, those are the programs expected to receive visits when the time comes this fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the ones off the top of my head. Those are the ones I really feel are prioritizing me right now. Those are the ones I\u2019ll probably be taking my other visits to.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to Kentucky specifically, Mark Pope was actually one of his coaches in Colorado Springs with USA Basketball. Things were already going well for the Wildcats, the UK head coach meeting with him twice back in September and then again in April.<\/p>\n

Now, the two sides got some on-court work in together at Training Camp.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Pope) definitely wants me to come there, he wants me to help them win national championship,\u201d he told KSR. \u201cI\u2019ve been talking to Jason Hart and Mark Pope is one of my coaches (at USA U19 Training Camp), so I\u2019ve got a relationship with him. He\u2019s a coach that believes in me, believes I can play one through three and just impact the game, dominate through my physical ability. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy end goal is to hear my name in the draft and he feels like can help me get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pope left a positive impression on the five-star guard, drawing up plays and putting him in position to succeed. It was clear the Kentucky head coach trusted Holt to help him win games at this level, a sign it\u2019d be the same way at the next in college.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good, it\u2019s exciting. I didn\u2019t expect him to be that cool \u2014 like, he\u2019s drawing plays up for me. It\u2019s a great sign, it shows he believes in me,\u201d Holt continued. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m looking for in a coach, a coach who believes in me and lets me play through my mistakes, because I\u2019m gonna be coming in as a freshman. For him to have a lot of hope in me and to put a lot of responsibility into my hands, that means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does Pope\u2019s presence give the Wildcats an advantage in his own recruitment? How about all of the coaches in attendance with USA Basketball \u2014 Nate Oats (Alabama), Damon Stoudamire (Georgia Tech) and Hubert Davis (North Carolina) all have offers out to the standout guard and coached in the event, too. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big advantage, because I\u2019m with them trying to make a team,\u201d he said. \u201cThey give me pointers, and I trust them, because they\u2019re the best of the best at what they do. It\u2019s a great advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s going to lead to an in-person meeting with Pope and the Wildcats in Lexington this fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the time is right, I\u2019m definitely going to be taking an official to Kentucky,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

We know about the visits, but what about a decision? What comes next in his recruitment as he inches closer to a commitment? He\u2019s in no rush to pick a school, but it\u2019s not something expected to drag out too long. <\/p>\n

Once he wraps up officials, he\u2019ll transition into decision mode.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely want to take my officials around the fall time, but I\u2019m not in a rush to commit,\u201d Holt told KSR. \u201cI want to make sure this is the right opportunity for me and my family, the right fit for me and my family. Maybe like November or December, maybe January. It just depends on how my official visits go and how confident I am in whatever school I feel. I really don\u2019t know right now, but when the time comes, I\u2019ll definitely let you all know.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is he looking for when that time comes?<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely a family-oriented coaching staff, a coaching staff who believes in me as a coach,\u201d he said. \u201cI want a coach who puts a lot of responsibility on me as a freshman, who wants me to come in and rock out. That\u2019s really it, a coach who believes in me and an honest coach. If you tell me something, I want to believe whatever that is.\u201d<\/p>\n

He already said he feels Pope believes in his abilities. Will it lead to a commitment? A visit this fall will help decide that for the Wildcats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Caleb Holt is a consensus top-10 prospect in the country, sitting at No. 5 overall in the 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,22245,7919],"class_list":{"0":"post-125567","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-caleb-holt-26-prolific-prep","10":"tag-kentucky-basketball-recruiting"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114748340758329698","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}