Shocking news: Brock Vandagriff accepted $89.5 million contract to leave mark pope including…see… more 👇

One of the fundamental inquiries the Enormous Blue Country had when Kentucky employed Previous Public Top dog Imprint Pope was whether he could select at a general like Kentucky has found in the past under now Arkansas head ball mentor John Calipari. One thing is certain: if Coach Pope does not succeed, it will not be because he did not try. We have not yet seen a sufficient sample size to make many judgments regarding his recruiting. Pope could stir things up if he would land the best player in the 2025 class, AJ Dybansta. AJ is a 6’9 wing who can score at any level, has a high basketball IQ, and can defend against the best players in the league. AJ has had interest from Kentucky tracing all the way back to the Calipari days; from that point forward, Pope has re-offered the phenom and has begun building a relationship. AJ recently spoke with Joe Tipton of On3 about his final schools, and he mentioned coach Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats: “I talked to Mark (Pope),” Dybantsa told On3. “I went on a Zoom with him, yet I got the proposal on a call. Went on a Zoom with him, Jason Hart, and they were simply discussing what they have coming up and ideally get me on a visit. In order to meet me and USA Basketball, he was in Istanbul, Turkey. Kentucky has numerous contenders to land the 5-star ability, including Coppery, Arkansas, BYU, Alabama, Baylor, Duke, Uconn, Georiga Tech, and USC. In Coach Pope’s first recruiting class, this would be a significant victory. AJ said he intends to utilize the tumble to take his visits, then, at that point, settle on a choice. This bolds well for Mentor Pope considering he got a late leap on selecting the 2025 class.