Acaden Lewis Recruitment

[DraftCat]

Great article about how Pope got his guy.... and a bit of a glimpse into how Pope will go after recruits

Acaden Lewis Nearly Axed Kentucky, but Mark Pope Won Him Over On and off the Court

No one knew how close Kentucky was to missing its prized point guard in the 2025 class. According to a recent interview with Larry Vaught, he was ready to commit to Dan Hurley and the Connecticut Huskies. Yet, Mark Pope was still able to get his prized recruit. Lewis is a top 40 recruit from […]

kyinsider.com

 

[BassProCat]

That’s bada^^

 

[ccukuk]

Pope continues to impress. I’d be interested in hearing about what brought him to Kentucky as a transfer under Pitino.

 

[KentuckyMildCats]

That guy is gonna be really good too

 

[JPFisher]

Nice read. Happy to have the young Mr. Lewis on board.

 

[Wonky]

Pope continues to impress. I’d be interested in hearing about what brought him to Kentucky as a transfer under Pitino.

He’s brilliant. That’s what brought him. He knew what Rick had going here and he wanted to be a part of it. He could see Rick was just the kind of coach he wanted to play for and learn from.

 

[bballcat4]

“Pope went to DC weekly to visit Lewis.” I like reading that our coach identifies who he wants, then does things that cannot be ignored.

Cal may go down as the best recruiter in college history. I’m fine giving him that title.

However, in the past it often felt like we were stock-piling talent with no strategy to how the pieces fit together. Now, it feels like Pope is a Master Chef and knows the exact ingredients he wants to make the magic happen. We won’t get every recruit/transfer he goes after, but I’m now confident he knows how to recruit AND make sure all the pieces fit well together.

Personally, I’m fine with just 3 hs recruits a year (after this year), retaining existing 4-6 players, then adding 2-3 transfers. I’m liking this older and physically stronger team. No one is bullying Butler, Oweh, and Williams. In the past, many of our guards and bigs got bullied by older players. It hurt us on the defensive end and against physical teams.

 

[seccats04]

Man, if we can keep Lewis for two or three years, look out. Like Butler, I don't know if he has the measurables the NBA looks for but could be a perfect college PG.

 

[Fox2monk]

“Pope went to DC weekly to visit Lewis.” I like reading that our coach identifies who he wants, then does things that cannot be ignored.

Cal may go down as the best recruiter in college history. I’m fine giving him that title.

However, in the past it often felt like we were stock-piling talent with no strategy to how the pieces fit together. Now, it feels like Pope is a Master Chef and knows the exact ingredients he wants to make the magic happen. We won’t get every recruit/transfer he goes after, but I’m now confident he knows how to recruit AND make sure all the pieces fit well together.

Personally, I’m fine with just 3 hs recruits a year (after this year), retaining existing 4-6 players, then adding 2-3 transfers. I’m liking this older and physically stronger team. No one is bullying Butler, Oweh, and Williams. In the past, many of our guards and bigs got bullied by older players. It hurt us on the defensive end and against physical teams.

I think Cal absolutely targets guys he wanted, then when he missed on specific ones like Tatum and most other legit SF’s he panicked. He didn’t have a backup so he just recruited any 5 star he could, and like you said none of them fit together. Combined with his outdated offense and less than stellar bench coaching it rarely ever worked post 2019-2020 season.

 

[bballcat4]

I think Cal absolutely targets guys he wanted, then when he missed on specific ones like Tatum and most other legit SF’s he panicked. He didn’t have a backup so he just recruited any 5 star he could, and like you said none of them fit together. Combined with his outdated offense and less than stellar bench coaching it rarely ever worked post 2019-2020 season.m

Agreed. I’ll don’t (rarely) speak ill of Cal. He led UK to some golden years.

But … it was like he was forced to recruit shooters, and he was quick to yank them out when he did have some. Granted, some of his best shooters over the years couldn’t guard the ball.

He would often have a roster full of leapers, and some that could beat most defenders off the dribble, but many of those teams (especially the last 5-6 years) had some glaring weaknesses that always bit us in the butt in tournament time.

Pope seems totally confident bringing in players that may get overlooked, but he knows how the puzzle pieces will fit together. I’m just super impressed with what Oweh and others do on both ends of the floor.

I expect conference teams (UT, Aub, Ark, Miss St, TAm) to get in our grill and physically defend us on the perimeter. I think Butler and Oweh are our only 2 players that can play through contact and have the athleticism to beat their man off the dribble. Collectively, we will have 5 players on the floor who can hurt the other team in various ways.

I suspect Pope will bring in better athletes, but I like this older team.