Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart praises Mark Pope for undefeated start to the season: "Anybody can recruit, but not everybody can evaluate"
Just a few games into his first year as Kentucky's head coach, Mark Pope seems to have brought back excitement into the men's basketball team. The university's athletic director Mitch Barnhart believes this to be the case.
The No. 19 Kentucky Wildcats are off to a 3-0 start to the 2024-25 college basketball season, featuring a signature win over No. 6 Duke on Nov. 12. Barnhart made an appearance at the big game.
Before Kentucky's football game against Murray State on Nov. 16, Barnhart went on the team's official pregame show and praised how Mark Pope has revamped the basketball program with his recruiting and evaluation of players during the offseason.
“Anybody can recruit, but not everybody can evaluate. You can recruit and you can be phenomenal at going out, bringing people into your program. But if it doesn’t fit your needs, it’s really not helpful,” Barnhart said.
Mark Pope's progress in first year as Kentucky coach
Mitch Barnhart may be correct in his assessment of Mark Pope's recruiting, who already recruited three players in the Class of 2025. Those prospects are five-star guard Jasper Johnson, Malachi Moreno and Acaden Lewis.
According to 247Sports, Johnson is a five-star player with a 98 score, with Moreno and Lewis having four-star ratings with scores of 95, respectively. To Pope, they were the exact players he was looking for in his recruiting.
“These are kids that are seeing something way bigger than just themselves. And they care about the right things. It’s guys that I want to coach. .. They fit the way we play on a basketball court. Their skillset really vibes with how we want to attack this game,” Pope said per On3.
Players can possess a lot of talent, but it seems that Pope is doing a great job of getting players who will fit the way Kentucky wants to play.
After three games, the Wildcats are averaging 93.3 points per game on 49.3% shooting from the field while allowing just 68.7 points to their opponents on 38.2% shooting overall. Koby Brea and Otega Oweh are the team's best scorers with both averaging 15.3 points each.
No. 19 Kentucky will look to go 4-0 when they host Lipscomb at the Rupp Arena on Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. ET.