Kentucky fans share how concerned they are with Mark Pope's high school recruiting

While John Calipari was in no way, shape, or form a perfect coach when it came to the X’s and O’s there was no denying how elite a recruiter he was in Lexington. There is a reason Kentucky has the most active players in the NBA of any college, and that thanks is owed to Calipari.

During the long tenure Calipari was in Lexington, fans got used to landing multiple five-star recruits every season, but early into the Mark Pope era, there have been some struggles. Coach Pope has whiffed on multiple big-time players so far during his time in Lexington in the high school ranks.

Coach Pope has knocked the transfer portal out of the ballpark, but concerns with his high school recruiting are fair. We are in the month of February, and the Wildcats don’t have a single member of the 2026 class. Coach Pope has already missed on multiple players in this class, and Big Blue Nation is worried.

There was a positive update that Kentucky is back in the race for the #1 players in this class, Tyran Stokes, but we will see what happens as this recruitment has shifted a lot over the last few months. If Stokes does pick the Wildcats, it will change a lot of opinions on Pope, but this still seems to be months away.

Kentucky coach Mark Pope works with his team against Vanderbilt during the first half at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. | ANDREW NELLES / THE TENNESSEAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

I put a post out on social media this morning asking Kentucky fans to rank on a scale from 1-10 how concerned they are about the future outlook of Kentucky basketball recruiting. Over 60% of Kentucky fans responded that they are in full panic, ten out of ten, concerned about recruiting.

Others said they aren’t all that panicked, listing their reason being the transfer portal has made it where a star freshman isn't necessary.

At the end of the day Coach Pope is going to have to start landing some elite players in high school recruiting. It seems most fans have written this year off but Coach Pope recently said that he beleies this is going to be a good recruiting class. He does seem confident so hopefully this staff will be able to pull off a miracle and land Stokes. This would change opinions on Pope in a matter of seconds.

Let's take a look at what Big Blue Nation had to say about the state of Kentucky basketball recruiting.

Kentucky fans share thoughts on Mark Pope and his high school recruiting

10 extremely concerned
— Brad Halderman (@Wildcatbh) February 16, 2026

6.5 at this point
— thoroughbred1984 (@KYwhitey) February 16, 2026

I would be far more worried if we weren’t in this era of the transfer portal. Lock down 1 maybe 2 freshman and pile a bunch of proven players around them to help develop and prop up. Still at a 7-8 seeing as he has 0 traction with a single HS player at the moment.
— Bluegrass Burner (@Bluegrass4L) February 16, 2026