Mark Pope can't miss on this 2026 five-star point guard from Kentucky

Mark Pope needs to roll out the red carpet for this 2026 five-star recruit.

Taylen Kinney (0) stands on the court during an AAU basketball game July 4, 2023, at the Nike EYBL Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C. A Newport native, Kinney is a Class of 2026 recruit and holds a scholarship offer to play at Louisville. | Brooks Holton / USA TODAY NETWORK

Kentucky is making one last push trying to land five-star Nate Ament in the 2025 class, and once this is over, the focus will fully shift to the 2026 class.

Mark Pope and his coaching staff have found a handful of players in the 2026 class that they are going to pursue but the most important of this group is five-star point guard Tay Kinney. The 6'2 160 pound guard currently plays for Overtime Elite but is a native of Newport, Kentucky.

He averaged 20.1 points per game this season playing for RWE, which is the same Overtime Elite team Kentucky five-star signee Jasper Johnson played on this season.

Kinney has only cut his list down to 15 schools, which means he is not close to a decision yet, but Kentucky will be near the top of this race the entire time.

Kinney is a player that Pope can't miss on, knowing he is from Kentucky, and he played with Johnson at Overtime Elite.

Watching the film on Kinney, he plays the game with a lot of confidence and isn't afraid to shoot the ball from all over the floor. He is incredibly shifty with the basketball and can create his own shot with ease.

All of these attributes make him the perfect fit for Pope's system as he is a shot maker. There is still a long way to go in this recruitment, but Kentucky is in a good position. Pope can't miss on this elite guard from the Bluegrass State, but he has done well in this state recruiting wise so far.

RWE PG Taylen Kinney did all that he could in RWE’s final game of the season 🤝 @Taylen_0

23 PTS l 8 AST l 78% FG l 67% 3PT pic.twitter.com/wnxTeru87S

— Overtime Elite (@OvertimeElite) February 25, 2025