KSR Today: Mark Pope hosts big-time visitors, NFL Draft continues

Has Mark Pope slept since he signed his contract with Kentucky? We’re starting to get a little worried about him — he’s truly been full-go 24/7 for two weeks straight. In fact, today marks 14 days on the dot since his hire was announced, and ever since then, it’s been all about putting together a coaching staff and building a roster from the ground up. Four of five total assistants have been named while three core roster pieces are locked in with plenty more to come.

And those additions could start coming in a hurry as Pope hosts a massive recruiting weekend in Lexington featuring as many as six high-profile transfer portal targets.

Confirmed visitors take over Lexington

One visit is wrapping up as we speak as Oklahoma’s Otega Oweh got things rolling on Thursday. The 6-5, 215-pound combo guard out of Blairstown, NJ averaged 11.4 points and 3.8 rebounds this past season for the Sooners, and now, things are trending in the right direction toward a potential commitment to the Wildcats. The tough, physical guard is considering UK, Texas A&M and Oregon with visits to all three concluding to close out the week as he turns to decision mode.

From there, Utah star guard Deivon Smith has finalized a visit to Lexington, giving Pope a shot at one of the top playmakers in the portal. He averaged 13.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 7.1 assists in 29.5 minutes per game this past season. A source close to Smith tells KSR that Kentucky is “serious” and the interest is very mutual, the new UK coach looking to close things out this weekend.

Elsewhere, Stanford’s Andrej Stojakovic — the son of longtime NBA veteran and three-time All-Star Peja Stojakovic — will also be in town after cutting his list to Kentucky, North Carolina and California, though the Bears and Wildcats are seen as favorites. From there, Aidan Mahaney of Saint Mary’s is set to make the trip after seeing Creighton, Virginia and UConn earlier this week. He averaged 13.9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists this past season and is considered a top-35 player in the portal.

Wake Forest’s Andrew Carr is also expected to be at Kentucky after coming off a visit to Texas Tech and ahead of another to Villanova. The 6-11, 230-pound forward averaged 13.5 points and 6.8 rebounds while shooting 52.6% overall and 37.1% from three.

All of this is ahead of Utah State’s Great Osobor, the top power forward in the portal, coming to town from April 29 to May 1. The reigning Mountain West Conference Player of the Year averaged 17.7 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.4 blocks per game this past season. Pope hopes he can keep that talent in Lexington following his visit to open next week.

Richie Saunders returns to BYU

While we know who is still in the running to play at Kentucky, we also know one name who is out: BYU’s Richie Saunders, who visited Lexington last weekend and was penciled in as a likely addition. After returning home and thinking things over, the junior guard ultimately decided his heart was in Provo, staying to play for the Cougars and new head coach Kevin Young.

The 6-5 wing averaged 9.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game while shooting 52.3% from the field and 36.4% from three as a sophomore. He was thought to be a potential key role piece off the bench for the Wildcats, a player who embraced his role and knew the system under Pope.

Instead, he’ll be closing out his career in Utah.

Pope joins KSR at 11 AM

Speaking of Pope, he’ll be a guest on KSR this morning starting at 11 a.m. ET. There, he’ll be breaking down the latest on his debut roster — he’s got plenty to talk about with a major recruiting weekend underway — while also talking through his new-and-improved coaching staff that now officially includes Baylor’s Alvin Brooks III.

His addition was announced Thursday afternoon, Brooks named associate head coach with Pope describing him as “one of the most highly regarded tacticians, recruiters and relationship-builders in all of college basketball.” He’ll be joining the likes of Cody Fueger, Jason Hart and Mark Fox in Lexington.

Matt Jones and the gang will be asking him all about it later this morning.

NFL Draft Rounds 2-3 are tonight

Ready to see a Wildcat or two see their NFL dreams come true? Andru Phillips and Trevin Wallace are a couple of names to watch as rounds two and three of the 2024 NFL Draft begin in Detroit this evening. That comes on the heels of an eventful night one in the draft that saw six quarterbacks taken in the first 12 picks — Caleb Williams (No. 1) to the Bears, Jayden Daniels (No. 2) to the Commanders, Drake Maye (No. 3) to the Patriots, Michael Penix Jr. (No. 8) to the Falcons, JJ McCarthy (No. 10) to the Vikings and Bo Nix (No. 12) to the Broncos.

11 SEC players were selected in the first round while the NFL world can’t get over just how dumb the Falcons are.

Take a look at the first 32 selections:

1. Chicago Bears — Caleb Williams, QB (USC)
2. Washington Commanders — Jayden Daniels, QB (LSU)
3. New England Patriots — Drake Maye, QB (North Carolina)
4. Arizona Cardinals — Marvin Harrison Jr., WR (Ohio State)
5. Los Angeles Chargers — Joe Alt, OT (Notre Dame)
6. New York Giants — Malik Nabers, WR (LSU)
7. Tennessee Titans — JC Latham, OT (Alabama)
8. Atlanta Falcons — Michael Penix Jr., QB (Washington)
9. Chicago Bears — Rome Odunze, WR (Washington)
10. Minnesota Vikings (via trade with Jets) — JJ McCarthy, QB (Michigan)
11. New York Jets (via trade with Vikings) — Olu Fashanu, OT (Penn State)
12. Denver Broncos — Bo Nix, QB, (Oregon)
13. Las Vegas Raiders — Brock Bowers, TE (Georgia)
14. New Orleans Saints — Taliese Fuaga, OT (Oregon State)
15. Indianapolis Colts — Laiatu Latu, DE (UCLA)
16. Seattle Seahawks — Byron Murphy, DT (Texas)
17. Minnesota Vikings (via trade with Jaguars) — Dallas Turner, LB (Alabama)
18. Cincinnati Bengals — Amarius Mims, OT (Georgia)
19. Los Angeles Rams — Jared Verse, DE (Florida State)
20. Pittsburgh Steelers — Troy Fautanu, OT(Washington)
21. Miami Dolphins — Chop Robinson, DE (Penn State)
22. Philadelphia Eagles — Quinyon Mitchell, DB (Toledo)
23. Jacksonville Jaguars — Brian Thomas Jr., WR (LSU)
24. Detroit Lions (via trade with Cowboys) — Terrion Arnold, DB (Alabama)
25. Green Bay Packers — Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)
26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers — Graham Barton, C (Duke)
27. Arizona Cardinals — Darius Robinson, DT (Missouri)
28. Kansas City Chiefs (via trade with Bills) — Xavier Worthy, WR (Texas)
29. Dallas Cowboys (via trade with Lions) — Tyler Guyton, OT (Oklahoma)
30. Baltimore Ravens — Nate Wiggins, DB (Clemson)
31. San Francisco 49ers — Ricky Pearsall, WR (Florida)
32. Carolina Panthers (via trade with Bills) — Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)

There’s more where that comes from tonight.

EYBL begins in Memphis

Speaking of more to come tonight, a few members of the KSR crew will be in Memphis this evening to open the AAU season as Session I of the Nike EYBL circuit tips off.

It’s not a live period, so Pope and the gang won’t be courtside watching teenagers play — they’ve got business to take care of back home in Lexington — but that doesn’t mean we won’t be! We’ll be interviewing the nation’s best about their thoughts on Kentucky with the new coaching staff and just how weird it is not fielding calls from Coach Cal with an 859 area code.

Just what type of high school recruits will Pope be going after moving forward? We’ll be finding that out this weekend.