Mark Pope undecided on Braydon Hawthorne's redshirt, Reece Potter recovering from 'chronic health issue'

The current plan is for Kentucky to have 12 playable Wildcats out of 14 scholarship pieces on the roster the rest of the way. Those remaining two have a path to redshirt — one confirmed, one still up in the air.

It’s complicated with the latter, Braydon Hawthorne being compared to former UK legend Tayshaun Prince with endless potential as a long-term superstar. But how long will it take for him to turn that potential into real-life, immediate production? Is that answer now as a true freshman, understanding the team’s depth elsewhere, particularly on the wing? Is it worth using up a year of eligibility for spot minutes here and there? Will he even be in college long enough for any of it to matter?

That’s what Mark Pope is weighing now, just short of a third of the way through the regular season and the team struggling against legitimate competition. He said back in late November he was having ‘ongoing conversations’ with Hawthorne about the pros and cons of that, adding ‘he is a really, really, really terrific young talent, and he has an incredibly bright future.’

Has anything changed since then?

“The answer is no. It’s just — it’s hard. I love — all of the decisions that reach my desk, very rational people could make opposing arguments,” Pope said of Hawthorne on Friday. “BH, he’s getting so much better every day, and there’s space. There’s certainly space where he could help us. You never know how guys are going to be when the lights are on and when they’re in limited minutes and all the things.”

Pope feels it’s his responsibility as Hawthorne’s head coach to put the player first, even if he selfishly would love to see the talented freshman make his Kentucky debut — knowing it’s the start of something special down the road.

But if there isn’t a path to real playing time right away, why burn a full year of eligibility?

“In college basketball right now, it’s really expensive to burn a year or two,” Pope continued. “We’re just going to keep dancing, because the one thing I know is that once we put him out on the court, it’s over, right? There’s no turning back if we put him in. There’s that fear of — you put him out on the court for three minutes and he never plays again. You’re like, ‘Man, Coach, you just burned (a year)?’ And he’s all in, by the way, but I feel the responsibility of that. ‘I just burned his year and there wasn’t a ton of pay-off.’

“I’m very sensitive, I want to make sure that we take care of him. He’s a special talent and he’s got a huge future, so we’ve got to do it the right way.”

As for the other, Reece Potter is a confirmed redshirt for the 2025-26 season — “Yeah, Reece is on the books,” Pope said.

The issue there, outside of depth? Health, the Miami (OH) transfer recovering from a ‘chronic’ issue that’s going to keep him off the floor for the season.

“Good player, he’s a good player. He’s a really good basketball player,” Pope said. “There are some things that he does better than our other guys. He’s a high-IQ guy, got a great motor. He’s got some physicality. He’s probably the best guy on our team in finishing with one shoulder to the rim. He’s probably the best guy.

“Right now — he’s had a chronic health issue that he’s working really hard to recover from. It’s a long-term recovery, and he’s doing a great job at that.”