LEXINGTON — Cross one potential candidate off the list for coach Mark Pope and Kentucky basketball’s 2025 recruiting class.

Braylon Mullins, one of the top shooters in the 2025 cycle, cut his list of finalists to three Tuesday. UK was not among that trio.

Mullins will choose among Indiana, North Carolina and UConn.

The Wildcats once were considered one of the leading contenders — if not the odds-on favorites — to land Mullins. Instead, he’ll play his college ball elsewhere.

When Mullins trimmed his list to 10 schools, Kentucky was one of them along with Alabama, Duke, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, North Carolina, Purdue, Tennessee and UConn. An official visit to UK had been planned for the weekend of Oct. 26; the trip would have coincided with the football team’s home game versus Auburn. Now, that OV is off Mullins’ itinerary.

Per the 247Sports Composite, Mullins is a five-star recruit, ranked No. 23 in the 2025 class. His ranking among the major recruiting databases has been on a meteoric rise after superlative showings in AAU play this past summer. Earlier this year, Mullins was No. 73 nationally in the 247Sports Composite rankings — 50 spots below his current placing.

Mullins is viewed as one of the best pure shooters in the 2025 cycle.

Per Kentucky Sports Radio, Mullins connected on “47.3% of his shots from deep across 17 games played during the spring/summer.” And he achieved that efficient percentage while averaging 7.7 3-point attempts per game for Indiana Elite, which plays on the Adidas 3SSB circuit. 

One of his Indiana Elite teammates is Malachi Moreno, a five-star center who on Aug. 16 became Kentucky’s first 2025 commitment. After Moreno’s pledge, he made a spirited pitch for Mullins to join him in Lexington.

“We did have that in mind,” Moreno told KSR. “I knew he was going to be great after — I mean he blew up the last three summers, I just knew he was going to be great. Once we had similar offers I was like, ‘Yo, we actually have an opportunity to be college teammates.’ … I’m gonna make sure he puts this (Kentucky shirt) on.”

Moreno’s dream will remain just that.

The Wildcats have numerous offers out to 2025 prospects. Only one has committed elsewhere (point guard Darius Acuff Jr. to Arkansas), while others (Mullins, AJ Dybantsa, Koa Peat, Darryn Peterson, Eric Reibe, Meleek Thomas and Tounde Yessoufou) don’t have UK as a finalist.

But Pope and his staff have begun to focus their energy on a select group.

Five-star power forward Caleb Wilson was in Lexington earlier this month for an official visit. After that, the Wildcats’ staff visited Wilson at his school, Holy Innocents’ Episcopal in Atlanta.

Wilson has made no bones about wanting to team up in college with another 2025 prospect UK is actively pursuing: four-star guard Acaden Lewis.

According to KSR+ reporter Jacob Polacheck, five-star point guard Mikel Brown will reportedly be in town for an official visit later this week. Five-star center Chris Cenac also will be in Lexington this weekend for an official visit.

The other 2025 recruits Kentucky still is in the running with include:

Jasper Johnson, who became UK’s second 2025 pledge earlier this month, was one of 30 players who showcased his skills in Overtime Elite’s fall combine Tuesday in Atlanta.

About 90 college coaches and NBA scouts observed the session.

Here are Johnson’s numbers from the combine:

Shooting drills

• Pull-up jumpers: 16 for 30 (53.3%)
• Movement 3s: 44 for 70 (62.9%) — Best percentage of all combine participants
• Catch-and-shoot 3s: 37 for 50 (74.0%) — Best percentage of all combine participants

TOTAL: 97 for 150 (64.7%) — Third-best shooting percentage among participants; one of only three to post a percentage above 60%

Measurements

• Standing reach: 8 feet, 5 inches
• Wingspan: 6 feet, 9 inches
• Height (with shoes): 6-foot-4 ½

Athletic drills

• Approach vertical: 32 inches
• Standing vertical: 25 inches
• 3/4 court sprint: 3.44 seconds
• Lane agility: 11.46 seconds
• Reaction shuttle: 3.21 seconds

Watch the entirety of the OTE combine in the embedded video below.

Miikka Muurinen is one of the country’s top players in 2026. And he plans to make an official visit to Lexington in the future.

Just not the near future.

Per KSR+, Muurinen likely won’t be on UK’s campus until the calendar flips to 2025.

“I’m probably not going to do it this year,” Muurinen told KSR+. “I have to be with my team and spend time with them.”

Ranked as the No. 12 overall player in the 2026 cycle, per the 247Sports Composite, Murrinen already has taken OVs to Arkansas, Michigan and Utah.

But the Wildcats are squarely in the mix for the second-ranked power forward in his class.

“We’re going to make something happen,” Muurinen told KSR+. “Kentucky is, for sure, one of my favorites, as of right now.”

Muurinen is one of eight prospects Kentucky has offered in the 2026 class.

Other tidbits of note about UK men’s basketball with the 2024-25 season fast approaching:

• The Wildcats started preseason practice Monday. The annual Big Blue Madness event is set for Oct. 11, followed by the Blue-White preseason scrimmage Oct. 18. UK’s first preseason exhibition is Oct. 23 against Kentucky Wesleyan at Rupp Arena. Kentucky opens the 2024-25 campaign at home versus Wright State on Nov. 4.
• Former Wildcat Daimion Collins is ready to take the court once more. Collins, who spent two seasons (2021-22 and 2022-23) at Kentucky, transferred to LSU ahead of the 2023-24 campaign. But he appeared in just six games for the Tigers last year before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury against North Florida. Now, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, Collins “has been fully cleared for all basketball related activities.” He played in 47 games for the Wildcats over two seasons but made just two starts. Collins has averaged 2.6 points and 2 rebounds per contest (58 games) in three seasons as a collegian, making 52.8% (57 for 108) of his field-goal attempts.
• Two people with connections to UK were enshrined Monday in the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame as part of the 2024 induction class. One was Kentucky basketball great Tony Delk, who netted first-team All-American honors en route to leading the program to the national championship in 1996. The other was Oscar Combs, who founded The Cats’ Pause in 1976. The Cats’ Pause was the first independent publication devoted to solely covering the athletics program at one university.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.