Mark Pope and his staff are looking for their signature win in the high school recruiting world in the 2025 class. For a while it seemed that Will Riley would be that win, but he ultimately reclassified to 2024 and ended up at Illinois.

Now, the Kentucky Wildcats are looking to find a new recruit to become that first victory on the recruiting trail.

There would be no bigger win, however, than securing the commitment of the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2025 class, AJ Dybantsa.

For some time, it seemed that Lexington was a strong contender for Dybantsa under John Calipari, but now it appears this recruitment has opened up quite a bit.

In a recent interview with Joe Tipton of On3, Dybantsa broke down some of his recruitment and had this to say about UK and the new Coach Pope era:

“I talked to Mark (Pope),” Dybantsa told Tipton. “I went on a Zoom with him but I got the offer on a call. Went on a Zoom with him, Jason Hart, and they were just talking about what they have in store and hopefully get me on a visit. He was in Istanbul, Turkey (to see me with USA Basketball).”

Outside of Kentucky, it appears that BYU, Arkansas, Baylor, UCONN, Alabama, Auburn, Duke, and several others are the schools to monitor as his recruitment starts to move into the visit portion.

Luckily for the Cats, this recruitment also seems to be far from over, as Dybantsa pointed to a late winter or early spring timeframe for him to make his commitment. His father confirmed that timeline in a conversation with Jacob Polacheck of KSR, pointing to February as a time we could see a commitment come.

The other good part of that conversation? His father guaranteed that his son would play in college.

“I guarantee he will play in college,” Ace Dybantsa told Polacheck. “He wants the experience of a college year. He promised his momma. Once you promise your momma, it’s hard to break that promise.”

We all know Kentucky’s recruiting history, which has been built upon for the last 15 seasons. Although it won’t be filled with 5-star talent every season, Pope and his staff will have to continue to try to reel in these players.

If they can get him on campus, it sounds like the Cats would still have a legitimate shot.

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