The standard of playing for Kentucky basketball is certainly special. As a former player at Kentucky under Rick Pitino, Mark Pope knows all about that standard and what comes with playing at Kentucky, including the fanbase, expectations, and the big stage.

That’s something Pope wanted to instill in his team when he first got to Lexington. Now, Pope and his staff is using last season’s team as an example of the standard that comes with playing in front of twenty thousand fans inside Rupp Arena, representing the name across your chest with pride. Pope’s first team at Kentucky understood that perfectly.

“There’s nowhere like this, and if you come in here not understanding or appreciating that, I actually think you’re chances of success are not very high. Nobody can really understand this until you live it. But the guys that are really successful here come in with a healthy respect for what this is, because it requires more actually. It requires more ability to be non-distracted. It requires more of a giving heart. It requires more of an idea that there’s something bigger than yourself. It requires more of an ability to sacrifice a little bit, and understanding that by sacrificing a little bit of yourself, it actually elevates you. …If you’re gonna accept the incredible opportunity to come play here, you gotta understand that. If you don’t understand it, you’re just not gonna be successful (at Kentucky). If you do understand it, you’re gonna be crazy successful. Our guys last season set a beautiful, brilliant standard of what it means to be a Kentucky basketball player and we actually are leaning on them a lot as we try and describe this.”

– Pope on the program’s standard.

Last season’s squad was filled with players who were grateful for the opportunity to play at Kentucky, and Mark Pope said from the beginning, when he first arrived in Lexington, that he wanted players who understand and appreciate what it means to be able to play at Kentucky, in front of the best fanbase in the country, Big Blue Nation.

The standard of Kentucky basketball in the Mark Pope Era was set at a high bar after his first season, and it seems like the players coming in are understanding that exact standard already without even stepping on the court yet.

SARASOTA, Fla. — A Kentucky man was arrested in Sarasota County for attempted murder and kidnapping charges.

Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) said Tobias McDonald, 30, of Lexington, Ky., went to 6400 Beechwood Avenue in Sarasota on Sunday and demanded to find a woman he believed was inside the home.

McDonald allegedly showed up unannounced and confronted people outside the home who had traveled to Sarasota on vacation.

SCSO said McDonald went into the house and fired a shot inside, injuring one person. McDonald then left with the woman he was looking for at the home in his car.

SCSO said they worked with the Florida Highway Patrol and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office to apprehend McDonald, who was taken into custody.

He is charged with attempted murder and kidnapping.

• Kentucky football’s 2026 recruiting class has only one commitment as of May 1, among the fewest of any Power Four program.
• The Wildcats’ slow start in 2026 recruiting contrasts sharply with previous years under coach Mark Stoops.
• The team’s disappointing 4-8 record in the 2024 season likely is a contributing factor to the recruiting struggles in the 2026 cycle.

LEXINGTON — Following Kentucky football’s final practice of the spring April 12, longtime coach Mark Stoops acknowledged the harmony required in modern-day roster construction, a reality in which the transfer portal now rivals — and at some schools surpasses — high school recruiting in importance.

“As you move forward, I think you look at the strategy of it, and how many you’re actually going to take, you know what I mean?” said Stoops, referring to his program’s high school recruiting. “And what the balance is going to be between the portal and between high school guys. The high school recruiting for us is very good. We love the freshmen that we have on this team, and the guys that are going into their second year, we really feel good about.”

No two rosters are ever the same, of course.

“It’s what your needs are,” Stoops said. “Obviously, after last season, we needed to get some guys with some experience, with some playing time.”

To Stoops’ point, the Wildcats loaded up in the transfer portal during the winter window.

They added 20 transfers — just one fewer than their 2025 high school signing class, which featured 21 players.

The emphasis on the transfer portal as opposed to the high school ranks has lasted into this year, with teams having turned their attention to the 2026 recruiting cycle.

It’s been a struggle to this point for UK.

As of May 1, it has just one player committed: Jarvis Strickland, a four-star in-state offensive lineman from Paducah, got the ball rolling March 30.

Not only is that meager figure stunning juxtaposed against Stoops’ 12-year tenure. But the date is noteworthy as well.

The Courier Journal dove into the numbers to provide context for Kentucky’s issues it’s had in the 2026 class so far — and what it might mean for the future.

Strickland’s pledge was significant on two fronts.

One, removing the 2013 class, when Stoops had been on the job barely two months (he was hired in November 2012), March 30 marks the latest it had ever taken for Kentucky to earn its first commitment in a Stoops-led cycle.

Second, it puts UK on an incredibly short list of Power Four programs with one (or fewer) commitments in the 2026 high school class. Florida is the only other SEC school with just one commit. The other Power Four schools in the Lone-or-None Club (as of May 8): Colorado (one) and Wake Forest (zero).

It’s not as if Kentucky has entirely ignored next year’s group of high school graduates.

It’s just that the Wildcats have whiffed on multiple 2026 targets already.

UK was the first SEC school to offer Ohio offensive lineman Adam Guthrie and had made him a priority. In a decision that caught recruiting experts by surprise, Guthrie committed to Clemson on March 7. UK hosted linebacker Terry Wiggins for an official visit in April; in-state power Penn State didn’t even need an OV to earn Wiggins’ commitment May 2. Perhaps the most frustrating misses, given the school the recruits cast their lot with: St. Xavier linebacker Karsten Busch committed to Louisville on March 7; one day later, offensive lineman Joel Ervin did the same.

Though Ervin later decommitted and flipped to Miami, the fact the Cardinals beat the Wildcats on back-to-back days for prospects both were actively recruiting highlights the gap between the Bluegrass State’s two most prominent football programs in 2026.

U of L has 13 commitments, a dozen clear of UK.

Just how far off are the Wildcats’ 2026 efforts compared with previous years?

Using May 1 as the cut-off date for the following year’s class — for example, May 1, 2024, for the 2025 cycle — UK’s one pledge to this point is its fewest ever under Stoops. The previous low-water mark was two years ago, when it had two commitments for 2024 when the calendar flipped to May 2023.

Here’s the full breakdown:

• 2025: Six (As of May 1, 2024)
• 2024: Two (As of May 1, 2023)
• 2023: Five (As of May 1, 2022)
• 2022: Nine (As of May 1, 2021)
• 2021: Five (As of May 1, 2020)
• 2020: Three (As of May 1, 2019)
• 2019: Three (As of May 1, 2018)
• 2018: Seven (As of May 1, 2017)
• 2017: 12 (As of May 1, 2016)
• 2016: 16 (As of May 1, 2015)
• 2015: Six (As of May 1, 2014)
• 2014: Five (As of May 1, 2013)

It goes without saying Strickland won’t be Kentucky’s only 2026 commitment. Despite their misses elsewhere, there still are countless prospects the Wildcats could land.

The good news: The summer commitment window, when many college programs pick up pledges rapidly, is on the horizon. As Kentucky Sports Radio’s Adam Luckett noted after Wiggins’ commitment to Penn State, the Wildcats have 17 official visits slated in June alone. Perhaps one of those recruits will commit during — or shortly after — their visit.

One factor that can’t be downplayed about UK’s 2026 class, however, is the specter of the 2024 season. At 4-8 overall (1-7 SEC), it was Stoops’ worst record since his first season, when the Wildcats lost 10 of their 12 contests, including all eight in conference play. Few, if any, high school prospects are eager to jump on board after a display as desultory as Kentucky’s 2024 season was.

Putting last year’s record aside, here’s another hard truth: While high school signees traditionally have been the backbone of every program in college football, the transfer portal isn’t going anywhere.

“The normal team these days (is) going to turn over 35, 40, over 40 (players each offseason),” Stoops said after a 41-14 loss to Louisville in the 2024 season finale. “That is different. … I didn’t think or ever say that (the transfer portal) was perfect or the end-all, be-all. I said that last time: It’s not ‘end-all, be-all.’ You have to have a strong nucleus of some good players and then supplement it.”

Yet hope forever springs eternal in college football: Kentucky’s 2027 class already has matched the 2026 edition in terms of commitments.

Quarterback DJ Hunter was first in the fold for the Wildcats’ 2027 recruiting class, committing April 7.

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