Remember when people questioned if Mark Pope would be able to recruit at a place like Kentucky?
While he still needs to fill out the roster, Pope has been killing it when it comes to recruiting assistant coaches.
It began when Pope was able to reel in former G-League Ignite coach Jason Hart, who was a major player on the recruiting trail during his time with the USC Trojans. Hart also built significant connections with elite high school recruits like Jaden Hardy, Scoot Henderson, Matas Buzelis, and Ron Holland
But Pope wasn’t done there.
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After the Kentucky Wildcats were turned down by Scott Drew to be the school’s next head coach, Pope was later hired, and he just plucked Drew’s top assistant coach away from the Bears in Alvin Brooks III.
During his time at Baylor, Brooks helped reel in four of the top 10 highest-rated commits in program history, including top-five recruit VJ Edgecombe in the class of 2024, who picked the Bears over Duke and Kentucky.
I’d say Pope just assembled one of the best staffs in America, and Twitter agrees.
Here are the best Twitter reactions to the big news!
BREAKING:
Baylor assistant coach Alvin Brooks III is finalizing a deal to become an assistant coach at the University of Kentucky.
Hard to stress just how huge this is for Mark Pope.
Brooks III is one of the most respected assistants in the nation. Unanimously respected while also feared on the recruiting trail. Exceptional eye for talent.
That core group of Brooks, Cody Fueger and Jason Hart is special. https://t.co/mFqMycQFFP
When Coach Pope was hired and staff speculation began, Coach Alvin Brooks III was a name I thought of, but admittedly never thought it would/could happen. Well, here we are. One of the most respected assistants in the game with some BIG TIME recruiting chops.
Jason Hart equals good hire. Coached guys like Buzelis, Scoot Henderson, & Holland in the G-League which is now defunct. He also coached over a half-dozen NBA players at USC. Mark Pope & Hart played together for the Bucks in 2000-01.
Class of 2026, 5-star PF, Moustapha Diop on the hire of Mark Pope and Jason Hart at Kentucky.
“It’s a very good hire and I was pleased to hear [Mark Pope] is adding Jason Hart to his staff as I have a very close relationship with Coach Hart.” #BBN
Mark Pope on Jason Hart: “Jason Hart is everything as a coach that he was as a player. He has boundless energy. He’s fearless. He is stubborn. But he has endless joy and love for this game and our players. “He has all of the grit that you’d expect from a big-time Syracuse point…
The best part about the Alvin Brooks III hire to me is that he has a strong recruiting base in Texas. That is an area where there is constantly elite talent…
Julius Randle PJ Washington Tyrese Maxey De’Aaron Fox Jarred Vanderbilt Cason Wallace Andrew/Aaron Harrison
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Rivalry week has finally arrived. The Louisville and Kentucky football program are set to do battle once again, facing off in Lexington for the annual Battle for the Governor’s Cup.
Here are the depth charts for both the Cardinals and Wildcats:
Changes from Louisville’s Depth Chart vs. Pitt:
Quarterback
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9 Tyler Shough (6-5, 230, Gr.) 10 Pierce Clarkson (6-1, 190, R-Fr.) OR 15 Harrison Bailey (6-5, 230, R-Sr.) OR 12 Brady Allen (6-6, 220, R-So)
Running Back
25 Isaac Brown (5-9, 190, Fr.) 21 Donald Chaney Jr. (5-10, 210, R-Jr.) 26 Duke Watson (6-0, 180, Fr.) 22 Keyjuan Brown (5-10, 210, R-Fr.)
Wide Receiver
0 Chris Bell (6-2, 220, Jr.) 81 Cataurus Hicks (5-10, 180, R-Fr.)
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (3-2) at Kentucky Wildcats (5-0)
Lexington, Kentucky; Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. EST
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BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Wildcats -22.5; over/under is 164
BOTTOM LINE: No. 8 Kentucky takes on Western Kentucky after Koby Brea scored 22 points in Kentucky’s 108-59 win over the Jackson State Tigers.
The Wildcats have gone 4-0 at home. Kentucky is 10th in college basketball averaging 12.6 made 3-pointers per game while shooting 42.3% from downtown. Brea leads the team averaging 4.0 makes while shooting 74.1% from 3-point range.
The Hilltoppers are 0-1 in road games. Western Kentucky ranks third in the CUSA shooting 37.4% from 3-point range.
Kentucky scores 97.0 points, 24.2 more per game than the 72.8 Western Kentucky allows. Western Kentucky averages 9.8 made 3-pointers per game this season, 3.8 more made shots on average than the 6.0 per game Kentucky gives up.
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TOP PERFORMERS: Brea is shooting 74.1% from beyond the arc with 4.0 made 3-pointers per game for the Wildcats, while averaging 16 points.
Julius Thedford averages 2.4 made 3-pointers per game for the Hilltoppers, scoring 11.4 points while shooting 54.5% from beyond the arc.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Mark Stoops owns a five-game winning streak in the Governor’s Cup series. The Wildcats have won three games in a row at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium and have not lost to Louisville at Kroger Field since 2017 when Bobby Petrino was holding the call sheet and and Lamar Jackson was playing quarterback. The Wildcats have also covered a lot of spreads in this series.
Stoops is 7-2-1 against-the-spread (ATS) in this series with with covers as a double-digit dog in 2014 and 2016. Kentucky has beaten Louisville outright as a dog three times since 2016 and has covered five straight in this series. Those are not the only trends going in Kentucky’s direction heading into this Week 14 contest.
Louisville is 0-4-1 ATS as a road favorite under Jeff Brohm with outright losses to Pittsburgh and Stanford. Kentucky is 5-0-1 ATS as a dog in its last six outing including four games this season. Kentucky covered numbers as a double-digit dog against Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Texas this season.
The visitor is 11-3-1 ATS (5-10 outright) in the last 14 meetings of this series with 10 outright wins but Kentucky has won the last two meetings at Kroger Field covering each times as a three-point favorite. In 2019, Kentucky ran away for a 45-13 victory and cruised to a 26-13 victory in 2022.
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Kentucky has consistently overachieved pregame expectations in this series. The Wildcats are currently a 3.5-point dog with a total of 48.5. That’s a projected final score of 26-22.5. Will UK exceed expectations again against Louisville? A win would equal four outright upsets for the Big Blue in the last eight meetings of the series.
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