Mark Pope was excited before his first UK press conference and probably is just as excited with the recruits he'll have on campus this weekend. (UK Athletics Photo)
It’s hard to keep track of all the work Kentucky coach Mark Pope is trying to get done in the transfer portal.
So while I had not heard anything about Oklahoma transfer Otega Oweh visiting UK this weekend but various media outlets have reported he’s in Lexington on what will be a busy recruiting weekend.
The 6-5 Oweh was a four-star prospect out of New Jersey in the 2022 recruiting class when he signed with the Sooners. He was considered a top 100 player and top 10 shooting guard. He played in 32 games with nine starts as a freshman and last season started 28 of 32 games when he averaged 24.8 minutes, 11.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. He shot almost 50 percent from the field, including 38 percent from 3.
Oweh has visited Oregon and Texas A&M and is ranked as one of the top 25 players in the transfer portal.
Another four-star transfer expected to be on campus is Utah point guard Deivon Smith, a top 40 player in the transfer portal. He’s only been in the portal about a week but Villanova, Florida, Creighton, St. John’s, Miami, Wake Forest, NC State, Kansas State, Washington, Louisville and VCU all quickly reached out.
Smith started his collegiate career at Mississippi State and played in 33 games as a true freshman with eight starts. He transferred to Georgia Tech for his sophomore season and started five of the 24 games he played. He started 13 games his junior season and averaged 8.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.
Smith transferred again for his senior season and started 21 of 28 games he played while averaging 13.3 points, 7.1 assists, 6.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game for Utah. He shot 41 percent from 3.
Stanford transfer Andrej Stojakovic is a former McDonald’s All-American scheduled to be on the Kentucky campus. He visited California last weekend and has also expressed interest in North Carolina. He started 10 games as a true freshman last season when he averaged 7.8 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. He was offered a scholarship by John Calipari coming out of high school and was a consensus top 20 player in his recruiting class.
12 Responses
Still looking like as many misses as hits so far. Hopefully that changes over the weekend. `I don’t understand why the Dayton sharp shooter would have UK in top 5 but then not give us a serious look as UConn and Duke top dogs. Also, a little surprised that none of the previous commits really gave us serious consideration or that most of Pope’s BYU team decided to pass.
Give Mark time. He just got his staff hired this week. There are plenty of kids still in the portal and new ones coming in every day. He will field a respectable team.
I bet it will be better than that.
Offense sells tickets. Defense wins Championships. Rebounding wins titles.
Give it time.. without Trey and Antonio we would have had a losing season. You never know how the portal kids will work out until they come together as a team. We knew that it was not going to be easy. We will have experienced players that will be better able to withstand the roughness that the SEC has become. It is a scary world for high school kids to come to for sure.
I hope that coach will find a place for Tyler Ulis. PLEASE coach!!!! He is part of our BBN family!
We picked up a guard from San Diego St. A defensive stopper.
It is not like it used to be. These kids are coming in for 2-way interviews. Pope is interviewing them and they are interviewing Pope, UK, and the Donors. And you also have the kids Agents involved in the process. Most of the portal kids that coaches talk with, probably don’t even have a scholarship offer at the time of the meeting. It is just like when we go on a interview and then, maybe, we are offered the job. We are now in the world of mad house free agency because the NCAA doesn’t know how to handle it.
Noah Boyed!!!!! 7 footer from Baylor! Coming with new coach!!
Give Pope time were going to get some good players in Portal, plus the bonus this year is are players are going to get good coaching for the first time! Cal will have same problem at Arkansas, the players are to young and when they start getting good they will already be out the door before they can help the program! Are Kansas will realize this soon!
The real challenge with portal recruiting is everyone wants to go somewhere that will give them more money and more playing time. We now have two point guards signed; no more portal point guards are going to have UK as an option. We have a dominant center now; rumors say a raw 7 footer from Baylor is coming now. If not, recruiting a backup center will come after all of the starting caliber centers have signed elsewhere. Osobor will be in town next week; signing him would be huge in more ways than one. If we get him, we’ll be a more than respectable team next season. Finding a backup will come later. We have an unknown in our shooting guard with him being away from the game for 2 years. I think it will take some time for him to get back to a competitive playing level; let’s hope that’s not the case. Getting a starting caliber shooting guard will be a hard spot to fill now. Small forward is still open and Mark will land a solid guy for that spot. I like Omier out of Miami but does he like Kentucky? In most cases, when a coach leaves a program the next season will be a down year. Fortunately for Pope, Calipari set the bar low for tournament expectations; hopefully BBN will do the same. Until the portal situation changes, EVERY program will be in a continuing rebuild process; but Pope and his staff are in place and won’t be playing catchup. Signing Osobor will be the key for our upcoming season. If we miss on him, my expectations for this coming season will be lowered; if we get him…we could be the surprise team of 2024/25. An Osobor and Omier signing makes us a contender!
Sure Hope Mark get the team and staff that he want and need. He should, he’s getting all the money that is needed to do so. I wish him luck
GO BIG BLUE