Mark Pope describes the recruiting bump Kentucky gets with him coaching with Team USA

Among the seven collegiate head coaches who helped work training camp for Team USA’s U19 Team, ahead of the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup in Switzerland, was Kentucky’s Mark Pope. It’s a big nod for the Wildcats’ head coach – while also being a big opportunity as well considering who all was in Colorado Springs.

Pope, in an interview with KSR’s Jack Pilgrim from the camp on Monday, addressed any recruiting advantage this may give him and his program considering the uncommitted names in future classes, some with scholarship offers from him, that he got to work with this week. He downplayed it a bit but did note the relationships he had formed with some of the top young talent in the country in this on-court role.

“Yeah, I don’t – I mean, the nice thing is you kind of put down the gloves here with any specific recruiting,” said Pope. “But, what you do is you get to know these great players and these are great players and great people too. And a lot of these kids are committed, some of these kids have already played a year in college. A lot of them are committed.

“But, building these relationships? You know, of course, everything we do and everywhere we go, we’re representing the University of Kentucky. But, this is – there is nothing that grows a relationship like being on the court with guys, coaching up guys, challenging guys, teaching guys.”

Of the 31 players who took part in training camp to start out in the week, 18 of them are either going into their sophomore or freshman seasons in college. That includes two of the incoming prospects for UK in their Top-20 recruiting class in Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno, each being Top-30, four-star prospects from out of the bluegrass in 2025. Since yesterday’s first roster cut to 18, Johnson has moved on while Moreno did not.

However, the remaining 13 names are members of the 2026 recruiting class with Tajh Ariza, Cole Cloer, Christian Collins, Jason Crowe Jr., Caleb Gaskins, Cameron Holmes, Caleb Holt, Taylen Kinney, Brandon McCoy, Deron Rippey Jr., Jordan Smith Jr., Tyran Stokes, and Elijah Williams. Nine of those names have offers from Pope, out of the dozen total that the Wildcats have given out for ’26, in McCoy, Stokes, Collins, Smith Jr., Holt, Crowe Jr., Ariza, Kinney, and Rippey Jr., who are all among the Top-20 overall and are either Five-Star+, five-star, or four-star prospects in the class per On3’s Industry Ranking.

With plenty of work to still do for this recruiting class through the summer and into the next school year, it’s to be determined how much of an impact this additional interaction could have for any of these coaches, including Pope. He’s just happy to be there and around them, though, with commitments possibly to come later depending on how these recruitments go.

“This is, it’s fun, man,” said Pope. “It’s fun to be around elite talent.”