Kerr Kriisa playing for Mark Pope, Cody Fueger was years in the making: “It’s freaking Kentucky”

The first thing Mark Pope said about Kerr Kriisa once he announced his transfer from West Virginia to Kentucky was that he’s wanted the Estonian guard for as long as he can remember.

“I feel like I’ve been recruiting him for the last five or six years since he was a prep player,” Pope said.

First it was at BYU out of high school before the 6-2 guard signed with Arizona, Cody Fueger leading the charge with Pope there. They jumped on him once he entered the transfer portal at Arizona twice — he withdrew the first time around — then again at West Virginia this offseason before finally reeling in their long-awaited fish at Kentucky.

From start to finish, they were there. And Kriisa noticed.

“Coach Fueger was actually the first coach to ever call me about college, so it’s a crazy full-circle moment for me,” he told KSR on Thursday. “Going into my last year of college, I can actually play for the coaches who were the first ones ever to reach out to me. I never really thought about going to college, and then some things changed overseas so I started to think about college a bit more. Cody was the first one, so it’s special.”

If anything, Kriisa appreciates the patience Pope and Fueger showed in their relentless pursuit of the electric shot-maker. There were several opportunities for the staff to give up and move on to other options, year after year. Instead, his phone kept ringing and Kriisa finally picked up with the answer they’d been waiting for: yes.

“It just shows their loyalty. I mean, I gave them chances, but I never made the full commitment to play for him,” Kriisa added. “Maybe I did them a little bit dirty, but just the fact that I was going into my third portal or whatever and he still calls me, it’s just like, man.

“I said, ‘Let’s do it. What are we doing? What are we talking about? Let’s just get it done and get to work.’”

This time around, though, he’ll be suiting up for a blue blood — the bluest of bloods. That undoubtedly impacted his decision and added to the intrigue. He’s always loved Pope and Fueger, but maybe couldn’t get there with BYU.

And then they traded out that logo for Kentucky gear.

“I mean, it’s Kentucky,” Kriisa told KSR. “I don’t know what else to say really. It’s freaking Kentucky. Like, it’s not Duke, it’s Kentucky. It’s different.”

So what’s the difference between now and a half-decade ago, what he thought of Pope as a coach then compared to actually playing for him now? Has it been worth the wait on Kriisa’s end, maybe some leftover guilt about not playing for him sooner? Anything he knows now about him he didn’t before?

“He cares. I knew that, but he cares more than I knew or I thought,” he said. “He cares about his players and he’s smart, really smart. For a coach who used to be the center or a tall guy, he knows a lot about the game. I usually think that guards know more about the game, but Coach Pope, he knows his stuff.”

It took longer than Pope and Fueger maybe hoped, but they finally got their guy. And Kriisa is happy they did.