Mark Pope explains what player traits he's looking for when building Kentucky's roster

Mark Pope had to, in a sense, rush his first offseason as head coach of Kentucky men’s basketball. He took over a program that had just one committed high school prospect and zero staff members. The former BYU coach was behind in the transfer portal and had no proof to show recruits he could win at this level.

But after a wildly successful first season that saw more Top 25 wins than any other team in school history and a spot in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019, building a roster has been a bit “easier” now in his second offseason. He now had winning tape to show potential Wildcats. And without having to replace an entire roster, he could get pickier with who he targeted in the portal.

What exactly is Pope looking for in terms of future Wildcats? In his interview this week with Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, he outlined a few of the characteristics that he and his staff are on the prowl for — not just in the portal, but for all potential additions. After landing five transfers, Pope has Kentucky’s portal class ranked No. 1 in the country by On3. He’s also bringing in a pair of Top 30 high school recruits.

“We have some core values that are really important to us,” Pope told Rothstein. “Ability to shoot the ball is really important to us; ability to be a decider on the floor at every single position. We covet guys that are able to make reads on the floor. We really value bigs that are elite-level passers, where we can invert the offense and run it through them.

“We really, really covet guys that can communicate on the defensive end. And one of the things that we really look for in our players is their ability to communicate in real time, the very first time we talk to them, that’s something we talk about as a staff.”

On paper, Pope has built a team that checks all those boxes. The communication on defense aspect won’t be truly known until the season begins, but pull up the film on guys like Jaland Lowe, Kam Williams, and Mouhamed Dioubate, and you’ll see them talking on the floor and why Pope sought them.

“Those are some of the key factors for us that we look for in every player we recruit at the University of Kentucky,” Pope said.

Finding players with these specific traits worked out well in year one — it could lead to even higher highs in year two.

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