Kentucky men’s basketball coach Mark Pope had no idea he was so close to losing top-40 recruit Acaden Lewis to Connecticut.

The 6-foot-2, 170-pound point guard from Washington, D.C., averaged 14.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.5 steals last year for Sidwell Friends School and shot 48% from the field and 33% from 3-point range. In Nike EYBL play last summer, he averaged 16.7 points, 6.1 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game.

Lewis is a consensus top-40 recruit and should pair nicely in the backcourt with signee Jasper Johnson, a combo guard more suited for the two guard. Both are also lefties, which could make for a unique backcourt.

However, Lewis was ready to commit to UConn before his father, Jarrett, managed to convince him to let Pope make one last home visit.

“He was on the verge of cutting Kentucky,” Jarett Lewis said. “Kentucky noise was at a fever pitch. There were crystal ball picks for him to Kentucky early. But when Big Blue Nation was going crazy, Kentucky didn’t have a chance at that point. Everybody thought it was Kentucky and we had not even seen them practice.”

On Acaden Lewis’ unofficial visit to UK, his flight was delayed and he did not arrive until practice was ending.

“He was not going to Kentucky without ever seeing them practice. He had seen Duke practice multiple times. Same with UConn. He had been to USC multiple times. But he had never seen Pope run a practice, even though Pope had built an incredible relationship with him,” Lewis’ father said. “His choice was going to be UConn.”

Jarett Lewis got a call from UK assistant Jason Hart about 6 p.m. a few weeks ago saying Pope wanted to visit the next day and “hang out” with Acaden, who did not have school the next day. Jarett told Hart to “book the jet.” However, about an hour later Acaden told his father he had a conversation with another coach who recommended that if he knew it was going to be Duke or Connecticut that it made no sense to take an official visit to Kentucky.

“I am floored because Mark and Jason had recruited him the hardest of any blue blood. Regardless of his ranking, Pope recruited him like he was Allen Iverson in his prime,” Jarett said. “Mark Pope or Jason Hart were here every week. Mark Pope came four straight weeks to watch Acaden work out and then went back home. We never made that public.”

Acaden didn’t know his father had already told Pope to come visit when he was ready to commit to UConn. For the only time during the recruiting process, his father interjected his opinion on the recruiting. He told his son Pope was coming to have lunch and hang out the next day.

“I don’t care if you cut Kentucky, but the thing we won’t do is not give Mark Pope a cache to address any concerns you have. The thing you do better than anybody in the country is communicate and whatever fears and concerns you have, now is the time for you to hold Pope accountable,” Jarett Lewis told his son. “You have a big-boy conversation with him and then if you want to walk away from Kentucky without taking an official visit I am OK with you going to UConn.”

Jarett admits he liked Pope a lot because he’s the “happiest guy in the world” every day.

“Pope doesn’t know he’s on the verge of being cut. He has no clue. I called and told him that tomorrow was a big day and that he needed to push Acaden and have a difficult and uncomfortable conversation. Pope doesn’t know I am encouraging him to do this because he is about to get cut,” Jarett said.

The lunch plan was Nando’s, Hart’s favorite restaurant in Washington. Jarett went to the barbershop while the Pope and his son had lunch. Pope opted to join Jarett at the barbershop after lunch ended.

“We live in the hood, but they (Pope and Acaden) come down and hang out in the barbershop. There is no gimmick with Pope. He cares about where you are from, who you spend time with. If he likes you and wants you, he wants to understand you,” Jarett said.

“I get out of the (barber) chair and me and Pope talk. He watches Acaden get his haircut. I have to go to the shoe store, so Pope and I walk about two blocks to the store and he tells me he thinks lunch went well. It hurt me because I knew my kid was probably going to call him by the time he landed back in Lexington and tell he was cutting Kentucky.”

Instead, when Jarett gets home his son calls him and says he is “confused” and that Pope understands him and that Kentucky is no longer cut. That led to an official visit to Kentucky for Big Blue Madness, which was also Acaden’s birthday weekend.

“I am just praying on the visit that they (UK) not fumble. Just put on a good show and let’s see where things go. They hit a home run. It went perfectly,” Jarett said. “Out of all the schools, they were the most receptive to the feedback I shared. He didn’t care about seeing campus. He wanted this visit to be about basketball. It was the most basketball-oriented visit we had and what we wanted. Academics were not a concern. He’s a good student.

“He loved it all and decided Kentucky was for him. But if I had not stepped in and said to let Pope visit, I guarantee you now he would be going to UConn. I basically forced him to take that visit, but now he’s glad I did.”

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Before Kenny Brooks became the Kentucky women’s basketball coach, top-20 prospect Kaelyn Carroll admits she did not know a lot about UK.

“I knew a lot about the boys’ side and how great they are and how it is a big athletic school, but that was about it,” the 6-2 wing from Massachusetts said. “Definitely coach Kenny is the big reason I came here.”

The five-star wing player picked the Cats over South Carolina, North Carolina, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, Villanova and Minnesota. She had more than 40 scholarship offers and her first one came when she was in the eighth grade.

She was a 44% shooter from 3-point range at Tabor Academy last season.

Carroll had a scholarship offer from Brooks at Virginia Tech, but once he moved to UK his assistant coaches reached out quickly with a Kentucky offer as well.

“Coach (Lindsey) Hicks is amazing,” Carroll said. “I really like her, too. I also clicked really well with most of the girls on my visit. The coaches did not really talk to me a lot about what else they might do recruiting-wise, but that’s fine because I know who they have on the team already.

“I think basically Kentucky was just the right fit for me. Building relationships has been huge for me and I’ve always had a good connection with Kenny. We’ve had good conversations about stuff outside of basketball, but also how he will use me in his system and help me transition to college. I think he will give me the opportunity to excel.”

While she’s a proven 3-point shooter, she can do a lot more.

“I think my versatility is really huge. I have been working really hard on using my size more,” the UK signee said. “I definitely will be on the outside a lot because of my shot, but I know Kenny will develop my inside game.

“Growing up I was always a point guard when I was young. I definitely think at the next level I can play different positions and Kenny can help develop my game a lot.”

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Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops was sort of joking recently when he said he didn’t want to show too much of what true freshman kicker Jacob Kauwe of Montana could do if used regularly because he didn’t want other schools to pursue him.

“We lose guys (to the transfer portal), but we’ve been relatively fortunate. It’s not to say we’ve lost guys that have chosen to go and try to get reps right away (rather) than stay and maybe play a year or two later. I think that the development part of it cost us a bit this year,” Stoops said.

“There were some guys that I thought, just if I asked them point blank, ‘Are you ready to play?’ they’d say, ‘Absolutely not,’ but they’re going to go somewhere else (to play right away). Well then, stay here and work and get better and continue to grind.

“I think definitely that part of it may hurt you; it has hurt us. But we’ve been able to keep normally our tier-one guys, for the most part, and hopefully, we’ll continue to do that.”

Kentucky felt it found a hidden gem in Kauwe, a three-star prospect and top-20 kicker in his recruiting class. Stoops knows rival coaches can watch him in warmups and see his talent.

“We’ve all got to protect our players as best we can,” Stoops said.

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Several national college basketball analysts felt Mark Pope hit a home run when he put Jason Hart on his staff because of his high school, college and NBA connections. Pope said Hart, the former G League Ignite head coach, even turned down an NBA opportunity to come to Lexington.

“After I hired him here, an NBA team actually came really, really hard after him. He went through the interview process and just decided it wasn’t the right time or situation for him,” Pope said.

Hart has also been an assistant coach at Southern Cal and Pepperdine. He was a G League head coach from 2021-24.

“J-Hart is a no-brainer. He just finished as a head coach in the G League. If he hadn’t taken the job with Ignite, he would be a head coach somewhere else right now,” Pope said. “He’s one of those guys who’s on an insane trajectory in this business because he’s that good.”

Pope said Hart could easily be an assistant NBA coach next year and eventually an NBA head coach.

“He’s that good. He’s universally beloved throughout basketball,” Pope said. “He’s already been a great head coach, but he’s going to be one of those guys either in the NBA or college ranks that you’re going to be looking at as one of the best coaches in the game. He’s really, really special.”

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Kentucky women’s basketball coach Kenny Brooks knew All-American point guard Georgia Amoore had not shot the ball well early, but he also was not overly concerned.

“I think for her trying to get everybody else comfortable is what she does,” Brooks said. “Every year she starts slower than what she finishes. She is the consummate point guard.

“We created a scoring point guard (with her) out of necessity (at Virginia Tech). She would love to make a great pass instead of hitting a shot. She has morphed into a scoring point guard, but she is like the caretaker. She is the one making sure everyone is getting opportunities.”

Brooks said his star player sometimes forgets about scoring and passes up open shots to get the ball to others.

“She has not shot well, but her defense has been terrific. Her leadership is better than ever. She is more vocal than she has ever been,” Brooks said. “She is a kid that is not judged by what the stat sheet says. I want her to shoot more, but she is just a caretaker.”

He said that before UK beat Louisville in overtime to end a seven-game losing streak against the Cardinals. Amoore played all 45 minutes and had 19 points on 7-for-17 shooting, nine assists, two steals and one blocked shot. She had eight turnovers, but Brooks was not worried about that.

The coach said a few turnovers were on him for plays he called, a few possibly on fatigue and a few because she was being guarded by defensive whiz Kalyn Williams.

“Playing 45 minutes with this intensity, this type of game, it’s remarkable what she did,” Brooks said after the Louisville win.

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Quote of the Week: “We’re an older group, so if we’re going to do big things on the court, we have to get along off the court. It kind of started in the summer. We all had a common goal to win big, so we knew, if we want to do that, we have to come together in hard situations. I feel that kind of showed today,” Kentucky junior Otega Oweh, after the win over Duke.

Quote of the Week 2: “I have renewed faith in Kentucky basketball during the Mark Pope era. He’s smart and really cares about his players. He could turn into a younger version of Rick Pitino. Big Blue Nation should be ecstatic,” New York Daily News columnist Dick Weiss, on Kentucky basketball.

Quote of the Week 3: “I really enjoy watching him play. He has that cockiness you hate but love at the same time. He pushes the pace and the ball movement is great while he is in the game,” former high school coach Lonnie Rowe – and father of UK women’s guard Cassidy Rowe – on UK guard Kerr Kriisa.