Mark Pope pulled off one of his biggest recruiting surprises when he signed 6-foot-8 Braydon Hawthorne, a four-star wing prospect ranked in the top 40 in his recruiting class.

The Kentucky men’s basketball coach already had what looked like a loaded roster when Hawthorne, a one-time West Virginia commit from Beckley, West Virginia, chose the Cats over Duke, Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Pittsburgh.

However, this was not a fluke because Kentucky had started recruiting Hawthorne last summer.

“Not a lot of people know this, but last July he was playing in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and we got a call from (UK assistant) coach (Jason) Hart. He said they were interested in him and think that your son has pro potential,” said Walt Hawthorne, Braydon’s father. “He and Braydon started communicating.

“Once Braydon got back to school (at Huntington Prep), coach Hart was going to come see him but West Virginia came in, watched him and he committed. The day after he committed but it had not gone public, coach Hart called to say they were coming to see him real soon but he let them know he had committed. Coach Hart told him congrats and he was proud of him.”

Once West Virginia coach Darian DeVries left for Indiana in March, Hawthorne decommitted and Pope saw the news on social media.

“He told coach Hart to give us a call while they were at March Madness. They have been in contact ever since. Braydon didn’t say a lot about it to many people, but Kentucky was there and very consistent with him. He had a great relationship with coach Pope and the entire staff.”

It didn’t hurt that he was a longtime Wildcats fan when his father took him to a John Calipari Father-Son Basketball Camp at Kentucky. He also took Braydon’s younger brother, Zyon, a point guard who averaged 17 points per game for Woodrow Wilson High School and just got a scholarship offer from Wichita State.

“I wanted the boys to love the game and I was looking for camps to take them to. I found a father-son camp at Kentucky. They loved the Kentucky camp so much that we did it two times,” Walt Hawthorne said. “Braydon even asked coach Cal if he was wearing the same shirt as last year when we went the second year.

“After that, they grew up Kentucky fans from going to those camps. They were probably 7 or 8 (years old) at the time but they loved it.”

Walt Hawthorne still has pictures of his sons on the Memorial Coliseum court, posing in front of photos of UK draft choices and even one of Braydon sitting on the bench outside of Wildcat Lodge beside the statue of former UK coach Joe B. Hall.

“I am sure he had no idea who coach Hall was, but he wanted that picture,” Walt Hawthorne said. “But they really enjoyed the camp. I took a lot of stuff back with me to train them with. I asked coach Cal what one of the most important things they needed to work on and he said ball handling, and that’s why Braydon can handle the ball so well at 6-foot-9. I trained him to be a basketball player with guard skills.”

The UK signee’s father says it’s “crazy” that his son is scheduled to report to campus on exactly the same June date that they arrived at their first father-son camp at UK.

“When (assistant) coach (Alvin) Brooks told us the reporting date, I was speechless. It is unbelievable how the date worked out,” Walt Hawthorne said.

It’s almost unbelievable that a four-star prospect like Braydon Hawthorne would be willing to join a loaded roster that already had four returning players (if Otega Oweh withdraws from the NBA draft as expected), four incoming freshmen and five transfers.

“Basically the way the conversation went with coach Pope was you come in, compete and minutes can be earned,” Nate Hawthorne said. “Based on his development this season, coach Pope told us if they had been having the same conversation last summer he would have been talking redshirt. But the way he progressed this year, Pope told him he would give him an opportunity to come in and compete.

“Pope told him if he is ready to play, he will play him. If not, they will have a conversation in November (about the upcoming season). That was all Braydon needed to hear. That’s just how he is. If he’s not ready (for this season), then he’ll work and watch out next year.”

Nate Hawthorne says his son is “ecstatic” with the talent he will be practicing against daily.

“He knows that there will be some of the best players in the country on his team he will go against every day and that makes you better,” Nate Hawthorne said. “I think when he plays against competition like that, he raises his level of play.

“He’s always had a chip on his shoulder to prove people wrong. He thrives off that. It makes him better. When he was in ninth grade he played for Team Durant in (the Nike) EYBL. He did not play a lot, but that is when he started transforming his game. Tenth grade he played more and got better.

“When he went to Huntington Prep, (coach) Arkell (Bruce) did not guarantee him anything. Braydon went to work and got better. He’ll take the same approach at Kentucky and can’t wait to get started.”

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Elsa Vadfors, a 6-foot-5 center from Sweden, recently signed with the University of Kentucky. Vadfors, 19, played for Uppsala Basket, a Swedish club team, where she averaged 1.2 points and 2.9 rebounds in 18 games this season. She also played for Sweden’s 2024 FIBA U18 EuroBasket team and averaged 1.7 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.

Dan Bowmaker has a website — bluestareurope.com — aimed at “helping Europe’s female basketball players find a school in the USA” and has seen Vadfors play.

“She is a mobile post player who has very good lateral speed for her size with good shot blocking instincts,” said Bowmaker, who covered a tournament in Spain last week. “Her offensive game continues to develop.

“She came to the game quite late, so I think she and the coaching staff will expect her to make significant progress during her time at Kentucky.”

Freshman center Clara Silva had some issues with the physical Southeastern Conference play last season. Bowmaker, who is on X at @bluestareurope, knows “any player has to adapt to the jump in physicality from high school to college athletics,” whether it is the SEC or any other conference in college basketball.

“Late in her (recruiting) process, Elsa was able to choose between options in the SEC and Big 12,” he said. “I was not surprised she chose Kentucky. As I am sure you know, the staff does a great job recruiting.

“My role as a basketball scout is to evaluate talent and provide that info to my subscribers, and that’s easier than the coaches. They have to balance their roster, develop the team and individual players over time to bring success to the program, so Elsa is clearly part of that plan (at Kentucky). I guess time will tell how big a part she gets to play.”

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Reece Potter grew up loving University of Kentucky basketball and the former Lexington Catholic standout understands his transfer back home from Miami (Ohio) to UK does put a little pressure on him.

“Everybody’s been extremely loving to me,” Potter said. “All my friends kind of joke with me, and they kind of put a little pressure on me. They say, ‘You can’t mess it up for your home state.’ But other than that, I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve played college ball for a couple of years now, so I kind of know what it is like and obviously I know what Kentucky basketball is like.”

Potter watched a lot of Kentucky basketball last year and paid close attention to center Amari Williams, who turned into a point center for Kentucky when UK’s guards were decimated by injuries.

“I ran a similar offense last year at my other school. That’s something that I’m looking to do again,” Potter said. “I like being able to put the ball on the floor and being able to pass and get everybody open. I can make passes some people aren’t going to be able to make because Amari and me, we’re taller people. We can reach around people and be able to swing it anywhere.

“One reason I came to Kentucky was the way Amari was able to succeed in this offense. I am looking forward to doing that and growing my game in the next couple of years.”

One of Potter’s teammates will be freshman Malachi Moreno, Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball who led Great Crossing to the 2025 state championship. Like Potter, he’s a 7-foot center.

“I played Malachi every year in high school a bunch of times, so we were always getting compared to each other,” Potter said.

He’s also familiar with incoming freshman guard Jasper Johnson, who played two years at Woodford County before spending his final two high school seasons playing for Link Academy and then Overtime Elite.

“I’ve always been really cool with them and know the Johnson family, so it will be nice to have them on my team now,” Potter said.

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What made Kentucky the right school when tight end Henry Boyer decided to leave Illinois after three years where he played in 25 games with two starts?

“I came down here on my visit, and it’s kind of one of those things where it checked all my boxes,” the 6-6, 265-pound Boyer said.

Boyers had only three catches for 20 yards at Illinois but Kentucky is not known for throwing to tight ends, either. Still, Boyer was looking beyond football when he committed to UK.

“I’m from Chicago, so it’s not like Kentucky is all the way across the country. I like the academics here. I really like the coaching staff,” Boyer said. “You always have great respect for schools like Kentucky, schools that play in this conference. When I got into the transfer portal and I got a call from (assistant) coach (Vince) Marrow, that was really exciting. It was a great opportunity for me.”

Boyer was a three-star recruit and top 50 tight end nationally coming out of high school. He was also an all-around athlete who also participated in baseball, basketball and track (shot put and discus) in high school.

Boyer believes he can be equally effective as a blocker or pass catcher, depending on what coach Mark Stoops wants.

“I’m willing to do whatever I have to do to help this team win and to have a really enjoyable, fun season,” Boyer said. “I felt like when I talked to coach Marrow, I really liked everything he had to say.”

Boyer did his “research” on Marrow and liked the track record of success he had at Kentucky.

“I don’t think someone stays somewhere so long if they haven’t had some success. I have trust in the coaching staff,” Boyer said. “I know that they’re gonna take care of me, that they’re gonna develop me, and in turn, I know I can help this football team.”

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Quote of the Week: “As a competitive athlete, you obviously want to be on the court, but having an amazing teammate like Emma you take in so much. If you are put in a role, you just have to embrace it. So even if I wasn’t setting, I was embracing my role, coming as a serving specialist, while still learning what I needed to do,” Kentucky junior setter Ava Sarafa, on playing behind All-American setter Emma Grome for two years.

Quote of the Week 2: “I feel like I earn the respect of my peers by the way I work, not what I say. Once guys see that I’m busting my tail just like them and can perform on the field, that’s how I get a leadership role. I try to lead by example. I am not much on telling people what to do and what not to do,” UK linebacker Landyn Watson, on his leadership style.

Quote of the Week 3: “He is the person that everybody would love to have as a leader. He is positive, knows how to challenge without doing damage, knows how to encourage pitchers, knows how to pick up the dugout. He is a wonderful young man with a great heart who lays it on the field every game,” former UK coach Keith Madison, on UK senior catcher Devin Burkes.