Mark Pope has ‘intense chess match on the board’ for top recruiting target [Video]

Mark Pope has pulled off a number of big-time recruiting wins since taking over as the head coach at Kentucky, starting with the first transfer portal cycle and into his first high school recruiting class. He stole Jaxson Robinson from the NBA, Koby Brea from a host of blue bloods and Travis Perry from — well, Pope kind of forced his hand on that one.

“Travis signed his NLI here, so I’m pretty sure it was legal to call him out in the press conference,” he told KSR. “He had to make a decision about what he was going to do, but after the press conference, he had no choice. It was beautiful [laughs].”

They had fun keeping Lamont Butler a secret from the college basketball world while Collin Chandler‘s recruitment was near and dear to Pope’s heart, the former top-35 prospect leaving home upon returning from a two-year mission trip to follow his head coach …