Which recruits are visiting Kentucky basketball for Big Blue Madness?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- UK basketball will be hosting several recruits this weekend for Big Blue Madness.
- Five-star prospects Jordan Smith and Caleb Holt are among the recruits set to visit.
- Kentucky coach Mark Pope is about to begin his second season leading the Wildcats.
Mark Pope’s second season as the Kentucky basketball coach is about to officially begin.
The Wildcats’ annual season-tipoff event, Big Blue Madness, is set for 6 p.m. Saturday inside Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington.
Once again, Big Blue Madness will serve as a top recruiting event for Pope’s program. Pope’s first Madness last year lacked major recruit star power, but that was largely because of where it fell on the calendar. The 2024 edition of Big Blue Madness coincided with a USA Basketball Junior National Team minicamp in Colorado, which attracted many of the top prospects in the 2025, 2026 and 2027 recruiting classes.
Another USA Basketball Junior National Team minicamp is taking place this weekend, but Pope is nonetheless set to have more recruits at this year’s version of Madness than he did in 2024, when the event was highlighted by the Rupp Arena return of Rick Pitino.
There’s also a more pressing need for Kentucky to put its best foot forward with this year’s Madness visitors: Kentucky is still without a commitment from a class of 2026 recruit. UK is one of only three SEC schools (Auburn and Georgia) without a pledge from a high school senior.
Here’s the list of UK basketball recruits who will be at Big Blue Madness, and where Kentucky currently stands with each prospect.
Jordan Smith, Josh Irving will take official visits to Kentucky
Kentucky will be welcoming two prospects to Lexington on official visits for Big Blue Madness weekend.
Class of 2026 guard Jordan Smith is the name to know from this group. A consensus five-star prospect, the 6-foot-2 Smith is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 2 overall recruit in the high school senior class.
Known for his competitiveness and defensive tenacity, Smith is working with a top-six list of Arkansas, Duke, Georgetown, Indiana, Kentucky and Syracuse.
Smith visited Duke last year and Arkansas last month. He made a return trip to the Blue Devils last weekend for Duke’s own season-tipoff event, Countdown to Craziness.
Last year, Smith spoke to the Herald-Leader about some of his early recruiting conversations with Pope.
“Mark Pope said that he wants to coach somebody like me because he’s never coached anybody like me before,” Smith said. “I guess that they just probably think that I’m different than other players.”
Smith received on-court instruction from Pope this past summer at a USA Basketball training camp.
The Wildcats are currently lagging behind in the recruitment of Smith, who is from the Washington, D.C., area. Last month, 247Sports reported that UK is “on the outside looking in” with Smith, and Duke has repeatedly been cited as the school trending the most for him.
Smith isn’t expected to make his college commitment until early 2026.
Josh Irving, a four-star center from California, is the other official visitor for Big Blue Madness. The 6-foot-10 Irving is ranked as the No. 51 national recruit in the 2026 class.
Irving picked up a scholarship offer from Kentucky in late July.
A player who takes pride in his hustle on the court, Irving’s trip to Madness will be the latest stop in what’s been an active period of visits for him. Irving has been to San Diego State, SMU, Kansas, Louisville and Texas A&M already this year. After his trip to Lexington, Irving also has a visit scheduled for next week to Southern California.
After that trip to USC, Irving is expected to enter decision-making mode.
“There are a lot of schools that would love to have a player like me, but I might not have the best role at some of those places,” Irving told 247Sports last month. “The schools that need a player like me to succeed will put more time and effort into me, and that will make me a better player.”
Caleb Holt, Reese Alston among unofficial visits for Big Blue Madness
In addition to Smith and Irving as official visitors, the Wildcats will be hosting several prospects this weekend on unofficial visits.
Caleb Holt, a five-star shooting guard in the 2026 class, took an official visit to Kentucky last month. He’s already back in Lexington on an unofficial visit for Big Blue Madness.
The 6-5 Holt is ranked as the No. 3 overall recruit in the high school senior class. Notably, Holt has a name, image and likeness deal in place with Adidas and was one of the top performers on the Adidas grassroots circuit this past summer. Kentucky is a Nike-sponsored school.
Like Smith, Holt also got on-court time with Pope this summer at a USA Basketball training camp.
Holt’s international basketball experience includes being teammates with UK sophomore forward Jayden Quaintance and freshman guard Jasper Johnson with the United States at FIBA events in recent years.
UK assistant coach Jason Hart has made a major impact on Kentucky’s recruitment of Holt. Last year, Holt spoke to the Herald-Leader about that connection.
“He was one of the best guards in the league for a minute,” Holt said of Hart, who was a second-round NBA draft pick in 2000 and played for nine NBA teams as part of a 10-year pro career. “My goal is to be one of the best guards in the league. So, him recruiting me, to show that he could get me to where he was, that’s the end goal for sure.”
In addition to his Kentucky visit, Holt has taken official visits to Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Ole Miss and Providence.
Another unofficial visitor lined up for Madness is five-star class of 2027 point guard Reese Alston. A 6-foot-2 floor general, Alston is the son of Rafer Alston, who averaged 10.1 points and 4.8 assists per game during his 671-game NBA career.
The younger Alston is ranked as the No. 25 overall recruit in the high school junior class. Alston, who plays high school basketball in Houston, has yet to announce a scholarship offer from Kentucky. UK assistant coach Mikhail McLean, who holds strong ties to the Houston area, is leading the Wildcats’ recruitment of Alston.
If a scholarship offer were to come for Alston, he would join a small group of high school juniors with an offer from Pope’s program. Kentucky has only extended five scholarship offers to class of 2027 prospects: guards Nasir Anderson and Beckham Black, forwards CJ Rosser and Marcus Spears Jr. and center Obinna Ekezie Jr.
Other prospects reportedly taking unofficial visits to UK for Big Blue Madness include class of 2027 five-star power forward Dawson Battie and class of 2028 small forward Boogie Cook, who plays high school basketball in the commonwealth at Christian Academy of Louisville.
Neither Battie nor Cook holds a Kentucky offer. The Wildcats haven’t offered a scholarship to a class of 2028 prospect.
