Ask Mark Anything: Did UK try to recruit Kentucky Mr. Basketball Jake Feldhaus?
This week’s edition of “Ask Mark Anything” features questions from readers about Kentucky Mr. Basketball Jake Feldhaus, Mark Pope’s recruiting in both the transfer portal and the high school ranks and how both the UK men and Kentucky women’s basketball teams are likely to fare in 2026-27.
Let’s get to it.
Question one comes from Dan McCamish on Facebook: “Did UK ever look at Feldhaus, MR. BASKETBALL IN KENTUCKY???”
Mark’s reply: I am told by someone involved in the recruitment of Jake Feldhaus that the Madison Central star “never heard a word” from Kentucky.
The 6-foot-8, 220-pound Feldhaus, Kentucky’s 2026 Mr. Basketball, signed with Belmont in the early signing period.
After Bruins coach Casey Alexander left for Kansas State, Feldhaus reopened his recruitment. His new recruiting finalists were Belmont, South Florida, Western Kentucky and Wyoming.
He ultimately signed with South Florida, a program now led by ex-Louisville coach Chris Mack.
I’ve always thought that UK, as the commonwealth’s flagship university, should at least look at our state’s top players — with no obligation to sign them if the Cats coaches don’t believe a player is good enough to play and win at the “Kentucky level.”
Given that Jake Feldhaus (20.7 points, 13.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 57.6 field goal% as a Madison Central senior) is the son (Deron Feldhaus) and grandson (Allen Feldhaus Sr.) of former Kentucky Wildcats players, I think UK should have at least scouted him.
Question two comes from BlueSky user “Goblin:” “(Kentucky seems) to be struggling to get top basketball talent. The talking heads say there is a bad narrative in recruiting circles about Pope but those saying it need controversy for clicks. ... So, are the talking heads right? If so, is there any talk to addressing it?”
Mark’s reply: This is a complicated question to answer, simply because the dynamics of each recruitment are different.
Still, it’s hard not to say there’s some problem with Kentucky’s high school recruiting following a cycle when it was unable to sign even one of the top prospects it pursued.
Of the Tyran Stokes recruitment in particular, it is my understanding that Kentucky could have landed a different top-five recruit had it pivoted away from wooing Stokes earlier in the process.
As I read the tea leaves coming from Stokes and his camp as far back as last summer, I didn’t think there was ever much chance of him coming to Kentucky. Given that, I don’t understand why UK stayed in it to the bitter end before Stokes committed to Kansas this week.
Prior to getting the Kentucky job, Mark Pope worked as an assistant at Georgia, Wake Forest and BYU and as the head man at Utah Valley and BYU. So he hasn’t had a ton of experience recruiting from the top of the lists.” I think that has shown in some of the recruitments in which UK has engaged.
That said, Pope has only had two full high school recruiting cycles as Kentucky head coach. That is not much of a sample size from which to render a lasting judgment.
Let’s see how Pope and his staff fare with the Class of 2027.
Question three comes from Russ Kessler on X:
Mark’s reply: Probably the four top players still available in the portal are Milan Momcilovic (Iowa State), Juke Harris (Wake Forest), Tounde Yessoufou (Baylor) and Allen Graves (Santa Clara).
All four of them also have their names in the 2026 NBA draft.
If I were Kentucky, I’d redirect the money that had been earmarked for Tyran Stokes and see if Momcilovic could be lured back into college hoops for one more season.
A 6-8 wing who hit 48.7% of his 3-point attempts last season would fill a big void in Kentucky’s current roster construction. Getting Momcilovic would also, I think, animate the Big Blue Nation.
If UK can’t lure a portal star out of the NBA draft, international players and high school reclassifications from the Class of 2027 are also a possibility to add to a roster that, I think, still needs another wing shooter and a physical, rebounding-adept backup center.
Question four comes from Greg Farris on X:
Mark’s reply: That’s a hard opinion to render until we know the final composition of the Kentucky roster.
So with the right to change my mind when further information becomes available, I am going to say Kentucky will have a better record in 2026-27 than the 22-14 it posted last season.
I’ll take a guess at how the Cats will fare in March Madness when the roster is done.
Question five comes from Mike Johnson on X:
Mark’s reply: I think whether 2026-27 will be the most talented roster of Kenny Brooks’ 3-year Kentucky women’s basketball coaching tenure depends heavily on how ready UK’s three incoming McDonald’s All-Americans — Maddyn Greenway, Emily McDonald and Savvy Swords — are to play as freshmen.
A big part of that is how willing will Brooks be to use the frosh immediately?
That, to me, is the most interesting question about the 2026-27 Kentucky women’s hoops season
