Ask Mark Anything: Did Dan Issel identify the UK men’s hoops recruiting problem?
This week’s edition of “Ask Mark Anything,” features questions about Dan Issel’s comments on UK men’s basketball’s NCAA title drought, Mark Pope’s ability to relate to players, Kentucky football’s efforts to recruit Mr. Football Evan Hampton and the arc of the UK baseball season.
Let’s get to it.
Question one comes from Gene McRoberts on Facebook: “Concerning Dan Issell’s statements that ‘We can’t cheat anymore!’ Do you feel this is KY’s problem now?”
Mark’s reply: For those who missed it, Issel, Kentucky men’s basketball’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder, appeared on “Run It Back,” the daily NBA show on FanDuel TV.
Appearing with hosts Michelle Beadle, Chandler Parsons and Lou Williams, Issel was asked by the latter why UK hadn’t won a NCAA men’s hoops title since 2012.
Issel’s reply lit up social media: “With NIL, we can’t cheat like we used to,” he said. “I was hoping Boogie (Cousins, the ex-Kentucky and NBA center) was on the show. We need him to kick in more NIL money and help us out a little bit.”
If you’ve ever interacted with Issel, he has a sarcastic sense of humor. I think he was joking in this part of his remarks.
However, what Issel said subsequently in response to why Kentucky has not won a men’s hoops national championship in 14 years had merit as serious analysis.
“I think the landscape of college basketball with the transfer portal and NIL has really changed and brought a lot of equality to college basketball,” Issel said. “Where you used to count on Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke and Kansas staying at the very top, I don’t think that’s going to happen anymore.”
Question two comes from Dan Evans on Facebook: “We hear that Mark Pope doesn’t ‘connect’ (with recruits). Do we have any former players commenting on that? He has been able to get some talent the past 2 seasons.”
Mark’s reply: I think I’ve had multiple questions every week since I restarted this mailbag about Mark Pope and his “relatability factor” with recruits. Obviously, UK fans are worried about this.
As we discussed in this space last week, Kentucky’s efforts with the high school class of 2026 have pretty well been a bust. But the overall verdict on Pope as a recruiter since he came to UK is, I think, not as bad as the current narrative suggests.
He did a good job in the transfer portal prior to his first season.
For his second season, he signed three well-regarded high school prospects in Jasper Johnson (No. 24 in the 24/7 Sports Composite), Malachi Moreno (No. 27) and Braydon Hawthorne (No. 33).
For 2026-27, I think Pope has gotten some good pieces out of the transfer portal, even though I think Kentucky still needs a wing shooter and a physical, adept-rebounding frontcourt player.
As I said last week, two recruiting cycles are not a large enough sample size to render ultimate judgment on Pope as a recruiter. Let’s see if UK can get the high school recruiting on track with the Class of 2027.
Question three comes from Bill Massie via email, and concerns my column on Adrian Smith, the ex-Kentucky Wildcats and NBA guard who died on April 28 at age 89:
“It is remarkable that you wrote such a comprehensive article on his life but neglected to call him by his ‘real’ name, Odie! I watched him play at UK as a kid and don’t remember ever calling him ‘Adrian Smith.’”
Mark’s reply: In writing about Smith across the decades, I always used his given name, Adrian, not his nickname, ”Odie.” Nothing was new here.
Question four comes from DH via email, and asks how ardently UK football recruited former Owensboro High School running back Evan Hampton, Kentucky’s 2025 Mr. Football.
Mark’s reply: According to someone close to the recruitment on Hampton’s side, UK was the first school to offer the 6-foot, 180-pound back. He wound up with 21 offers, including Michigan and Penn State.
However, after Kentucky offered, UK texted Hampton four times, then stopped communicating. Never visited him or even called.
Hampton wound up committing to Louisville, but then changed his mind and ultimately signed with Vanderbilt.
The Owensboro star had a massive senior season, running for 2,035 yards and 31 touchdowns while leading the Red Devils (13-2) to the 5A state title.
I am told if Kentucky had made a full-hearted recruiting effort with Hampton, it likely would have been successful. That recruitment, of course, was on the watch of the previous UK coaching staff, not Will Stein and the current one.
Question five comes from Clay Mason on X, and asks whether the current UK baseball season has met expectations?
Mark’s reply: After taking two of three from border rival Tennessee last weekend, UK stands 29-16 overall, 11-13 in the SEC.
For in-depth insight into Kentucky’s 2026 baseball season, I turned to Derek Terry, who runs Bat Cats Central, a UK baseball specialty website.
1.) Terry says it’s hard to tell the story of the Cats’ season without acknowledging that UK has played through injuries/illnesses that have sidelined key players at various times, including star shortstop Tyler Bell, first baseman Hudson Brown and starting pitcher Nate Harris.
2.) The pitching, both starting and relief, has been an issue for Kentucky, Terry says. With Harris (4-2, 5.08 ERA) injured, Kentucky has struggled to find a Sunday starter. Of the other starters, while Jaxon Jelkin (7-2, 3.77 ERA) has had a good year, Terry said, Ben Cleaver (2-3, 3.72 ERA) has not been as good in 2026 as he was in 2025.
“Then the bullpen, they just don’t have very many quality, reliable options,” Terry said.
3.) Terry is optimistic that Kentucky taking two of three from Tennessee last weekend was not a fluke.
“I think the offense has got a chance to be pretty legit,” Terry said. “They’ve found a nine that, especially with Hudson back, that I think is the best combination they’ve had all year.”
While there is still work to do, Terry thinks Nick Mingione’s team still has a good chance to make the NCAA Tournament.
