Ask Mark Anything: Did UK men’s hoops spend more than $22 million on new roster?
This week’s “Ask Mark Anything” includes questions on Kentucky men’s basketball recruiting, college sports academic standards, best UK football wins of the 21st Century — and preferred peanut butter texture.
Let’s get to it.
Question one comes from Tom Atkinson on X:
Mark’s reply: If we believe published reports that Kentucky committed “in the neighborhood of $6 million” to land Iowa State transfer Milan Momcilovic, then it seems reasonable to think UK’s total spending on its 2026-27 team could be at least in the vicinity of the $22 million it spent last season on roster construction.
If Texas coach Sean Miller is to be believed, Kentucky spending above the $20 million level on its 2026-27 team would not make UK an outlier among high-profile NCAA Division I men’s basketball programs.
Miller told “The Field of 68” last month that he believes “20 to 25 teams” will spend at least $20 million on their rosters for the impending men’s college hoops season.
Question two comes from David Robinson via email: “Do you think BBN has fully grasped the importance of portal recruiting in today’s environment or is still stuck in the Calipari-era narrative that it’s all about inking elite HS recruits?
“I’m experiencing cognitive dissonance with the general narrative that (Mark Pope) is a lousy recruiter with his having landed three straight top 5-10 portal classes.”
Mark’s reply: As I noted in a column that posted last Tuesday on the perception of Pope’s recruiting acumen, schools and fan bases all have unique characteristics.
Even before the one-and-done-centric John Calipari coaching era (2009 through 2024), there has always been a lot of emphasis at Kentucky on recruiting from the top of the high school prospects lists.
So even if you accept that portal recruiting and having veteran rosters is currently the surest path to March Madness success, one of the prerequisites of coaching at Kentucky is you have to “feed the beast” on high school recruiting.
Question three comes from Ronald Isham on X:
Mark’s reply: What I have heard from some of the recruiting geeks is that Kentucky could have signed some top 2026 high school prospects had it not been so locked in on pursuing Tyran Stokes.
As it was conveyed to me, at least some players UK might have been able to get had an aversion to playing with Stokes and eliminated Kentucky from their potential choices when the Wildcats did not move on from the Louisville native.
UK went to the bitter end in the recruitment of Stokes, the No. 1-ranked prospect in the 2026 24/7 Sports Top 150, only to lose out to Kansas.
Question four comes from David Cubine on Facebook: “Is academic eligibility even a factor anymore in college sports? We never hear about SAT entrance scores, meeting course curriculum requirements or GPAs. Would like to know the incentive to college athletes to actually attend classes in person?”
Mark’s reply: Last month, Kentucky released the cumulative grade point averages for the spring semester for its scholarship athletes in each sport:
• Baseball 3.515
• Men’s basketball: 3.590
• Women’s basketball: 3.443
• Football: 3.039
• Men’s golf: 3.491
• Women’s golf: 3.640
• Gymnastics: 3.845
• Rifle: 3.455
• Men’s soccer: 3.599
• Women’s soccer: 3.697
• Softball: 3.756
• Stunt: 3.677
• Men’s swimming & diving: 3.408
• Women’s swimming & diving: 3.672
• Men’s tennis: 3.405
• Women’s tennis: 3.848
• Men’s track & field: 3.186
• Women’s track & field: 3.264
• Men’s cross country: 3.464
• Women’s cross country: 3.576
Beyond the sense of personal accomplishment that comes from earning a college degree, the overwhelming majority of college athletes, as the NCAA so loves to remind us, will ultimately be going pro in something other than sports.
So there’s still plenty of incentive for most college athletes to do well in school.
Question five comes from Paul E. Moore on Facebook: “What’s your favorite UK football win from 2000 through 2010? From 2011 through 2020?”
Mark’s reply: My favorite UK football victory from the first decade of the 21st Century was the 43-37 triple-overtime upset of No. 1 LSU at the then-Commonwealth Stadium in 2007.
For decade two of the century, it was “The Matt Roark Game” in 2011 when Kentucky at long last ended its 26-game losing streak vs. border rival Tennessee with a 10-7 win achieved with a wide receiver, Roark, playing quarterback.
In the current decade, it would be UK’s 38-31 road upset of No. 9 Louisville in 2023. That was a game no one thought Kentucky could win after the Wildcats had laid a dinosaur egg the prior week in a 17-14 loss to a South Carolina team that finished 5-7.
Question six comes from Clay Mason on Facebook: “Crunchy or creamy Jif?”
Mark’s reply: Creamy — and by a margin greater than Secretariat’s Belmont.
