BB: 2027 Basketball Recruiting Tracker
- Thread starter TheResistance
- Start date
Can’t believe anyone believes anything Jack or ksr says anymore. They have never been right about anything it seems. And big blue felon either.
So that we can finish sixth or lower in the SEC standings? That is not good at all
It’s just excuses. That’s all Pope has currently when it comes to HS recruiting
Pope is good agent for all these guys to go elsewhere, gets them pay hikes before playing a game
You should never count BYU out when Mark Pope is recruiting.
A 3rd yr coach finishing in the top of the SEC sounds like a success to me!
Kentucky already has one committed high school player from the 2027 class (Ryan Hampton), and he is expected to sign.40
As of late October 2026, Mark Pope’s Kentucky program has a firm verbal commitment from 2027 wing Ryan Hampton (a consensus high-level prospect, ranked around the top 10–20 nationally depending on the service; often listed as a five-star or high four-star). He committed in June 2026 after an official visit and has remained locked in. Recent activity reinforces this: he visited for Big Blue Madness, returned to Lexington with family in early/mid-October to host a free youth basketball camp for fans, and publicly praised Big Blue Nation and the program.42
Kentucky has pursued (and missed on) several other top 2027 high school targets recently, including Lewis Uvwo (Providence), Reese Alston (LSU), and Demarcus Henry (North Carolina on October 30). The staff is still active on others such as Beckham Black, CJ Rosser, Cayden Daughtry, Adan Diggs, and especially rising big man Cherif Millogo (a 7-5 center who visited Lexington, with at least one national analyst predicting Kentucky). There is also interest in possible 2028-to-2027 reclassifiers like Benjamin Berrouet.4
Reporting indicates Kentucky is being selective amid high NIL demands for top high school talent (some reported in the multimillion-dollar range), prioritizing roster retention, the transfer portal, and “right player, right situation, right price” fits rather than large bidding wars. The class may end up relatively small (Hampton plus potentially 2–3 more), but Hampton alone means they will sign at least one high school player from the 2027 class when the formal National Letter of Intent/early signing period arrives (typically mid-November for basketball).70
In short, at this point the answer is clearly yes due to Hampton; additional signees remain possible but are not required for them to have a high school player from the class.
As of late October 2026, Mark Pope’s Kentucky program has a firm verbal commitment from 2027 wing Ryan Hampton (a consensus high-level prospect, ranked around the top 10–20 nationally depending on the service; often listed as a five-star or high four-star). He committed in June 2026 after an official visit and has remained locked in. Recent activity reinforces this: he visited for Big Blue Madness, returned to Lexington with family in early/mid-October to host a free youth basketball camp for fans, and publicly praised Big Blue Nation and the program.42
Kentucky has pursued (and missed on) several other top 2027 high school targets recently, including Lewis Uvwo (Providence), Reese Alston (LSU), and Demarcus Henry (North Carolina on October 30). The staff is still active on others such as Beckham Black, CJ Rosser, Cayden Daughtry, Adan Diggs, and especially rising big man Cherif Millogo (a 7-5 center who visited Lexington, with at least one national analyst predicting Kentucky). There is also interest in possible 2028-to-2027 reclassifiers like Benjamin Berrouet.4
Reporting indicates Kentucky is being selective amid high NIL demands for top high school talent (some reported in the multimillion-dollar range), prioritizing roster retention, the transfer portal, and “right player, right situation, right price” fits rather than large bidding wars. The class may end up relatively small (Hampton plus potentially 2–3 more), but Hampton alone means they will sign at least one high school player from the 2027 class when the formal National Letter of Intent/early signing period arrives (typically mid-November for basketball).70
In short, at this point the answer is clearly yes due to Hampton; additional signees remain possible but are not required for them to have a high school player from the class.
People may troll but if pope is truly not getting people because he is worried about roster retention is awesome, I’d rather have a 3rd year Wilkins and 4th year Zoom than 2 freshman PG’s
Zoom is horrible and wilkins must improve greatly and become consistent
Think Stokes is a thug type, but he is tremendously better than either
Why worry about retaining mid to low level talent instead of replacing with high level
“Why worry about retaining mid to low level talent instead of replacing with high level”
Familiarity with offense,leadership,and proving you can improve talent.
if you think everyone on Michigan team was top tier talent than I disagree.
I don’t know how to build a title contending basketball team. I don’t claim to know. What I do know is that 26 losses and 2 first weekend exits in 2 years doesn’t cut it.
And to me it seems that the vast majority of prime targets, whether from high school or the portal, are going elsewhere. It just doesn’t seem like Pope has the connection with potential players to build the kind of team he wants.
I’m curious to see how MM is able to lead this team but I don’t think the support around him is going to add up to a contender. If we have another 12-14 loss season, I think it’s time to tell him, “thanks for all you’ve done but I think we need to go a different direction.”
Exactly. None of the coaches landing guys mention price. Pope has to pay more bc he's been leveraged. Everyone within recruiting knows it and UK is used as a bargaining tool.
UNc outpayed everyone for Henry. It was mentioned a ton. Even coach cal mentioned it.
I think my favorite player in this class is Rosser. But he’d be a hard pull from UNC. The reclass kid Berrouet would be my second favorite. Hampton, Berrouet and Chief would be a really good class combined with retaining M Williams, Wilkins, Ndiaye, Hawthorne etc. But honestly Popes position is so tenuous, it’s gotta be a difficult sell.
I’d take Berrouet over Rosser at the 4. Reminds me of koa peat a little. College ready. Might not have as high an nba future but college will be more ready.
Yeah I would hate winning the conference, conference tourney, getting a number one seed yearly, and making the final 4. That would be terrible! All while having a chance to win it again the next year. That would suck. I’d rather build a team the Pope way and finish 9th and not win ****.
I know right! A fluke shot from the title game too, and an uncharacteristic blown lead the year before in the last minute. I’m as happy as anyone they blew it but they can’t continue to stack talent like this and lose every time. They will eventually win and once Scheyer gets that monkey off his back it’s going to really suck.
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“Come on J! The recruits are really starting to dig us homie!” Represent.
Looks like a guy we are definitely getting now.
Everybody does that,relax ,he fished up his usc visit today ,heading home to make a decision
Might as well follow Alabama and Miami’s recruiting, since one of those coaches might be at Kentucky next year.
I hope we do end up getting him, just saying locks usually don’t go on visits and post stuff after it unless he’s trying to drive up the price on Pope yet again. I can see that.
Unpopular opinion but I don’t care where Millogo goes. He’ll probably play for a couple games a season before getting injured for the remainder of the year and then we get hyped up about practice reports in the offseason just for him to get injured again. And then repeat the process however many years be stays until he transfers.
This season will be interesting to watch for those who have not pre-determined outcomes. Wilkins, NDaiye, Zoom, Williams, Hawthorne and even a guy like Jerone Morton (just cannot believe Moreno and MilMom return, but it could be possible). If this core group looks a year away and they like playing for Pope, it must play into any rational ADs perspective for the future (if retention is possible).
I thought and still think Pope’s obsession with Stokes was a mistake on various levels, but watching him play in the preseason, I do see how he could be a great college player by the time conference play comes around. Just don’t know if he embodies the concept of team.
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