Kentucky men’s basketball coach Mark Pope reacts to March Madness loss
Following a 78-65 loss to Tennessee in the 2025 NCAA men’s basketball March Madness tournament, Kentucky coach Mark Pope expressed pride for his players. “We’ll be talking about these guys 10 years from now,” Pope.
Tyran Stokes, the top-ranked recruit in the 2026 class, is considering Kentucky, among other schools, with the Wildcats potentially in the lead for his services.UK is also recruiting Taylen Kinney, a Kentucky native who is the top-rated point guard in the 2026 cycle.Despite receiving an offer, five-star 2026 wing Qayden Samuels is unlikely to visit Kentucky.
LEXINGTON — Tyran Stokes has played things close to the vest with his recruitment. Unanimously regarded as the top player in the 2026 class by the three major recruiting databases (Rivals/On3, 247Sports and ESPN), Stokes has rarely granted media interviews that might provide a window into his thinking.
In the estimation of one man who covers recruiting year-round, however, Kentucky basketball and coach Mark Pope should fancy their chances.
“There’s been a lot of momentum picking up toward Kentucky’s way,” Jamie Shaw, the senior national recruiting analyst for Rivals, said during an appearance on Kentucky Sports Radio’s Here Comes the Boom podcast on Aug. 21.
While Shaw added other schools are still in the running for the 6-foot-7, 225-pound all-world forward — Louisville, Arkansas, Kansas, Gonzaga and Southern Cal, among others — UK, which still is looking for its first commitment in the 2026 cycle, appears to be near the top.
“The Kentucky momentum is real,” Shaw said.
Stokes’ lack of communication with media members is by design. His mother, Keaira Stokes, joked with The Courier Journal at Peach Jam this summer that her son had passed the baton of media obligations to her.
“Sometimes it’s not too much, but he just wants to be Tyran not THE Tyran Stokes,” she told the CJ in July. “He just wants to be that kid that he really is.”
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