Mark Pope’s recruitment of Nikola Kusturica has slowly become one of the more interesting, as well as grating, stories of the offseason. The 17-year old projected lottery pick was initially predicted to Kentucky, only for that prediction to be taken down and soon therafter replaced with a nod to UCLA. The loss, in this case, is less dire for the Cats than the subsequent vitriol that has resulted online.
The wildest example of which came just yesterday when, in response to a Kentucky fan on X speculating on the lack of a Kusturica commitment to UCLA, Mick Cronin’s actual brother replied in snarky jest with a GIF that reads: “I’m literally grasping at straws.”
If you’ve got a rival head coach’s brother firing back at you on social media, you’re doing something right in the worst way. Whether or not this gives any insight into Kusturica’s recruitment is unclear, but it’s a checkpoint that shows just how deep these kinds of things can go…