Kentucky’s final roster spot has become a maddening pursuit. As Mark Pope presses on into the 2027 recruiting class, his current team sits with an opening that he’s already tried to fill, having unfortunately come up short on two occasions. The result is a program between two tasks, which figures basically every recruit on the Cats’ radar as an option for either class.
No such scenario defines this split better than Kentucky’s pursuit of five-star point guard Reese Alston. Both Pope and assistant coach Mikhail McLean have scouted him in person this summer, with the former tapping in as recently as last week. Yet as the Wildcats make a push, they’ll have to push out the Louisville Cardinals in the process.
Pat Kelsey has long made Alston a priority for Louisville’s 2027 class (assuming he doesn’t reclassify), constantly appearing court-side for just about all of Alston’s games. Kelsey even skipped out on day one of the July evaluations in Las Vegas to catch Alston, which resulted in the guard singing his praises…