During a basketball week that was dominated by discussion and discourse surrounding the 2024 NBA draft — a final, fitting end to John Calipari’s 15-season run as the Kentucky basketball coach — several news items of note occurred for the future of the UK basketball program.
In addition to new head coach Mark Pope holding his first media-only press conference in Lexington, the Wildcats received positive news about their pursuit of a five-star guard prospect in the 2025 recruiting class.
Additionally, an NCAA rule change will now allow for the full UK coaching staff to go out recruiting as they attempt to bring top basketball talent to Lexington.
FIVE-STAR RECRUIT DARRYN PETERSON TO TAKE A SECOND VISIT TO KENTUCKY
Five-star class of 2025 combo guard Darryn Peterson has been a central figure in Kentucky basketball recruiting for some time now.
Peterson, who is ranked as the No. 3 overall prospect in the 2025 class by the 247Sports Composite, was the first class of 2025 recruit to receive a Kentucky scholarship offer. Earlier this year, Peterson took an official visit to Lexington and was at Rupp Arena for UK’s final home game of the 2023-24 season against Vanderbilt.
This was also the first official visit that Peterson took as a recruit. Peterson was also a visitor for last October’s edition of Big Blue Madness.
Of course, all of this recruiting activity occurred when John Calipari led the UK program.
But new Kentucky coach Mark Pope has shown that he still intends to swing for the fences when it comes to recruiting top talent to UK, and Peterson is a clear example of this.
Earlier this week, On3’s Joe Tipton reported Peterson is planning to visit Kentucky, Louisville, Southern California and Washington during August and September.
Peterson — an Ohio native who played his junior high school season at Huntington Prep (West Virginia) and plays on the Adidas 3SSB circuit with Phenom United — recently completed an official visit to Kansas and is set to visit Ohio State in early August.
Peterson is one of several Calipari-era recruits at UK who have been re-offered Kentucky scholarships by Pope. That group also includes the likes of class of 2025 small forward AJ Dybantsa (the top-ranked player in next year’s recruiting class) and class of 2025 center Malachi Moreno (one of the early favorites for the 2025 Kentucky Mr. Basketball award).
MORE KENTUCKY BASKETBALL COACHES CAN NOW GO OUT RECRUITING
Starting now, all six coaches on the Kentucky basketball staff are permitted to go out recruiting.
Previously, only four coaches on a Division I men’s college basketball staff were allowed to go out recruiting: For UK, this meant that only Pope, associate head coach Alvin Brooks III and assistant coaches Cody Fueger and Jason Hart were allowed to go out and recruit.
This quartet had an incredibly active spring and summer watching prospects in action at events that included shoe circuit leagues, USA basketball competitions and the NBPA Top 100 camp.
But — following a rule change approved earlier this week by the NCAA Division I Council — all six coaches on an NCAA Division I men’s basketball staff are now allowed to recruit off campus.
For UK, this means associate coach Mark Fox and assistant coach Mikhail McLean are both now allowed to hit the road recruiting.
There is a catch, though: Only four of the six coaches on a Division I men’s basketball staff can recruit off campus at a given time.
