One year ago, it seemed Kentucky might have gotten the better deal in the coaching swap with Arkansas. Now, it's completely different.
We take this brief offseason break from coverage of Arkansas basketball to reflect on a different topic: Mark Pope is in major trouble at Kentucky, sinking like a rock. There's an American Pope in Vatican City. Leo seems to be doing okay, and his job is not in jeopardy. The other American Pope in Lexington? It's a very different story.
Kentucky is worth focusing on (albeit for just a brief moment) because John Calipari left there under fire so that the Wildcats could hire Pope. In February of 2025, it seemed Kentucky might have gotten the better end of this swap with Arkansas for Calipari. Kentucky was a No. 3 seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, Arkansas 10. However, Calipari delivered a great NCAA Tournament and carried that momentum into the offseason. He signed Darius Acuff and led the Hogs to a No. 4 seed and another Sweet 16 this past season. Kentucky did not get that far, enduring a blowout loss to Iowa State in the second round of March Madness.
It has only gotten worse -- much worse -- for Mark Pope in the offseason. A Sea of Blue has more:
"Pope was caught liking a tweet about how massive it would be for the Kentucky fanbase if he could land (recruit Tyran) Stokes. Not something you do in any scenario. Either it gets the fanbase’s hopes up unnecessarily, or it kind of spoils Stokes’ big moment if he had picked the Cats. Unfortunately, assistant coach Mo Williams managed to look even worse when he tweeted this reply to Stokes’ announcement tweet (it was later deleted).
"Not only does it have the same negative impact as Pope’s ‘like’ did, but it’s also an NCAA recruiting violation to publicly message an uncommitted recruit. Ooof.
"But the real haymaker was this note from KSR’s Jack Pilgrim that Stokes signed his non-revenue share agreement with Kansas around the time he visited Lexington in April. You know, when everyone and their grandma were saying Kansas had Stokes, yet Pope continued to go all-in and likely missed out on big-time transfer portal players because of it…just like they did with Caleb Holt.
"Stokes played Kentucky, and Pope was happy to oblige. Just flat-out embarrassing to host a major recruit while he’s working out his contract with another school. Oh, but the fun’s not over there.
"You probably noticed how Kentucky announced a commitment from James Madison transfer Justin McBride earlier. That’s all fine and dandy. The problem is that the school announced the commitment right before Stokes’ announcement. So what should have been an incredible moment for McBride and his family was completely overshadowed by the No. 1 overall player in high school hoops making his own announcement. This was a special moment that should have been celebrated away from Stokes’ announcement. Instead, it was lost in the shuffle almost as soon as it happened."
Kentucky basketball is an unending series of clown-car moments and public relations disasters. Mark Pope looks completely out of his depth. Odds are good that he won't be coaching Kentucky next season.
John Calipari, meanwhile, has the nation's No. 1 recruiting class and a roster which looks like an Elite Eight group with a chance to go to the Final Four. Kentucky is not even in the top 20 of various offseason national rankings lists.
It's good to be John Calipari... and it's much better to be Arkansas than Kentucky.