This video shows why Kentucky coach Mark Pope is such an elite recruiter

Those who said Mark Pope can't recruit will quickly be proven wrong.

Kentucky head basketball coach Mark Pope listened while Louisville basketball coach Pat Kelsey spoke at the 2024 Leadership Louisville Luncheon at the Kentucky International Convention Center in downtown Louisville on Wednesday, August 28, 2024. / Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal & USA Today Network / USA TODAY NETWORK

Mark Pope and the Kentucky basketball team were in attendance for the Wildcat's first football game of the season. Mark Stoops and the Kentucky football team were able to get the 31-0 win over Southern Miss.

Kentucky center commit Malachi Moreno was at the game supporting the football team with his family, and Coach Pope went through the stands to go get him and brought him to sit with the basketball team. A bunch of Kentucky football fans saw Coach Pope and were saying hi, and the Wildcat's new basketball coach went out of his way to say hello and give out some high fives.

Some might say things like this don't matter, but there aren't a ton of college basketball coaches who would do what Coach Pope did with Moreno. The seven-footer is already committed to Kentucky, but other schools will try to keep recruiting him, so Coach Pope has to keep his foot on the gas, and this was a great example of that.

When Coach Pope took the Kentucky job, many had concerns about his ability to recruit, but things like this show how he looks at his players as a family, and Moreno is the newest member. This mentality when it comes to building a team and recruiting works, and it is why Coach Pope is going to have a ton of success.

If, on September 5th, Jasper Johnson picks Kentucky, all of the "Pope can't recruit" folks will be awful quiet as the Wildcat's new coach will be putting together an elite 2025 class.

Last night Mark Pope went into the crowd to find Malachi Moreno to bring him to sit with the team pic.twitter.com/OGRRpCKxtd

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) September 1, 2024