Will Mark Pope be able to hold off John Calipari for a top 2025 recruit?

Arkansas commit Meleek Thomas is trying to bring one of Kentucky's top targets with him.

Nov 9, 2024; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope yells to his players during the first half against the Bucknell Bison at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images / Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Mark Pope is not done on the recruiting trail, and he wants to add five-star power forward Caleb Wilson to be the fourth and final member of the 2025 class. Kentucky has already signed five-star Jasper Johnson, five-star Malachi Moreno, and four-star Acaden Lewis. Coach Pope wants the final piece of the puzzle in the 2025 class to be Wilson.

Wilson is the fifth-best player in the 2025 class according to 247Sports composite rankings, and the way he plays the game makes Wilson the perfect fit to play the four in Coach Pope's system.

Recently, five-star guard Meleek Thomas committed to play with Coach John Calipari, giving the Wildcats former head coach two elite five-stars in the 2025 class. Thomas recently joined a podcast and was asked which players in the 2025 class he would try to recruit to Arkansas. One of the names that Thomas listed was Wilson.

While Kentucky fans don't love the way Calipari always does things when it comes to X's and O's, there is no denying that he is the best recruiter in college basketball. This means that Coach Pope is going to have to put in a lot of work to land Wilson. Luckily for Coach Pope and the Wildcats, Wilson is friends with Kentucky signee Lewis, and hopefully, the elite point guard will help Coach Pope on the recruiting trail.

If Coach Pope is able to take down some of the big dogs and land Wilson, it will be the biggest win on the trail for Kentucky's new head coach.