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BYU trolls Kentucky, Mark Pope after return of Rob Wright

Screenshot 2023-07-18 at 4.54.37 PMby: Riley Gates04/22/26Riley_Gates

It’s been a tough offseason for the Kentucky Wildcats and head coach Mark Pope in the transfer portal. Not only have the Wildcats lost multiple players to other programs, but they have also missed on key targets to join their program. And now, one is taking shots at them.

Rob Wright, one of the most notable players in the transfer portal, announced plans to transfer away from BYU on April 8 and just days later, scheduled a visit to Kentucky. But within a week, Wright returned to the Cougars over the Wildcats. On Tuesday night, BYU twisted the knife a bit on social media.

BYU posted a graphic with Wright and head coach Kevin Young, captioned “Wright where he wants to be.” Wright was also quoted in the graphic saying he, “didn’t think I wanted to play for another coach.”

Momentum seemed to be trending Kentucky’s way in the recruitment initially after Wright hit the transfer portal. Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman described Kentucky as the “heavy favorite” to land Wright on March 13. Just two days later, though, reports indicated that Wright was leaning towards returning to BYU, which he did just hours after the reports.

Heat turning up on Kentucky, Mark Pope

It has not been a complete miss in the transfer portal for Kentucky so far. The Wildcats have landed Zoom Diallo from Washington and Alex Wilkins from Furman so far in the transfer portal. But it is the misses — such as Wright or Syracuse transfer Donnie Freeman — that has BBN a bit on edge ahead of next season.

Pope will need to hit the ground running in order to calm those tempers next season. The Wildcats are fresh off a 22-14 season where they were a 7-seed in the NCAA Tournament and exited in the round of 32.