backfire if he didn’t get some players in the NBA in his first couple of years. It hasn’t happened yet for obvious reasons, but the best way to “develop” NBA guys is to sign top recruits. Pope never had an NBA player while at BYU, and while he isn’t magically going to be a better developer of talent at UK, he’s going to put some guys in the NBA because NBA guys want to play at Kentucky.

Between Egor, Catchings, Staton, and hopefully AJ, KY will put at least a couple of guys in the NBA by his second offseason, and he’ll have players that he can use as examples when he’s recruiting top prospects.