Kentucky fans were absolutely ecstatic with the additions of Malachi Moreno and Jasper Johnson for the 2025 class, however, there still was some concern on if Mark Pope could get top recruits from outside the state of Kentucky. I think we can finally confidentially say, those doubts end now.

Kentucky’s coaching staff just secured a top-30 recruit, as four-star prospect Acaden Lewis announced on social media that he will be committing to the University of Kentucky.

The 6’2″ combo guard from Washington, D.C. is currently in his senior year at Sidwell Friends, a private school in Washington. Throughout his high school basketball career he’s had several other schools looking for his services post graduation. He owned offers from all of the “Blue Blood” schools such as Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, and UConn. Besides those, he held offers from Michigan, Virginia, Georgetown, Florida State, Auburn, Kansas, Louisville, Tennesee, and St. John’s, amongst many others.

Malachi Moreno and Jasper Johnson have been assisting Mark Pope with the recruiting process as they were the first to commit in the class. The two Kentucky pledges have been in the ears of both Lewis and Caleb Wilson to try to get the two recruits into a Kentucky uniform. This was the first domino to fall, so we will have to wait a little bit longer to see what Wilson plans on doing.

Jasper Johnson and Acaden Lewis will be a talented combination to add to the potential returnees of Travis Perry, Collin Chandler, and Otega Oweh. Of course you have two other players that could return next season as well, and that’s Trent Noah and Brandon Garrison. This would put Kentucky’s roster over halfway complete for 2025.

I’m not trying to look too far into the future but it is worth noting that Pope’s roster will look a little bit different for the 2025-26 season than how it does now. The head coach will not have to rely solely on the transfer portal next season to fill out the roster, not that it’s a bad thing, just could be different since he won’t have to rush to put a roster together in one summer. There should be a good mix of freshmen, transfers, and returning players in this new era of college basketball and that seems to be the winning recipe — just look Dan Hurley’s last two teams.

Welcome Acaden Lewis to the Big Blue Nation world, Kentucky fans.

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