The Kentucky men’s basketball program has developed somewhat of a rivalry — if that’s what you want to call it — with BYU over the past few off-seasons, frequently competing on the recruiting trail while also sharing several coaching and player ties.

It all started back in April of 2024 when former Kentucky Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart hired BYU head coach Mark Pope to succeed Hall of Fame Head Coach John Calipari following his groundbreaking move to Arkansas. 

In doing so, Pope brought his director of basketball operations, Cody Fueger, with him to Lexington, where he joined the Kentucky men’s basketball staff as an assistant coach. Shortly after, Pope added former BYU assistant coach Nick Robinson, who took over Fueger’s former role as Kentucky’s director of men’s basketball operations.

Right there in the coaching carousel, that’s three Kentucky additions courtesy of BYU. 

Moving to the court, in April of that offseason, Pope made an attempt at getting BYU guard Richie Saunders to join his first-ever Kentucky roster, and he even got the Utah native to take a visit to Lexington before he chose to stay put in his homestate. 

Saunders would’ve been a massive get for the Cats, averaging 9.6 points per game while shooting 36.4% from three the previous season. 

While those numbers weren’t eye-popping, the potential was evident, and Saunders proved it the following season, averaging 16.5 points per game while shooting 43.2% from deep during the 2024-25 campaign.

Fast forward about a month later, in May, Pope and Kentucky got its first, and as of now, only recruiting win against the Cougars, taking guard Jaxson Robinson out of Provo. 

Robinson made the move with Pope and averaged 13 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists for the Cats before suffering a season-ending injury prior to the NCAA Tournament. 

Since that 1-1 split involving Saunders and Robinson, Kentucky has been getting beaten up by the Cougars, missing out on three touted transfers, with each unfolding differently.

BYU guard Robert Wright III entered his name in the transfer portal towards the beginning of this offseason and took a visit to Lexington towards the middle of April. 

The Kentucky staff was heavily involved with Wright III, and many speculated that he would be the team’s starting point guard for the 2026-27 campaign; however, the Wilmington, Delaware native ended up returning to Provo for his junior year.

Moving to a much different scenario, BYU head coach Kevin Young solicited Kentucky guard Collin Chandler to leave the Bluegrass and join his squad once the 6-foot-5 guard officially entered his name in the transfer portal. 

It’s worth noting that Chandler, a Farmington, Utah native, entered his name in the portal with a “Do Not Contact” designation, so it was pretty clear that he wanted to be back in his home state.

Chandler committed to play under Pope at BYU back in 2021; however, he decided to join the head coach in his move to the SEC, and now, after two seasons, he is heading home to compete in the Big 12. 

Losing Chandler wounded Kentucky in a way, as the guard took a massive statistical leap when comparing his freshman and sophomore seasons, causing many to believe that he was poised for a breakout junior campaign in Kentucky blue.

Chandler elevated his scoring from an average of 2.7 points per game as a freshman to an average of 9.7 points per game as a sophomore, and seemed to be leveling up his confidence on a game-by-game basis.

Fast forward to the beginning of August (2026), Kentucky’s deputy AD, Marc Hill, accepted a position at BYU on their senior leadership team after over 27 years in Lexington. Now, that’s tied to the departure of longtime UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart (retiring), and it won’t have much effect on Kentucky, but still though, it’s another wrinkle to the UK-BYU pipeline that feels like it’s shot up out of nowhere.

Finally, and most recently, highly sought-after Michigan State transfer forward Jaxon Kohler committed to BYU on Thursday night after holding Zoom calls with both Pope and Young on Wednesday. Louisville and Kansas were in the mix, but they weren’t reported to have held Zoom calls with Kohler.

Kohler emerged as a late option for programs across the country following a federal court injunction that granted the 6-foot-9 big man a fifth year of eligibility earlier in the week, officially allowing a return to college hoops.

It really came down to Kentucky and BYU, but similar to the way it’s been all offseason, BYU came out victorious, and similar to the Chandler situation, Kohler is a Utah native, so the Cats were behind the eight ball in this scenario as well.

For the sake of UK, they just need to be in contention for a player that isn’t from the state of Utah, and it will potentially have a shot at outdueling the Cougars.

Even though the Cats haven’t come out on top in terms of recruiting players, it’s entertaining to see two schools, two random schools when looking at conferences, location, history, etc., build an offseason rivalry. 

Is this the end of the Kentucky-BYU saga? I doubt it.

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