Let's not sugarcoat it: when Derron Rippey Jr. announced his finalists and Kentucky wasn't on the list, it was a gut-punch to some members of Big Blue Nation.
What once looked like a warm dialogue with a dynamic point guard cooled considerably, and now Kentucky’s 2026 recruiting board is officially in reset mode. It leaves Mark Pope and BBN in a complicated, and frankly, anxious position.
But if you look closer, this "snub" tells you everything you need to know about the new era in Lexington.
Why Mark Pope and Rippey couldn't work
This wasn't a failure of recruiting; it was a statement of principle and expectation.