Kentucky coach Mark Pope talks with Jarett Lewis while UK signee Acaden Lewis gets a haircut on Pope’s visit to Washington, D.C.
Kentucky coach Mark Pope had no idea he was so close to losing top 40 recruit Acaden Lewis to Connecticut.
The 6-2, 170-pound point guard from Washington, D.C., averaged 14.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.5 steals last year for Sidwell Friends School and shot 48 percent from the field and 33 percent from 3. In Nike EYBL play last summer, he averaged 16.7 points, 6.1 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game.
Lewis is a consensus top 40 recruit and should pair nicely in the backcourt with signee Jasper Johnson, a combo guard more suited for the two guard. Both are also lefties which could make for a unique backcourt.
However, Lewis was ready to commit to UConn before his father, Jarrett, managed to convince him to let Pope make one last home visit.
“He was on the verge of cutting Kentucky,” Jarett Lewis said. “Kentucky noise was at a fever pitch. There were crystal ball picks for him to Kentucky early. But when Big Blue Nation was going crazy, Kentucky didn’t have a chance at that point. Everybody thought it was Kentucky and we had not even seen them practice.”
On Acaden Lewis’ unofficial visit to UK, his flight was delayed and he did not arrive until practice was ending.
“He was not going to Kentucky without ever seeing them practice. He had seen Duke practice multiple times. Same with UConn. He had been to USC multiple times. But he had never seen Pope run a practice even though Pope had built an incredible relationship with him,” Lewis’ father said. “His choice was going to be UConn.”
Jarett Lewis got a call from UK assistant Jason Hart about 6 p.m. a few weeks ago saying Pope wanted to visit the next day and “hang out” with Acaden, who did not have school the next day. Jarett told Hart to “book the jet.” However, about an hour later Acaden told his father he had a conversation with another coach who recommended that if he knew it was going to be Duke or Connecticut that it made no sense to take an official visit to Kentucky.
“I am floored because Mark and Jason had recruited him the hardest of any blue blood. Regardless of his ranking, Pope recruited him like he was Allen Iverson in his prime,” Jarett said. “Mark Pope or Jason Hart were here every week. Mark Pope came four straight weeks to watch Acaden work out and then went back home. We never made that public.”
Acaden didn’t know his father had already told Pope to come visit when he was ready to commit to UConn. For the only time during the recruiting process, his father interjected his opinion on the recruiting. He told his son Pope was coming to have lunch and hang out the next day.
“I don’t care if you cut Kentucky but the thing we won’t do is not give Mark Pope a cache to address any concerns you have. The thing you do better than anybody in the country is communicate and whatever fears and concerns you have, now is the time for you to hold Pope accountable,” Jarett Lewis told his son. “You have a big boy conversation with him and then if you want to walk away from Kentucky without taking an official visit I am okay with you going to UConn.”
Jarett admits he liked Pope a lot because he’s the “happiest guy in the world” every day.
“Pope doesn’t know he’s on the verge of being cut. He has no clue. I called and told him that tomorrow was a big day and that he needed to push Acaden and have a difficult and uncomfortable conversation. Pope doesn’t know I am encouraging him to do this because he is about to get cut,” Jarett said.
The lunch plan was Nando’s, Hart’s favorite restaurant in Washington. Jarett went to the barbershop while the Pope and his son had lunch. Pope opted to join Jarett at the barbershop after lunch ended.
“We live in the hood but they (Pope and Acaden) come down and hang out in the barbershop. There is no gimmick with Pope. He cares about where you are from, who you spend time with. If he likes you and wants you, he wants to understand you,” Jarett said.
“I get out of the (barber) chair and me and Pope talk. He watches Acaden get his haircut. I have to go to the shoe store, so Pope and I walk about two blocks to the store and he tells me he thinks lunch went well. It hurt me because I knew my kid was probably going to call him by the time he landed back in Lexington and tell he was cutting Kentucky.”
Instead, when Jarett gets home his son calls him and says he is “confused” and that Pope understands him and that Kentucky is no longer cut. That led to an official visit to Kentucky for Big Blue Madness, which was also Acaden’s birthday weekend.
“I am just praying on the visit that they (UK) not fumble. Just put on a good show and let’s see where things go. They hit a home run. It went perfectly,” Jarett said. “Out of all the schools, they were the most receptive to the feedback I shared. He didn’t care about seeing campus. He wanted this visit to be about basketball. It was the most basketball oriented visit we had and what we wanted. Academics were not a concern. He’s a good student.
“He loved it all and decided Kentucky was for him. But if I had not stepped in and said to let Pope visit, I guarantee you now he would be going to UConn. I basically forced him to take that visit but now he’s glad I did.”
6 Responses
That’s what parenting is all about when you are trying to get your kids to look at all options, and all scenarios, and as many consequences as they can. These are still very young men Pope is dealing with and they have a tendency to jump at the first shiny thing in front of them without thinking the whole thing out. I have worked with HS and College kids for over 30 years and most don’t know how to look ahead. They don’t even know what questions to ask because most things they encounter are new to them. It is great when kids and parents can communicate.
This shows that Pope has the gift of gab. He’s such a real and happy person that it rubs off on everyone around him. He’s also a great motivator like his mentor Slick Rick. He tells Butler that he’s a great shooter and what does he do? Something he’s never done went 3-3 from the 3. He knows what to say to each player to motivate them to better at what they are good at. This elevates there game to the next level. Instead of always hearing I told them to do this and they did that so that’s why they are struggling. He’s a brilliant mind and its already showing 5 games into the season. I guarantee we win a championship in the next 3-4 years. It could be this year? It could be next year? Its scary to think how good we will be when he has a full season too fill a roster. We will have big turnover after this year because of how late in the season it was for recruiting. We should have a good nucleus for next year with Chandler Garrison Perry and Noah. Maybe Oweh comes back as well and averages 20 ppg next year? Its to early to tell at this point but he is on some mock drafts going early second round to late second round. I think he can improve on that as the year goes on and maybe jump into the end of the first round. I think if he comes back and dominates that adds to his draft stock. Players are actually coming out as seniors again being drafted high like Knect from Tennessee last year. I think Nil has helped players want to come back and improve on there draft stock while still getting paid to play. Before there reasoning was for the money. Now they have it in college some have millions. So I could see Oweh coming back making a million next year and leading the SEC in scoring. He has gotten noticeably better every year in college. He’s averaging 5 more points every year. 6 as a freshman 11 as a sophomore 16 this year and he’s getting better every game. Next year he could easily average 20+ and be considered for national player of the year awards.
The high view of Pope by Acaden’s father is very special. He made an impression which motivated the father to step in and gently press his son to at least give Pope an ear before making a decision..
Pope is obviously a class act. He is not arrogant and he uses his high intellect to encourage others in areas where they need help instead of lording over them.
UK is really blessed to have a coach with such integrity, intelligence, humility & an entire family supporting him with genuine love & care.
Just awesome to have a dad as a top notch recruiter for UK!
Welcome home, Acaden!
Acaden’s dad seems like a really good paernt
You called that exactly right.
I’m simple in awe of Popes energy – hope he understands he needs a certain amount of time occasionally to recharge. Don’t want to see him burn out.