Kenny Walker on Mark Pope, UK Recruiting, Current Players

Kenny Walker has been pleasantly surprised by the development of freshman center Malachi Moreno. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Kenny Walker was a McDonald’s All-American in Roberta, Ga., in 1982 who played his college basketball at Kentucky for coach Joe Hall. He became an All-American who scored 2,080 points — only Dan Issel had more with 2,138 — and was a member of the charter class of the UK Athletics Hall of Fame.

After his professional career ended, Walker stayed in Lexington and was as excited as most UK fans when coach Mark Pope’s second season started.

“Early I went to a lot of practices. I was super excited about this team. I heard about the big payroll and us having two players at every position. After we beat Purdue (in an exhibition game), it gave us all a false sense of hope about how good this team could be,” said Walker. “The talent was there but injuries started to pile up. I think that got into coach Pope’s head. He had to play a lot of guys he was not ready to play, especially at point guard.”

Walker watched Jasper Johnson, Trent Noah and Brandon Garrison all look “really good” in early practices but that has not been the case recently.

“Guys were playing early and then not playing. Then the injured guys went out, and Jasper and Trent were getting a chance to play again. I think they got frustrated and confused and just have not been sure about their roles,” Walker, the fifth overall pick by the New York Knicks in the 1986 NBA draft, said.

Walker has been critical of Pope and the team in his role as a UK basketball analyst for radio station WVLK-AM.

“I am cautious about criticizing kids. Pope is still learning. They are having a bad year. They still need to make adjustments as a team,” Walker said. “I watched (Malachi) Moreno play the last couple of years. I am glad he came to UK but I thought he would be going against Jayden Quaintance and Brandon Garrison in practice. I really did not think he would play much and now he is the best big guy we have.

“He blocks shots. He was not known as a passer, but he has gotten better. He does get pushed around and bobbles the ball, but he is just going to get better and better because he was forced to play and he showed against Vanderbilt that he is learning how to be more physical.”

Walker believes Pope has made a mistake by not hiring a general manager like other blue blood programs have.

“You can no longer go out and tell kids we are a blue blood and just sell the history and tradition of Kentucky basketball. If we keep doing that, we are going to turn into UCLA and Indiana. Other top programs are getting people together to be general managers and handle the money and recruiting to land a top player,” Walker said.

“I think the money is there. The problem is Pope has rolled the dice on some guys he has gone after. Maybe he ought to start going after superstar college players. Do what you have to do to land superstar kids out of high school. We have been involved with some but have lost them to Duke, Kansas, North Carolina. Whatever those schools are doing, Kentucky has to do if we want to win at a high level.”

Walker has ideas on how he would prioritize current players he would want on UK’s 2026-27 roster starting with 6-foot-8 sophomore Kam Williams, a Tulane transfer who broke his foot in January and has not played since.

“I really like that kid (Williams). He was starting to take off when he got hurt,” Walker said. “Nobody talks enough about him. He is 6-8, can guard multiple positions, had a good attitude and was a great team player. He hit eight 3’s in one game and then the next game barely touched the ball. When he went down, we didn’t have a guy from the defensive standpoint to help Oweh with other tough scorers. He’s a guy I would love to see back.”

He also has a different perspective on Quaintance, who has played in only four games because of a knee injury and is still projected as a first round NBA Draft pick in June.

“His (draft) stock has slipped. He was a top 10 pick when the year started but now I am not sure he is a lock to be a first-round pick and if he’s not, I am trying to convince him to come back for a full year,” Walker said. “I would tell him I would tailor the offense to feature the big guys with JQ and Malachi.”

Walker thinks Collin Chandler should definitely be back and has mixed emotions about injured point guard Jaland Lowe. He would go “all-in” to keep Moreno, Johnson and Noah, three in-state players.

“I would like to see all the Kentucky kids back. I hope none of them make an emotional decision and leave. If they just stay here, they can be a legend and be taken care of and I think all of them can be very good players,” Walker said. “Give Jasper another year in the weight room and let him work on his defense and ball handling. He is an exciting player. He’s like Rex (Chapman), if he hits one or two, he can go on a huge run.

“I would like to see him be patient and stay here but kids have to be happy. I know his father (Dennis Johnson) is giving him good advice. I hope he is back along with some other guys because you don’t want to have a completely new roster every year.”