After losing Robert Wright III to BYU during his visit to Kentucky, Mark Pope is starting his third year in Lexington on thin ice with much of Big Blue Nation. Pope then made things right by getting Stokes’s former Prolific Prep teammate, Washington transfer guard Zoom Diallo, to commit, and it now seems like his approach might be working.
Tyran Stokes, the top player in the 2026 high school class who is still choosing between Kentucky and Kansas for his one-and-done season, visited Lexington this week at the same time as Wright. Some believed that Kentucky was going to lose out on Stokes due to multiple visits, but the five-star small forward’s response to Diallo’s commitment would suggest otherwise.
“My brudda on Diallo’s Instagram post announcing his Kentucky commitment,” Stokes remarked. It’s not a big deal, but you have to read every tea leaf while recruiting, and this seems to be one.
Tyran Stokes commented on former high school teammate Zoom Diallo’s Kentucky commitment
Although Stokes did not complete his high school education at Prolific Prep, he and Diallo participated in the 2023–2024 season, which was Diallo’s last year before he left for Washington. After spending a year at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California, Stokes also traveled to Seattle to play his final high school season at Rainier Beach.
Although Wright, who started his career at Baylor and reportedly signed a $3 million contract to transfer to BYU last summer, is the more well-known player, Diallo has identical stats and is probably coming to Lexington for a little less. You can begin to see why Kentucky was okay with losing out on Wright in favor of getting the Washington transfer point guard when you consider his prior relationship with Stokes.
For the majority of Stokes’ recruiting, Kansas has been in the lead, but Kentucky has gained pace thanks to a number of things, including a NIL shoe agreement with Nike. Stokes is now likely holding off on making his final decision until he sees both rosters.
Acquiring Diallo not only increases Kentucky’s chances of acquiring guard Alex Wilkins from Furman, Donnie Freeman from Syracuse, and Sebastian Rancik from Colorado—all of whom would help make a compelling case to Stokes—but it also creates another link to the top recruit in the country.
Pope and his team spent a lot of money last offseason—$22 million—on a group that had spacing issues, injury problems, and never made much sense, even if they were healthy. He appears to be adopting a more calm and strategic approach this time, and if it helps him secure Stokes’ commitment, it will also dispel doubts about his ability to recruit.
There’s a lot riding on this gateway window and the Stokes commitment, so even though you can’t learn much from a social media comment, it’s difficult to avoid drawing some conclusions.
