The Kentucky Wildcats are starting to pull together their basketball roster for next season after the team’s recruiting class was gutted when John Calipari announced he was heading to Arkansas.

While the time has come for Coach Cal to leave, ending that era was sad for a few days, and now the program is going all-in on Mark Pope, a former player who brought a championship to the Bluegrass state in 1996.

After coaching at BYU, Pope is now bringing in a new roster. Trent Noah, who has originally committed to South Carolina, reopened his recruitment this week before pledging to the Wildcats.

The Harlan County product is a 4-star recruit and the second-best player in the class of 2024 from Kentucky. He’s grown up a Kentucky fan and has even had Kentucky Football season tickets in his family for over six decades.

“It’s just something about — he (Pope) knows the Kentucky way. Me being from Kentucky, I’ve grown up around Kentucky. We’ve had football season tickets for 62 years now in our family, so I’ve grown up around it,” Noah said in an interview with KSR.

Noah is all about Kentucky, but in doing what was best for him and seeking a place where he would be able to develop his skill set, he originally opted to go elsewhere. Now, he could be a staple on this Wildcats roster with Travis Perry, the state’s top player in the class.

The talented forward is one of the best snipers in the nation and should add another 3-point weapon for the Cats. Noah and Perry will have the chance to be like Reed Sheppard, who was also a 4-star recruit and is set to be an NBA Draft pick this year.

Noah is all-in on Kentucky, as is Pope, and the duo should be able to enhance the Cats basketball program.