‘I’m different than other players.’ Mark Pope gave a big compliment to this UK recruit.
By Cameron Drummond,
4 days ago
When Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope stopped by St. Paul VI Catholic High School — located about 30 miles West of Washington, D.C. — this fall for a recruiting visit, he paid a major compliment to a rising class of 2026 prospect.
Pope told Jordan Smith Jr. — a 6-foot-2 guard — that he’s never coached a player quite like Smith before. That remark spans the 15 years that Pope has been a college basketball coach across five different programs, including his head coaching stops at BYU and Utah Valley.
“Mark Pope said that he wants to coach somebody like me because he’s never coached anybody like me before,” Smith told the Herald-Leader this month at a USA Basketball Junior National Team minicamp in Colorado. “I guess that they just probably think that I’m different than other players.”
That comment from Pope carries plenty of weight, as was apparent on Smith’s face when discussing the interaction.
“I think I’m the best hustle guy in the country,” Smith said. “I’ll just do whatever it takes to win, really. I’ll just go out there and win. I feel like some people around the country don’t really want to do that. They focus on offense, more skill stuff. But I just want to win the most. Because if you win, you get whatever you want.”
Ranked by the 247Sports Composite as a five-star prospect and as the No. 7 player overall in the 2026 recruiting class, Smith reported a scholarship offer from the Wildcats in mid-September. That added to growing interest in Smith from blue-blood schools.
Since July, Smith has reported scholarship offers from the likes of Duke, North Carolina and two-time defending national champion UConn, to go along with the litany of other programs who have offered him.
That group also includes Louisville, a school that Smith will officially visit this week.
While Smith is still in the early stages of feeling out his UK recruitment, he said that all of Kentucky’s coaches were part of that visit to him earlier this year, an indication of the Wildcats’ interest in the DMV-area recruit.
“It’s new,” Smith said of the Kentucky program after its seismic summer of change. “I would have to go visit, of course. I never really had any thoughts on Kentucky until recently. I would just have to go visit and see how it all goes.”
Class of 2026 recruit Jordan Smith Jr. (60) reported a scholarship offer from Kentucky in September. USA Basketball
Jordan Smith Jr. is an energetic, strong college basketball prospect
When watching Smith in action — as the Herald-Leader has now done several times at USA Basketball minicamps and on the Nike grassroots circuit — several things strike you about how the 17-year-old carries himself on the court.
First is his physical appearance. Smith has a strong build, especially relative to his height. His 6-foot-8 wingspan creates obvious advantages for him at both ends of the floor. Then there’s the intensity displayed by Smith, who has been a standout in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) while playing for the Washington, D.C.-based Team Takeover program.
Takeover is a perennial winner on the EYBL circuit.
In 2022, Takeover made it to the EYBL season-ending Peach Jam championship game. Last year, Takeover won Peach Jam. This year — with Smith playing up an age level and averaging 12.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game for the EYBL season — Takeover again reached the semifinals of Peach Jam.
“It’s getting us prepared for college,” Smith said of his time with Takeover. “I’ve been to multiple colleges, and it’s just like how we are, it’s like how Takeover is. Off the court, it’s like a brotherhood.”
Smith credits the Takeover program for plenty of positives in his basketball development.
Some of this is the result of a cell phone policy enacted when Takeover is traveling for EYBL sessions during the spring and summer. Takeover players have their phones, but they’re encouraged to not be on their phones, and Smith said access to the devices can be limited before and after games.
It’s easy to see the correlation between this increased face-to-face communication between Smith and his Takeover teammates — which this season included six class of 2025 prospects with at least a three-star ranking, or higher, from 247Sports — and Smith’s on-court demeanor and energy, which are two clear strengths of his game.
Regardless of the setting you’re watching Smith in, whether it’s with Takeover or with USA Basketball, he stands out as someone who appears to be playing harder than anybody else.
Unsurprisingly, this attribute has allowed Smith to thrive in the cutthroat USA Basketball setup. This summer, Smith won a gold medal with the United States at the FIBA Under-17 World Cup in Turkey, an event Kentucky coaches watched in person.
Smith averaged 6 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists per game at the World Cup as part of a stacked U.S. team that also featured Duke commits Cameron and Cayden Boozer, top 2025 recruit AJ Dybantsa and stock-rising center Chris Cenac Jr., who is also a UK recruit .
Smith, who also participated in a USA Basketball junior national team minicamp last October, said this summer’s international experience was part of his growth with decision-making and leadership skills.
“It helped advance (those skills) a lot because (at the World Cup) I had to talk a lot. We had to communicate a lot on the court because we were all new to each other,” Smith said. “It’s like building (team) chemistry. I just took all of that back home. ‘If I could do it there, I could definitely do it here.’ And I can lead by example.”
Smith — who is targeting guard skills like ball handling and passing, along with his jump shot, as focus areas for his development — appears to be taking things slow with his recruitment.
As far as Kentucky goes, Smith said he doesn’t know a lot about Pope as a coach or about his style of play. But, Smith conveyed that he is excited that UK has shown interest in him.
“I do want to go (to Lexington) and visit,” Smith said, while also acknowledging how busy his schedule is.
When the time comes, and the schedule allows, for Smith to dive deeper into his recruitment, what will matter to him?
“I would say how (a program) helps my development in the future and how it helps me long term after basketball,” Smith said.
Class of 2026 recruit Jordan Smith Jr. is ranked as a five-star recruit by the 247Sports Composite. USA Basketball
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