​When Mark Pope was hired in Lexington, the biggest concern was the lack of high-profile success and recruiting. Pope had never gone toe-to-toe with the elite of the elite to grab the top players in the country. Results have been mixed, with misses like Tyran Stokes but great grabs like Malachi Moreno.The recruiting results were worrisome heading into the NBA Draft withdrawal deadline. Kentucky had signed Mason Williams and Zyon Hawthorne as freshmen, and some solid role players like Zoom Diallo and Jerone Morton. The Cats were on the prowl for a main man, and they landed Milan Momcilovic.Then Mark Mitchell became eligible, and Kentucky landed him too. Now, that may or may not take place since the SEC is trying to take a strong stance on players who have declared for professional sports and then come back, but we will see how that goes.For now, Kentucky men’s basketball has more McDonald’s All-Americans than John Calipari, the king of the burger boys, currently does at Arkansas. JJ Andrews and Jordan Smith Jr are the two burger boys on the Razorbacks. Kentucky has Zoom Diallo, Mark Mitchell, and Malachi Moreno. Braydon Hawthorne was a nominee, but he didn’t make the final rosters.Now, does that mean Pope has killed it in recruiting? Of course not, but it just goes to show you that sometimes playing the long game works too. Maybe next time Pope can close out a few before we head to June and make things a little easier.But Kentucky got where they wanted to be. They just took the long way home.