The Kentucky Wildcats almost lost out on Acaden Lewis, a 4-star point guard from the Washington, D.C., area.

Lewis, the No. 30 prospect in the country at 247 Sports Composite, held offers from most major programs. Duke and UConn were at the top of his list alongside Kentucky. Programs like North Carolina and Michigan also offered and were able to get him to see their campuses on a visit.

The Cats won out in the end, although, per his father, it certainly could’ve played out differently than it did.

Lewis visited Kentucky on October 11th. However, he wasn’t able to see Kentucky practice due to a delayed flight, which put the Cats behind the ball. They were close to being cut, and had that happened, Lewis would have likely ended up at UConn.

“He was on the verge of cutting Kentucky,” Jarrett Lewis, his dad, said via the Marshall County Daily. “Kentucky noise was at a fever pitch. There were crystal ball picks for him to Kentucky early. But when Big Blue Nation was going crazy, Kentucky didn’t have a chance at that point. Everybody thought it was Kentucky and we had not even seen them practice.”

Thankfully, Hart and Pope weren’t going to let him get away. They continued to pursue Lewis with everything they had, and the rest is history.

“I am floored because Mark and Jason had recruited him the hardest of any blue blood. Regardless of his ranking, Pope recruited him like he was Allen Iverson in his prime. Mark Pope or Jason Hart were here every week. Mark Pope came four straight weeks to watch Acaden work out and then went back home. We never made that public,” Lewis said.

Pope and Hart did their best, and in the end, they got Lewis to Lexington, where the hope is he’ll have a productive multi-year career. This is the latest example of why the BBN should be pumped to have Pope leading the charge for the Cats moving forward.

Be sure to read the full Jarrett Lewis interview at Marshall County Daily.