beginning. its not like coaches can usually build close long-term relationships with players who are currently playing for other teams.

Now I kind of understand UK's decision to go with Mark Pope better. Some were saying they might wait out the Bulls coach (waiting until the end of the NBA play-in tournament) to make a run at Billy Donovan, but that would have put them another 2 weeks behind. I think Pope was a good choice either way, but moving quick was important at least for the upcoming season.

It might have made no difference for BYU because we are who we are when it comes to our recruiting pools. But BYU definitely took the opposite approach for this season. (And BYU also initially had a stronger core of returning players than UK had, so UK was desperate).