This quote shows how strong the Kentucky basketball brand is in Europe

It is not a debate that Kentucky basketball is one of the strongest brands in all of college basketball. Some folks believed that as John Calipari left, so did the relevance of Kentucky basketball, but that is not the case. Kentucky basketball was elite long before Calipari, and it will be elite long after.

A great example of why the Kentucky basketball brand is so strong is what Mark Pope had to say about his meeting with Croatian power forward Andrija Jelavic.

Coach Pope had this to say about Jelavic wanting to play for Kentucky, “When we did our Zoom, you could see the emotion on his face of how much Kentucky means to him and that he cannot wait to wear a Kentucky jersey."

This quote is quite cool because it shows that even in Europe, a player has a dream to play for the Kentucky Wildcats, and that will become a reality for Jelavic.

Jelavic is going to be fighting for a starting role at the power forward position for the Kentucky Wildcats this season and he has a real shot to win the job. The 6'11 forward is a player who has a ton of NBA upside and could turn himself into a star at the next level after some time in Lexington.

Jelavic is a great shooter and should be able to thrive in the Pope system thanks to his style of play.

College basketball fans might not like it, but the Kentucky brand is as strong as ever under Mark Pope. It is great that Pope has this brand in such a strong place in Europe as he will look for players all over the world to make an elite roster.