Braydon Hawthorne lived in West Virginia but grew up a Kentucky fan. (UK Athletics photo)

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Huntington Prep coach Arkell Bruce understood that “nobody was hot on the recruit trail” for wing Braydon Hawthorne when the 2024-25 high school basketball season started.

The 6-8, 175-pound Hawthorne eventually committed to play for West Virginia. The Beckley, W.Va. native made his official visit to West Virginia before the season started and other coaches got to see the improvement he made. However, when coach Darian DeVries left to take the head job at Indiana, Hawthorne re-opened his recruitment.

He was a life-long Kentucky fan and UK had always been his dream school.

“Even though he grew up in West Virginia, these guys follow pros and highly ranked guys,” Bruce said. “Coach (John) Calipari did a great job marketing his players and showing off the lottery picks he had at Kentucky. He was probably a John Wall fan.

“They did have exciting teams with players like Patrick Patterson, Tyler Herro and Keldon Johnson. So he was pretty excited when Mark Pope and his staff reached out when he decommitted from West Virginia.”

Pope actually saw Hawthorne play against UK signee Jasper Johnson in a showcase game at Woodford County.

“When his recruitment opened back up, Pope jumped on him,” Bruce said. “Pope is very relatable, very approachable. He really enjoyed getting to know him.

“Braydon really got so much better this year. It was just one of those things that people (coaches) were fixated on the usual suspects going into the season but once the dust settled he played with more confidence and free will.

“We played a lot of big-time events with a lot of eyes on him and everybody loved him. That’s why he jumped up so much in the recruiting rankings. He got better but it was also the right people seeing him at the right time and understanding how well he can shoot the ball with the length he has.”