Kentucky isn't always on top of the college basketball world, but more often than not the program tends to elevate the people attached to it.

Five coaches have won national championships at Kentucky. None of those coaches won a title anywhere else they have been.

When John Calipari was coaching Kentucky there were probably some instances when being surrounded by star-studded talents helped the draft stock of talented freshmen.

Current Kentucky coach Mark Pope expects the Kentucky effect to be a big positive for point guard Jaland Lowe.

While there have been plenty of cases of players entering the transfer portal in the hopes of having an expanded role, more responsibilities, and greater production, in Lowe's case there's a player who probably wouldn't mind scoring less if it improves the overall quality of his and the team's work.

"We have really good guards and Jaland Lowe is certainly one of those," Pope told reporters this week. "He's a guy who's been through it. He's a veteran player, put up big numbers last year. Carried a huge responsibility last year and it's actually very rare that you run into a guy that's been as pronounced a talent as he has that he's dying to play with more talent around him, that wants to be a guy that steps into a program where he wants to stir the drink. He wants to make guys better. He wants to elevate guys and wants to be around guys that have a ton of gravity on the court. He's hungry to do that."

In his freshman season at Pitt, Lowe scored 9.6 points per game and shot 38.8% from the field and 35.2% from outside. Last year, attempting 14.3 shots per game, he nearly doubled his scoring average but his three-point shooting fell to 26.6%.

In spite of being so ball-dominant, hunting shots, and so needed for scoring Lowe still upped his assists to 5.5 per game. While he averaged three turnovers per game he had a lot on his plate and saw 35.5 minutes per night.

As a high schooler Lowe was a four-star recruit ranked the No. 110 player in the 2023 class coming out of Missouri City (Tex.) Fort Bend Marshall.

Last year Louisville coach Pat Kelsey called him a dynamic guard. Duke coach Jon Scheyer noted that his confidence won't be affected by a miss or two. His high school coach praised his focus on teamwork and selflessness.

"He's a special talent. I love his ability as a playmaker. I think he's really special as a playmaker. He's clearly a kid that will score. One of the things last year, he was in the 90th percentile in the country at taking tough shots. He was in the 90th percentile in the country of taking volume of shots. In the bottom 20% in shot quality. He had to carry such a massive load last year and this game for him is going to become so much easier and so much more efficient and he's going to be surprised. He knows (he will) actually have a chance for an open catch and shoot once in a while and guys that demand space on the floor. I expect he's going to take a massive jump in his efficiency and leadership. We're really excited about him and think he's got huge upside."