Kentucky Basketball head coach Mark Pope was hoping to make another international addition in Maccabi Tel Aviv center Marcio Santos following a recent recruiting trip overseas.
However, that trip ultimately proved unsuccessful, as Santos has opted instead to pick LSU over Kentucky, according to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.
Pope traveled to Israel on Wednesday last week to meet with Santos, a 6-foot-8, 254-pound Brazilian big man with extensive professional experience, while LSU and BYU also stayed
in pursuit.
According to Pro Basketball Reference, Santos averaged 7.9 points (52.7% shooting and 12.1% on 1.9 3-point attempts per game), 4.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists, and 0.7 blocks across 17.8 minutes per game during the 2025–26 IBSL season with Maccabi Tel Aviv (17 games).
In the 2025-26 Euroleague season with Maccabi Tel Aviv, he averaged 6.9 points (49.3% shooting and 40% on 1.6 3-point attempts per game), 1.6 rebounds, 0.6 assists, and 0.3 blocks across 14.1 minutes per contest (37 games).
Prior to that, he spent six years (2018–2024) playing with Sesi Franca in the NBB Americas League before competing during the 2024–25 season with Ratiopharm Ulm in Germany’s Basketball Bundesliga. That year, he averaged 7.6 points (52.5% shooting and 44.1% on 2.0 3-point attempts per game), 3.2 rebounds, 0.9 assists, and 0.4 blocks across 14.5 minutes per game (17 games).
Pope will now turn his attention toward other international prospects and potential high school reclass candidates while awaiting decisions from several key players who are still in the transfer portal while testing the NBA Draft waters, namely Iowa State’s Milan Momcilovic.
