NCAA Basketball: Duke, Kentucky among the 8 finalists for transfer Johni Broome

The Wildcats are basically in the same situation as Gonzaga with an All-American big man needing to make a huge decision. But Kentucky’s is even bigger as Oscar Tshiebwe is the reigning National Player of the Year and led the team to a 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Losing him would be a big blow but Broome would be as good a replacement as possible.

Morehead State is just an hour’s drive away from Kentucky and when head coach John Calipari is interested, you have to consider it. The Wildcats have other roster questions to deal with, such as No. 1 freshman recruit Shaedon Sharpe and whether he’ll play in NCAA Basketball or not. But with five-star incoming freshmen Cason Wallace and Chris Livingston coming in, there will be plenty of talent to work with for Broome.

After losing a couple of bench forwards and Keion Brooks entering the NBA Draft process, the frontcourt is now a little thin, with Daimion Collins and potentially Tshiebwe back. Without the National Player of the Year, I would argue that Kentucky is the No. 1 fit for Broome and allows him to play a big role on one of the biggest program names in the sport.

On the other hand, if Tshiebwe does come back, I don’t see who he and Broome would fit as the power forward of the offense. Coach Calipari does have a history of playing two non-spacing bigs in the frontcourt but that’s not a good thing and in this case, wouldn’t maximize the potential of the Morehead State transfer.