Kentucky Basketball: 2024-25 season preview for the Wildcats

Season Outlook

Over the last 15 years, Calipari built talented Kentucky rosters based on raw, young talent. Evident by last season’s mistake against Oakland, this wasn’t exactly considered the winning strategy in the sport any longer. The changing fabric of the sport has programs like Kentucky leaning heavily on transfers and veteran players and that’s exactly what Pope focused on in the offseason.

The backcourt has immense talent, with perhaps two of the best point guards from last season’s Transfer Portal. Butler has a winning pedigree, famous for that buzzer beater in the Final Four, and is a defensive menace. Kriisa might be an even better player who’ll keep this offense humming while he’s on the court. Then you consider the addition of Brea, who emerged as the nation’s best long-range scorer last season, and you get pretty excited about what this new-look offense can produce.

Things might look even better in the frontcourt, with Carr expected to play a major role on both sides of the ball for the Wildcats. There are a few unknowns with these transfers; we don’t know how Williams will adjust as an SEC big after dominating in the CAA in recent years. However, the bottom line is that Kentucky added several defensive juggernauts into their lineup and should be able to put last season’s defensive lapses in the rearview mirror.

It’s important to keep in mind that a team built in the offseason almost completely on transfers can go multiple ways. All of these new pieces in this new system can come together and gel quickly, or it may take time for adjustments to be made. Each of these new pieces offer something complimentary, but getting them to play together, stay healthy, and put up consistent production is obviously key to Kentucky’s immediate success.

There’s a lot of veteran talent here, likely setting up Pope and his staff for another transfer haul next offseason. That’s a problem for later, as all of that experience feels brand new for this Wildcats program that has reliably leaned on elite freshman recruits. This team feels like a Top 25 unit that can improve as the season goes along, but can they actually compete with some of those elite-tier programs in the SEC?