24. Kentucky Wildcats
Two years ago, Mark Pope arrived somewhat late in the offseason at Kentucky. The former BYU head coach won a national championship as a player with the Wildcats some thirty years earlier but was filling big shoes after John Calipari’s departure. That first offseason saw Pope using the transfer portal to build a new lineup from the ground up. Those Wildcats went to the Sweet Sixteen, though they couldn’t quite replicate that success in year two.
Pope and his staff swung and missed at a number of major names in the transfer portal this year, but let’s not act like they completely struck out. After brilliant work in the SoCon, former Furman guard Alex Wilkins is heading to Lexington after averaging just under 18 points per game last season. The other prominent addition is Washington guard Zoom Diallo, who was very productive in the Big Ten last year, albeit for a Huskies team that wasn’t exactly winning games in the league.
Funnily enough, Diallo isn’t the only Huskie inbound to Lexington, as Pope also nabbed promising center Franck Kepnang, a solid rebounder with one year of eligibility. The frontcourt also gets the boost of Justin McBride, who put up 15 points a game at James Madison last season. There’s one last name to mention and that’s Jerone Morton, who put up decent numbers as a junior at Washington State and should factor into the backcourt depth for the Wildcats.
Winning three Tournament games in two seasons is outstanding work for most programs in the country, but Kentucky isn’t most programs. After some shortcomings earlier in the portal movement, Pope knows how much pressure is on both him and his new rotation moving forward. There will be significant run from a lot of new faces once again and it’s all a matter of how this crew comes together because that SEC is no joke.
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