NCAA Basketball: Top 25 team winners from 2024 transfer portal results

6. Kentucky Wildcats

With head coach John Calipari moving down to Arkansas this offseason, these last couple of months were a good test of how strong the Kentucky brand was when it came to landing marquee free agents. And new coach Mark Pope found a way to fill out the roster in a combination of elite shooting and veterans.

In the backcourt, Lamont Butler and Kerr Kriise will be the ball-handlers to watch. Butler is one of the best perimeter defenders in all of NCAA Basketball and won Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year honors last season, while Kriisa has started at both Arizona and West Virginia. Koby Brea is a 6’6 guard from Dayton who led the country in three-point shooting, while Otega Oweh is a double-digit scorer coming over from Oklahoma.

Another Conference DPOY player on the roster is Amari Williams, a 6’10 big man from Drexel who blocked two shots a game in the last three years while averaging around 12 and 8 last season. Ansley Almonor led FDU in scoring (16.4 ppg), while Andrew Carr (13.5 ppg and 6.8 rpg) is one of the best spacing forwards in the country. Brandon Garrison (7.5 ppg and 5.3 rpg) started 29 games as a freshman and gives them more interior depth inside.

Coach Pope was able to get his best player from last season to follow him in Jaxson Robinson, who led BYU with 14.2 ppg, earning Big 12 6th Man POY honors. If there was any concern about the roster was whether or not there’s a true “star” that could lead them in the SEC. Even if there isn’t, there’s enough depth from top to bottom to remain a threat in the league.