SEC Basketball: 2024 offseason grades for each team

Kentucky Wildcats - Grade: A

When Mark Pope took the Kentucky job back in April he needed to move quickly to put a roster together. With little to build on, Pope turned to the transfer portal to assemble a roster that could compete in the SEC immediately. And in signing one of the larger transfer classes Pope quickly rebuilt his roster. 

Kentucky’s transfer class was led by Jaxson Robinson. Robinson spent the past two seasons playing for Pope at BYU, where he averaged 14.2 points per game and was the Big 12 Conference’s Sixth Man of the Year. The Wildcats signed six other players out of the portal who averaged more than ten points per game - Ansley Almonor with 16.4, Kerr Kriisa with 11.0, Koby Brea with 11.1, Andrew Carr with 13.5, Otega Oweh with 11.4, and Amari Williams with 12.2. 

Brea, who spent last year at Dayton, was the best three-point shooter this past season. He made an incredible 49.8 percent from behind the arc on 6.1 attempts per game. Carr was one of the best rebounders in the ACC the past two years while playing at Wake Forest, averaging nearly seven rebounds per game last season. And Williams was one of the best defensive players in the country this past season. While at Drexel, he was the CAA Defensive Player of the Year for the past three years and averaged 7.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks last season, down slightly from the year before. 

Kentucky should have a well-rounded team this upcoming season. Mark Pope did a good job of signing players with different strengths that will complement each other's play, bringing on good scorers, both inside and out, and a truly great interior defender. Not many schools have that kind of balance.