Kentucky men’s basketball coach Mark Pope talks to the media about Collin Chandler after the Wildcats’ 76-57 win over Troy in the NCAA Tournament on Friday, March 21, 2025, in Milwaukee. By NCAA| John Clay

Just a few minutes after winning his first NCAA Tournament game as a head coach, Mark Pope sat on a podium in Milwaukee last month and reflected on one of the players that got him there.

 

By that point, Collin Chandler’s story was well known, his struggles well documented.

 

The freshman guard from Utah had been the first commitment of the Pope era of Kentucky basketball, pledging to the Wildcats while still an ocean away as he wrapped up a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 

Chandler — a highly touted recruit before heading overseas — had barely touched a basketball over those two years, and his transition back to competitive play went about as expected. For most of the season, he didn’t play much. In some big games, he didn’t play at all.

 

But his scoring flurry in that NCAA Tournament victory over Troy — nine points in less than two minutes to turn a two-possession game into an eventual UK rout — was a continuation of what he had shown over the month or so that preceded it: plenty of promise for the future.

 

Kentucky fans had watched Chandler struggle on the court. They’d watched him sit the bench. Finally, on the biggest stage there is, they got to see him go off.

 

What Pope wanted to talk about that night is what most of them never got a glimpse of.

 

“What we don’t see along the way — and this is super special to me — but we don’t see all the quiet moments in the Wildcat Lodge, where he’s by himself, wondering if this is ever going to work, and did he make the right decision,” Pope said. “Or the times he rolls out of a game, and the team has won a huge, huge game and he didn’t get to play and so he’s battling, within himself, the emotion of like, ‘I have to celebrate with my team, and I’m dying inside that I’m not contributing.’”

 

Those moments happened.

 

“I think that is kind of human nature to evaluate — and sometimes overevaluate — where you are in your position,” Chandler said in an interview with the Herald-Leader.

“So I would say I definitely went through that. There’s a lot of questioning of, ‘Did I make the right decision? Am I where I’m supposed to be?’ But I’ve always had a reassuring feeling that I am where I’m supposed to be. And so that has helped me to be patient and to trust that that’s where I was supposed to be. And that it’s all gonna work out.”

 

It worked out fine for Chandler by the end of his freshman season. And when it came time to decide where he would spend his sophomore year of college, the decision wasn’t too difficult.

 

The NCAA transfer portal closed for new entrants last week. Chandler’s name wasn’t on the list. A few days before the deadline, the Utah native made it clear on social media that he intended to return to Kentucky for a second season. The decision had been made long before that.

 

But it didn’t come lightly.

 

Chandler, who turned 21 in February and would be a college senior next season if not for the church mission, was known as someone wise beyond his years even as a high schooler.

 

He knows the reality of the current college basketball landscape — with ample opportunities at high-profile places for anyone willing to hit the transfer portal — and everyone who follows the sport should know by now that where players play is something that is constantly being evaluated.

 

His evaluation concluded that he belonged in Lexington.

 

“I wouldn’t say I ever seriously considered entering the portal,” Chandler said. “I mean, there’s a time where you have to reflect on what’s best for you and your life. And what God’s plan is for you and your life. And so that reflecting time for me and for my future wife — we felt that our hearts are in Kentucky, and that is where we want to be.

 

“And so that was really, I’d say, pretty clear for us as we were thinking about what our life is going to look like. That was kind of the picture that we felt was painted for us.”

 

Kentucky guard Collin Chandler gets a hug from UK coach Mark Pope during a game this past season. Chandler will return to the Cats for his sophomore year.

Kentucky guard Collin Chandler gets a hug from UK coach Mark Pope during a game this past season. Chandler will return to the Cats for his sophomore year.

 

Amid his on-court struggles last season — he scored just two points total over one span of more than two months, sitting out six games completely — Chandler never wavered in his allegiance to Pope.

 

And Pope, who was obviously asked during that stretch about Chandler’s lack of playing time, never stepped back from his declaration that the freshman would eventually become a key contributor.

 

“I feel like the heart and soul of me and Coach Pope’s relationship is believing in each other,” Chandler said. “And obviously I believe in Coach Pope and what I feel like he can do as a coach for the team, but also for myself individually. And I do think that he believes in me and will put me in positions to grow and show trust. And I felt that throughout the season.

 

“There were times where he didn’t feel like I should be out there. And then there were times that he would give me opportunities to show my growth and to grow as a player. And so that’s what I felt. And so I continue to believe I’m going to grow and that he’s going to put me in positions to do that. And so I’m excited for this upcoming year and for a lot more growth.”

 

Pretty much as soon as this past season ended, Pope started having one-on-one conversations with his players, including, of course, those who were eligible to return to Kentucky.

 

Chandler will join Brandon Garrison and Trent Noah, at the very least, as returnees for Pope’s second UK roster. They could be joined by Otega Oweh, who led the Wildcats in scoring this past season and is going through the NBA draft process this spring.

 

Pope’s first team — one stacked with seniors — advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, the furthest the program had advanced in March since 2019. All things considered, that was viewed by most reasonable observers as a success.

 

But Chandler, Pope and the others affiliated with UK basketball have loftier aspirations for the future, and that’s been evident in the player-coach conversations over the past month or so.

 

“Well, it’s definitely a reflective time, right?” Chandler said of his recent talks with Pope. “A time of gratitude for what we were able to do together.

But also a lot of it is looking forward to what we need to keep chasing, which is a national championship. So that’s what we talked about. And what he sees me as, and what I need to be working on to contribute even more to the team. And I feel like that was mostly what those meetings consisted of — kind of talking about and keying in on what I need to work on individually.”

 

Chandler specifically mentioned improving as a ball-handler and working in screen situations as areas of focus this offseason. He mentioned the return of Garrison, the arrival of McDonald’s All-American center Malachi Moreno, and the presence of other talented, versatile players as key ingredients for a team that sounds like it’ll be utilizing screens even more next season.

 

“So feeling comfortable and creative in that way is going to be big for me and all of our guards moving into next year,” he said.

 

Chandler was a deadly 3-point shooter over the final stretch of his freshman season. In UK’s final seven games — the last six against teams that made the NCAA Tournament — he shot 12-for-23 (52.2%) from deep and averaged 6.3 points in 16.6 minutes per game.

 

Extrapolate those numbers, and Chandler would have made 60 3-pointers over a course of a 35-game season. Koby Brea and Jaxson Robinson, both departing seniors, were the only Cats that hit more than 40 3-pointers last season.

 

Chandler also improved considerably as a defender from November to March, gaining confidence on both sides of the ball along the way.

 

“I feel like it all kind of came little by little,” he said of his all-around progress over the course of the season, eyeing his return to Lexington in a few weeks and the excitement of a full, normal offseason before he begins his sophomore year.

 

Collin Chandler emerged late in the 2024-25 season as a key bench player for the Kentucky Wildcats.

Collin Chandler emerged late in the 2024-25 season as a key bench player for the Kentucky Wildcats.

Future with Kentucky basketball

Chandler spoke to the Herald-Leader last week from his home in Utah. By the time he’s back in Lexington, the Kentucky Wildcat will be a married man.

 

The next few days will be spent wrapping up his spring semester online and preparing for his wedding. Chandler and his fiancée, Hannah, are getting married next week. The couple attended school together back in Farmington, Utah, and were engaged during the Kentucky basketball team’s trip to New York last December.

 

After the wedding, they’ll spend about a week on their honeymoon in Hawaii, and — not long after that — they’ll be back in Kentucky to start the next chapter of their lives together.

 

Hannah has been studying at the University of Utah — she has one more year of courses to complete her degree and plans to finish those classes remotely from Lexington — but she’s no stranger to Kentucky.

 

Chandler said she traveled to Lexington every month — sometimes more often than that — during the basketball season.

 

“She really likes it,” he said. “And I think for us, for her, the change of scenery of living in Kentucky is something that she looks forward to and is excited about.”

 

The players on the 2025-26 roster are scheduled to arrive on campus in early June, with summer practice starting up soon after that.

 

Pope and his coaching staff have assembled a roster that has drawn rave reviews nationally, a group ranked in the top 10 by several major outlets and one that will take legitimate NCAA title hopes into the 2025-26 campaign.

 

The group of newcomers will feature five transfers — Florida guard Denzel Aberdeen, Pittsburgh point guard Jaland Lowe, Tulane wing Kam Williams, Alabama forward Mouhamed Dioubate and Arizona State post player Jayden Quaintance — plus three college newcomers: five-star guard Jasper Johnson, Croatian power forward Andrija Jelavic and Moreno, a Central Kentucky native who spent ample time around the UK team this past season.

 

Last spring, all 12 scholarship players were new to the Wildcats’ program, but that 2024-25 group bonded quickly, a dynamic that all involved said led to more success on the court.

 

“It was really fun last year — when we got there in the summer — to all be there and learn the offense and learn each other,” Chandler said. “So there’s a sense of excitement for that again, to learn to play with new guys. And every team comes with a different dynamic. So I’m excited to experience that again.”

 

From freshman to leader?

Chandler spoke excitedly about the wealth of perimeter talent on this UK roster. He said he’d already been watching video highlights of his future teammates and looked forward to getting on the practice floor with them and forming chemistry in the backcourt.

 

He also expects to be a leader next season. While Chandler will be classified as a sophomore, he’ll be two years older than a typical player with that designation, and he obviously has the experience of playing for Pope.

 

“That’s definitely needed, I would say, for our team — is the guys who have been there to take the reins to teach as fast as we can,” Chandler said. “Because that’s only gonna help us to all figure it out as fast as we can. And that doesn’t just come from listening to Coach, but it really comes from a player-led team. So me, Trent, BG — O, if he ends up coming back, is going to be huge.

 

“And I think that I’m a very vocal person, so that is a part of my game that I hope to continue to grow is my voice. And to have an effect that way. And I feel like the experiences that I have with our team and with last season can help. And so I think I, as well as a lot of other guys, have to step up in leadership. And I’m excited about that aspect.”

 

It was a little more than a year ago that Chandler switched his commitment from BYU to Kentucky, taking the same leap that Pope had a few days earlier. With that decision, Chandler officially became the first player to commit to the new era of Kentucky basketball.

 

Nearly a year after that, Chandler played a major role in Pope’s first NCAA Tournament victory as a head coach. The first, they both hope, of many more together.

 

“It’s just this beautiful process that these guys get to go through,” Pope said after that win over Troy last month. “And the guys that keep going, that keep going, that keep going — like Collin Chandler — they get this moment. And he’s got so many more moments ahead of him. He’s going to be a terrific player.

 

“To be able to kind of bear witness to that and mentor and shepherd these guys through that process is really special. And the guys that hang in there and keep going at the end of the road mean something more than any of us probably recognize, because we weren’t in all those dark, doubting moments that the player’s gone through to kind of get there. And fighting to keep your confidence and the whole process. I actually love it. I think it’s super inspiring.”

 

 

bbnba-shai-gilgeous-alexander-near-triple-double-leads-okc-game-1-win

 

Most fans get their information about players in the NBA from the media. It makes sense. Players have no incentive to voice their real opinion publicly, and the talking heads of the world fill in the gaps of that silence.

Oftentimes, TV personalities and bloggers will project what they sense is going on, either from actual inside information (which is kept super hush-hush) or simply from vibes. Thankfully, The Athletic published the results of an anonymous NBA player poll full of tea-provoking questions, which provides a glimpse into what these guys really think.

 

Many of the questions surrounded franchises, rules, coaches, and other NBA stuff that Big Blue Nation probably cares very little about, but multiple former Kentucky Wildcats received votes on questions related to players.

 

Who should win MVP?

It has long been a two-man race for this year’s NBA MVP, and former Wildcat Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the current frontrunner over former MVP Nikola Jokic. Out of 155 players polled, most tend to agree with this line of thinking, as 56.1 percent of them think SGA should win MVP compared to 37.4 percent for Jokic.

 

According to one player on why Gilgeous-Alexander should win: “He’s efficient. His team plays much better with him on the court. He’s the culture — the culture is kind of based on him — and they’re the best in the league.”

 

Hard to argue with that.

 

Five years from now, who will be the face of the league?

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is hot right now. With his stock soaring amidst a potential MVP selection at the ripe young age of 26, many players think he will be the face of the NBA in five years. Of course, far more players understandably predict it will be Victor Wembanyama.

 

Wemby earned a whopping 54.3 percent of the 138 votes cast while SGA came in third place with 10.9 percent of the votes. Anthony Edwards received just a few more votes, coming in at 13.8 percent.

 

Interestingly, no one voted for Nikola Jokic, and even more interestingly, one player voted for Shaedon Sharpe. No word on whether players were allowed to vote for themselves.

 

Who is the league’s most overrated player?

Now things are getting juicy. The Athletic really leaning into the animosity factor of this poll to elicit some scandalous feedback with this one. When asked who the most overrated player in the NBA was, four former Kentucky players made the list.

 

Out of 90 responses, Julius Randle received 4.4 percent of the vote, tying him for 5th place, while Tyler Herro received 2.2 percent of the vote, putting him in a tie for 10th place. Devin Booker and Anthony Davis each received one vote apiece.

 

It is hard to say how much of this is a true opinion of being overrated versus guys just having beef with each other, but the results are interesting nonetheless.

 

Kentucky Wildcats forward Brandon Garrison (10) reacts after making a three-point basket during the first half against the LSU Tigers at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center.

Kentucky Wildcats forward Brandon Garrison (10) reacts after making a three-point basket during the first half against the LSU Tigers at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center.

Brandon Garrison could have been one of the thousands of players to enter the transfer portal this offseason, leaving Kentucky for a massive payday or a starring role elsewhere. You better believe other schools tried putting a bug in his ear about the grass being greener on the other side — it happens everywhere.

 

Instead, the rising junior decided to see the process through in Lexington, returning for year two in blue and white under Mark Pope.

He came in as Amari Williams‘ backup, learning the ropes from one of the most dominant bigs in the SEC in hopes of taking over that spot following his departure, building upon what worked as a sophomore. Now, his time has come to turn that potential into consistent production.

 

“Excited for this upcoming year, excited to return and I’m ready for the fans to show love again,” Garrison said in a sitdown interview with KSR on Thursday. “I’ll say, it starts with Coach Pope, just his loyalty and his two-year plan that he talked about with me. When he first came out to my house for his visit, we talked about a two-year plan — just not rushing the process, I’d say.

 

“Knowing who I’m playing with, bringing in Amari. He told me the process with him and how I’m gonna get better with him, just in practice and overall. Since he first started recruiting me, that’s the first thing he brought up to me.”

 

He’ll be a 1A and 1B complementary fit next to Jayden Quaintance while showing rookie center Malachi Moreno the ropes just as Williams did for him. Croatian forward Andrija Jelavic and Alabama transfer Mo Dioubate will fill in the gaps at the four, building one of the deepest and most talented frontcourts in college basketball next season.

 

Garrison will be a big piece to that puzzle, and he’s excited to get to know and work with them all.

 

“I don’t know them all yet, so I’m gonna have to reach out to them,” he said. “… That’s one of the things Coach Pope talked to me about, just having more guys in practice to go against — because we didn’t have that last year. Having that this year, it’ll make all of us better.”

 

Named AP Co-Coach of the Year along with Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, St. John’s coach Rick Pitino talked about Kentucky’s Mark Pope during a press conference at the Alamodome in San Antonio on April 4, 2025. By NCAA| John Clay

In our In the Spotlight stories, Herald-Leader journalists bring you continuing coverage of news and events important to our Central Kentucky community. Read more.

With a roster that’s nearly set for the 2025-26 college basketball season and the next group of Kentucky Wildcats just a few weeks away from joining forces in Lexington, what’s the outlook for Mark Pope’s second season in charge of the program?

 

Good enough that Pope making good on his promise to hang more banners in Rupp Arena during his tenure as UK’s head coach is looking like a legitimate possibility in year two.

 

“For sure,” Brandon Garrison, the Cats’ returning big man, said this week. “Just seeing the guys that they’re bringing in, I feel like we’ll have a very great chance of chasing that No. 9 and getting further than what we did this past year.”

 

“No. 9” is, of course, a reference to the Wildcats’ continued quest for a ninth NCAA title. UK hasn’t won it all since 2012, and the Cats haven’t advanced to the Final Four — the requirement for raising a new banner in Rupp — since 2015.

 

This past season — Pope’s first as Kentucky’s coach — the Wildcats advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 for the first time in six years, a notable achievement in year one of a new era of UK basketball but a little short of that “banner” goal set forth by the program’s new leader.

 

Garrison and the rest of the returning Wildcats haven’t been the only ones keeping tabs on Pope’s transfer portal efforts and the lofty possibilities that could result from that roster construction.

 

The national college basketball pundits have taken notice, too.

 

This past week marked a milestone for the offseason. The transfer portal closed for new entries Tuesday night, the past several days have seen rampant activity with new defections and commitments across the country, and, by all accounts, the Cats came out of the week looking stronger for next season.

 

The big addition to UK’s 2025-26 roster was former Florida guard Denzel Aberdeen, who played a key role in the Gators’ run to a national championship this month and was projected to start for coach Todd Golden’s team in defense of that title next season.

 

Aberdeen committed to the Cats on Monday, a move that made waves in national circles.

 

Field of 68 catapulted Kentucky to No. 3 in its early Top 25 rankings immediately following Aberdeen’s announcement. The Cats have since dropped to No. 4 in those Field of 68 rankings after more additions pushed St. John’s into the No. 3 spot, with Houston and Purdue ranked 1-2.

 

That’s one group of veteran college basketball observers that has UK as a top four team in America.

 

247Sports recruiting analyst Travis Branham — a national expert covering the portal and college basketball, at large — posted on X that the addition of Aberdeen gave Kentucky “a Final Four-caliber roster” with “a deeper and more talented squad” than Pope’s first UK team.

 

Aberdeen joined fellow transfers Jaland Lowe, Kam Williams, Mouhamed Dioubate and Jayden Quaintance in UK’s 2025 portal class. All five of those players are talented enough to start for teams with legitimate national title hopes, something Kentucky can now claim for next season.

 

And those five won’t be alone, obviously.

 

Pope is also bringing in three college basketball newcomers: five-star guard Jasper Johnson, McDonald’s All-American post player Malachi Moreno and intriguing, 6-11 Croatian forward Andrija Jelavic.

 

Joining Garrison in the returnee category will be Collin Chandler and Trent Noah, at the very least. Keeping Garrison, Chandler and Noah out of the transfer portal was a victory for the UK staff.

 

The Cats did lose Travis Perry to the transfer portal Tuesday night, a surprise departure of a local fan favorite who contributed as a freshman and offered roster continuity moving forward, but not a player expected to have a major impact on the Cats’ 2025-26 season.

 

Kentucky will now wait for a decision from Otega Oweh — the Cats’ leading scorer this past season — as he goes through the NBA draft process. Oweh is not widely projected to be selected in the 59-pick draft — ESPN had him at No. 77 on its latest Top 100 prospects list Thursday — and he is still expected to return to Lexington for his senior season.

 

If Oweh does indeed come back, he’d almost certainly be a preseason All-SEC selection and could even be in the discussion for the league’s preseason player of the year.

 

“Having him definitely changes that dynamic,” Chandler said of adding Oweh to an already talented roster. “We want the best for him, and his dream is to play in the NBA, as all of ours is. And so we hope that opportunity arises for him.

 

“But if he does decide to come back, I mean, no one’s gonna be complaining,” he continued with a laugh. “O is a great teammate to play with and to grow with. And so, selfishly, I would love to play with O again.”

 

Kentucky head coach Mark Pope laughs with Wildcats forward Brandon Garrison during an open practice at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis before the team’s game against Tennessee last month.

Kentucky head coach Mark Pope laughs with Wildcats forward Brandon Garrison during an open practice at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis before the team’s game against Tennessee last month. Ryan C. Hermens

Chandler and Garrison both spoke to the Herald-Leader over the past few days, reflecting on their first season at Kentucky and looking ahead to what they believe could be an even more successful run in Pope’s second year at the helm.

 

Like everyone else, they’ve been watching the portal season unfold, and both returning Cats were happy with what the UK coaching staff has put together for next season.

 

Garrison grinned at the mention of Quaintance, a projected NBA lottery pick next year. Quaintance is listed at 6-9 and known for his rim-protecting presence. He’s coming off ACL surgery last month — a procedure that raises some questions regarding his availability for the start of the season — but he’s a game-changing talent when healthy.

 

On paper, Quaintance is likely to battle Garrison for playing time, but the returning UK player said he’d been watching highlights of the newcomer and couldn’t wait to share the court with him. He also said Pope has talked about playing Garrison at the 4 and Quaintance at the 5 in some situations.

 

“That could be scary,” Garrison said with another smile.

 

He didn’t need film study to speak on Dioubate, who played the past two years at Alabama and was UK’s foe in three games — all Bama wins — this past season. Garrison raved about Dioubate’s toughness and versatility, predicting that UK’s practice sessions would be much more physical in the paint this coming season. That thought brought another smile to his face.

 

Chandler, who is back home in Utah preparing for his wedding next month, said he’d also been watching YouTube highlights to get to know his new teammates and sounded eager to get to work later this spring.

 

That backcourt — with Lowe, Oweh, Chandler and Johnson at the traditional guard spots and Williams and Noah slotted into wing roles — looks formidable.

 

“Kentucky is absolutely loaded on the perimeter next season,” wrote ESPN’s Jeff Borzello, placing the Cats at No. 10 in the newest Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings on that website.

 

UK is also sitting at No. 10 in the latest CBS Sports rankings for 2025-26. Other prominent sites have the Cats inside the top 10, too.

 

Kentucky began last season at No. 23 in the Associated Press rankings and almost immediately vaulted into the top five before injuries started to pile up. The Cats finished No. 12 in the AP rankings despite playing the end of the season short-handed.

 

With no more major additions expected this spring — pending Oweh’s return — this is looking like the roster that Pope will send out next season. Summer practice will start soon enough.

 

“I’m excited about all the guys that he’s bringing in. I’m excited to get to know them,” Chandler said. “Coach Pope is very good at finding guys who are good to be around and good teammates to play with. So I would expect nothing less than that of the guys that he’s bringing in. They’re all very solid. We have a bunch of players who have proven themselves and are winners, as we’ve seen.”

 

The final big addition was Aberdeen, and Chandler specifically mentioned the ex-Florida guard as an important piece to UK’s overall puzzle. This past season, the Cats had Lamont Butler, a veteran guard who became the team’s heart and soul on the court and came to Lexington with substantial NCAA Tournament experience.

 

Aberdeen spent last season getting to where Chandler and the rest of these Cats want to go next.

 

“Especially with Denzel coming and having (that experience),” Chandler said. “I felt like last year we had a lot of experience with Lamont in March Madness, and what he had experienced — and he was able to share that with us.

Now that we’ve all played in there — and then Denzel obviously had a great run with Florida this last year — I think that adds a lot of experience to winning on our team that we’re going to need for the culture that we’re setting in Kentucky.”

 

 

 

Men’s Basketball Transfer Portal: Kentucky’s High-Priced Roster, Final Things to Watch

The portal closes Tuesday, and some schools may try to exploit loopholes in order to fill out their final spots for the 2025–26 season.

 

Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope talks with guard Otega Oweh during the second half against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center.

Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope talks with guard Otega Oweh during the second half against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. / Jordan

The transfer portal in men’s college basketball closes at the end of the day Tuesday. There may be a slow trickle of names that enter in the days following, as rules indicate that a player must only express his intention to transfer before the window closes to allow for delays by compliance departments. Still, the pool of players that will be available this spring is close to complete.

What should you know about what’s happening in the portal right now and what to look for when the portal closes? Here’s a rundown of the latest happenings and intel.

 

Kentucky rounds out high-priced roster

Kentucky likely rounded out its roster Monday by adding Florida transfer Denzel Aberdeen, who played a key role off the bench for the national champion Gators.

While it’d be foolish to ever say a team is truly “done” recruiting in this day and age, the Wildcats have reportedly ended all other portal pursuits. Save a late NBA draft defection by star wing Otega Oweh, the Kentucky roster looks all but set for 2025–26.

 

In total, Mark Pope and staff added five transfers, two prep freshmen and one international freshman to go with their five expected returners. Kentucky’s total expenditures to piece that roster together are expected to be, according to Sports Illustrated sources, well north of $10 million.

There’s a real chance the Wildcats end up with the highest-paid roster in college basketball next season, though a late swing by BYU or another program with a top budget could push Kentucky’s final figure.

 

The biggest fish from the portal class is Arizona State transfer Jayden Quaintance, a projected top-10 pick in the 2026 draft and one of the best rim protectors in college basketball.

Quaintance is coming off a torn ACL suffered in March, and while he and his camp have projected optimism that he could be ready to go by the start of the season in November, it seems likely they won’t take too many chances rushing him back given his bright future. That made him a risky investment for most programs but more palatable for the Wildcats given Kentucky’s strong financial standing and stable of bigs behind him in Brandon Garrison and Malachi Moreno.

If he’s healthy, he’s a game-changing defensive player who could single-handedly help the Wildcats defense make huge strides. Add in Alabama transfer Mouhamed Dioubate at power forward and Kentucky should have significantly more athleticism and physicality up front and on the glass compared to Pope’s first season.

 

The collection of backcourt talent is a fascinating and potentially high-variance one. Pope bet big on Pitt transfer Jaland Lowe, who had a fairly disappointing sophomore year on a Pittsburgh team that really struggled in ACC play.

 

Lowe shot just 38% from the field and 27% from three this season, and Pittsburgh was better in his minutes off the floor, per Hoop-Explorer. At his best though, he’s the type of speedy shot creator who could thrive in Pope’s offensive system.

You’d expect to see him starting at point guard next to either Aberdeen, a steady veteran capable of playing on or off the ball, or Jasper Johnson, a high-scoring freshman. Oweh profiles as a potential All-American on the wing, though his limited three-point shooting may be insulated less in certain lineups than it was in 2024–25.

 

After going to the Sweet 16 in Pope’s first season, Kentucky armed Pope with remarkable resources to build a roster capable of winning the SEC and competing for a national title in his second year on the job. Quaintance’s health could play a significant part in whether those aspirations are realized. But if Pope’s big backcourt investments pay off and the Wildcats have a healthy Quaintance up front, this roster could be quite dangerous.

 

Explaining the rush of ineligible portal entrants

The vast majority of portal entrants in the final days leading into the entry deadline Tuesday have been players without any eligibility remaining as things currently stand.

 

There are well over 100 players currently in the portal who’ve exhausted their eligibility and are now hoping either for a waiver, rule change or some sort of legal action that’d give them another chance to play college basketball.

 

Some of these waiver-seekers may have more hope than others. A number of them spent at least one season at a Division II school and are closely monitoring a federal lawsuit filed by College of Charleston forward Ante Brzovic, who is challenging NCAA bylaws that count years spent in Division II the same as Division I, among other things. The suit stems in part from a similar case in football surrounding Wisconsin defensive back Nyzier Fourqurean, who asserted that his time in Division II shouldn’t count the same as Division I eligibility.

 

The judge in the Fourqurean suit granted a preliminary injunction that will allow him to play in the 2025 season, but the ruling was more narrow than the one that granted Diego Pavia and eventually almost all former junior-college athletes additional eligibility.

 

Also being monitored by potential transfers is a lawsuit by Rutgers defensive back Jett Elad that challenges the NCAA’s five-year eligibility clock. A win in court by Elad wouldn’t significantly impact most players in the portal, as most have also exhausted their four seasons of competition unlike Elad. A handful of players could gain eligibility through that case though, and it could add to the onslaught of legal challenges to NCAA eligibility rules.

 

That said, many if not most of these exhausted-eligibility players would need a larger dismantling of NCAA rules in court to have a path to playing in 2025–26. That, of course, begs the question: If the NCAA’s ability to limit players to four seasons of competition vanishes, does anyone really believe that not entering the portal by the NCAA’s arbitrary deadline would stand up in court?

 

Either way, given players don’t have to have eligibility remaining in order to ask their compliance department to enter their name into the portal, many are simply putting their names in just in case. And it’s causing an abundance of headaches for coaches across the sport who are scouring the portal for options that could be available this late in the process.

 

“It’s an insane epidemic right now,” one high-major assistant texted.

 

What to watch: Tampering and commitment “flips”

As we wrote in last week’s portal update, options in the portal (at least with eligibility remaining) are dwindling. And with few high-level players remaining, the going rate for those that are still out there has exploded.

 

In the final days of the portal being open, that led to a few players who had initially committed to return to their respective schools getting offers they couldn’t refuse.

That runs the gambit from mid-major rosters getting poached from like Akron, which lost star guards Nate Johnson and Tavari Johnson to the portal, to national champion Florida, which saw a projected starter in Aberdeen tampered into the portal before eventually signing with Kentucky.

 

But once the portal closes Tuesday, a primary avenue to add transfer talent becomes flipping the commitments of players who entered the portal prior to the deadline and already picked a new school. It’s not necessarily easy to pull this off, especially now that players in many cases are signing contracts directly with schools that sometimes include buyouts.

Still, according to several sources, many programs are actively working to make pitches to players who have already committed to other schools to make them reconsider, often dangling significant raises from the deals they agreed to just a few weeks before.

 

“‘Committed’ is a loose term,” one staffer joked.

 

There’s far less latitude to move around once players officially enroll in classes at their new campuses this summer. At least one program SI spoke to had changed their summer report date from previous years in order to shrink the window of time that their portal commits could be tampered with.

But until players enroll, they technically remain in the portal even if they’ve made commitments or even signed financial agreements with new schools. Expect talent-hungry schools to exploit as many loopholes as possible to create advantages.

 

 

 

The Cats seem to have completed their portal cycle.

 

 

The Kentucky Wildcats are hoping they’ve completed their roster for the 2025-2026 season.

 

Mark Pope acquired another guard out of the portal on Monday morning, snagging Denzel Aberdeen, the former Florida Gators sixth man. The Wildcats could be wrapping things up soon with the hopeful return of Otega Oweh, who is testing the NBA Draft process. If that happens, then Aberdeen was likely the final addition to the roster.

 

However, Kentucky was considering several players for that final spot, among them being Andrej Stojakovic, the former Cal guard who drew interest from the Cats in the 2024 portal cycle after leaving Stanford.

 

According to Travis Branham and 247 Sports, Stojakovic had been in steady contact with Kentucky after re-entering the portal. However, those talks have likely ended now that Aberdeen is in the fold.

 

CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander reports Kentucky has ended its pursuits with all other portal targets, barring any surprise decommitments/transfers from one of the current 13 scholarship players for next season. Norlander added the expectation remains that Oweh will be back for his final season of college basketball.

 

Getting Aberdeen out of the portal has moved the Wildcats off of transfer guards like Stojakovic and Kansas Jayhawks wing Rylan Griffen. Norlander also adds that he expects Otega Oweh back in Lexington after his pre-draft process. Stojakovic has been in contact with the Wildcats, but it seems that they are moving on with the acquisition of Aberdeen.

 

The Wildcats have been in pursuit of Stojakovic ever since he entered his name into the portal. The Cal transfer has heard from some big-time schools, including Florida, UConn, and more. However, Illinois is the current favorite and is currently hosting him for an official visit.

 

 

Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope and players Lamont Butler and Andrew Carr talk to the media after the Wildcats’ 78-65 loss to Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament on March 28, 2025, in Indianapolis. By NCAA| John Clay

A former Kentucky men’s basketball walk-on player has entered the transfer portal.

 

who spent three seasons at UK as a walk-on — announced Monday evening that he would be entering the portal.

 

A 6-foot-2 guard from Cincinnati, Darbyshire was a walk-on at UK for the 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, which spanned the final two seasons of John Calipari’s tenure as head coach and the first season of the Mark Pope coaching era.

 

In a statement posted on social media, Darbyshire said he will graduate from Kentucky next month after only three years.

 

A native of Florence in Northern Kentucky, Darbyshire played in a total of six games as a Kentucky player. He didn’t play as a freshman during the 2022-23 season, but appeared in four contests as a sophomore and in two games last season.

 

“Being a walk-on at Kentucky has taught me so much,” Darbyshire’s statement said. “With the changing landscape of collegiate sports — roster limits, evolving philosophies and shifting dynamics — I’ve always stayed true to the core values of what it means to be a walk-on: To embody selflessness, to put the team first and to do whatever is best for my teammates and the future of the program. That mindset has allowed me to remain consistent with who I am and what I believe in, on and off the court.”

 

Darbyshire earned several significant academic accolades during his three seasons at Kentucky, including an induction into the Frank G. Ham Society of Character, which honors UK student-athletes who show a “profound commitment” to academic excellence, athletic participation, personal development, community service and career preparation.

 

Darbyshire was one of three walk-on players on the Kentucky roster last season. He was joined in this regard by Zach Tow and Walker Horn.

 

The deadline for college basketball players to enter the NCAA transfer portal is 11:59 p.m. EDT on Tuesday. Once in the portal, college transfers can make their decisions on where to go at any time.

 

Grant Darbyshire was a walk-on for three seasons with the Kentucky men’s basketball program.

Grant Darbyshire was a walk-on for three seasons with the Kentucky men’s basketball program. Eddie Justice UK Athletics

Kentucky basketball’s 2025-26 roster is coming together

Darbyshire’s announcement that he’s moving on from the Kentucky program comes as Pope is putting the finishing touches on his 2025-26 roster.

 

So far, Kentucky has 13 scholarship players in place for next season’s team.

 

This includes five expected returnees from last season’s team: Freshmen guards Collin Chandler and Travis Perry, freshman forward Trent Noah, sophomore center Brandon Garrison and junior guard Otega Oweh.

 

Chandler, Garrison and Noah have all announced publicly that they’ll be back at Kentucky next season. Oweh declared for the 2025 NBA draft while keeping open his option to return to Kentucky for his senior college season.

 

Kentucky has already announced the additions of four players from the transfer portal this spring. Those future Cats are sophomore forward Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama), sophomore guard Jaland Lowe (Pittsburgh), freshman big man Jayden Quaintance (Arizona State) and freshman wing Kam Williams (Tulane).

 

On Monday afternoon, the Wildcats got a fifth commitment out of the portal from Denzel Aberdeen, a former three-year guard at Florida who won the national championship with the Gators last season.

 

UK will also be bringing in at least three first-year college basketball players next season. Two of these players — guard Jasper Johnson and in-state center Malachi Moreno — will arrive via the traditional high school recruiting pathway. The other is Andrija Jelavic, a soon-to-be 21-year-old big man from Croatia. Jelavic has played the last two seasons for Mega MIS, also known as Kosarkaski klub Mega Basket and Mega Superbet, a professional team based in Serbia.

 

Kentucky is working with the assumption that there will be 15 scholarships available for the 2025-26 season, an increase that’s expected to result from the House vs. NCAA settlement that could be finalized soon. This means UK would still have two scholarships to use to fill out next season’s team.

 

Pope and the Wildcats are also still involved in the recruitment of high school senior Braydon Hawthorne, a four-star small forward who was previously signed to play at West Virginia. Hawthorne took a recruiting visit to Kentucky last week.

 

Kam Williams will be a star for the Kentucky Wildcats.

 

Kentucky-commit Reed Sheppard brings the ball up the court atop the large UK logo at the UK HealthCare Boys Sweet 16 tournament Wednesday at Rupp Arena. March 15, 2022

 

2022 Sweet Sixteen Boys Basketball Tournament

Kentucky-commit Reed Sheppard brings the ball up the court atop the large UK logo at the UK HealthCare Boys Sweet 16 tournament Wednesday at Rupp Arena. March 15, 2022 2022 Sweet Sixteen Boys Basketball Tournament / Matt Stone

An article came out from CBS Sports that ranked the top 100 players in the transfer portal, and one of the Kentucky Wildcats inside the top 50 was former Tulane guard Kam Williams.

 

Isaac Trotter, David Cobb, and Travis Branham of CBS Sports had Williams ranked as the 44th best player in this portal cycle.

 

Trotter, Cobb, and Branham had this to say about Williams and why he was ranked 44th, “Analytics favorite with deep range (40% from 3-point range on 141 attempts) and strong defensive metrics. He’s a low-usage, high-impact wing whose floor spacing and size could shine in Mark Pope’s system if he keeps hitting shots.”

 

Williams averaged 9.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game last season in his freshman year at Tulane. The 6’8 Williams shot 48.5% from the field and 41.2% from three for the Green Wave, so he was incredibly efficient.

 

This season, Williams will come off of the bench, but he is going to be a star. Williams has lottery-pick upside thanks to his size at 6’8, long wingspan, and ability to shoot the three-ball. He is a prototype of the type of player who is doing well in the NBA right now.

 

Heading into the 2025-26 season, Williams won’t be a player well-known outside of Kentucky fans, but he will quickly become one of the most exciting players in the nation.

 

Pope did a heck of a job evaluating Williams’ talent, and it will pay off as the 6’8 guard will put up big numbers this season.

 

 

 

 

Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope and players Lamont Butler and Andrew Carr talk to the media after the Wildcats’ 78-65 loss to Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament on March 28, 2025, in Indianapolis. By NCAA| John Clay

A key deadline in the offseason college basketball landscape is fast approaching.

 

The deadline for college basketball players to enter the NCAA transfer portal is 11:59 p.m. EDT on Tuesday. Once in the portal, college transfers can make their decisions on where to go at any time. But Tuesday night is the cutoff time for players to enter the portal.

 

So far, only one player from Mark Pope’s first Kentucky basketball team is among the more than 2,000 college players who have entered the portal this spring.

 

But that doesn’t mean it’s been a slow spring for the Wildcats in the portal.

 

Of course, Kentucky is currently set to welcome four players from the portal for the 2025-26 season. Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama), Jaland Lowe (Pittsburgh), Jayden Quaintance (Arizona State) and Kam Williams (Tulane) will all be Wildcats next season.

 

Kentucky is also still pursuing another guard, specifically a skilled 3-point shooter, in the portal. Pope also has another transfer portal visitor lined up to come to Lexington this week.

 

Here’s the latest news on Kentucky’s efforts in the portal, as well as some other major storylines that have emerged with the transfer portal as the entry deadline nears.

 

Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats will be hosting former Alabama and Kansas player Rylan Griffen for a recruiting visit to UK this week.

Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats will be hosting former Alabama and Kansas player Rylan Griffen for a recruiting visit to UK this week. Ryan C. Hermens rhermens@herald-leader.com

Kentucky basketball set to host Rylan Griffen for recruiting visit

UK basketball’s latest visitor from the transfer portal is a former member of another college basketball blue blood.

 

Rylan Griffen — a 6-foot-6 guard who previously played two seasons at Alabama and one season at Kansas — will be visiting Pope’s program on Tuesday.

 

During the 2022-23 season, Griffen came off the bench as a freshman in all 37 of Alabama’s games. He averaged 5.9 points and 2.6 rebounds in 15.8 minutes per game for a Crimson Tide squad that was the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, but lost in the Sweet 16 in Louisville to a San Diego State team led by guard Lamont Butler, who just finished his college career at UK.

 

In the 2023-24 season, Griffen was a regular starter for Alabama as the Crimson Tide reached the Final Four for the first time in school history. Griffen averaged 11.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game, while shooting 39.2% on 3-pointers, in his final season playing for Nate Oats.

 

Griffen then hit the portal last offseason and transferred to Kansas, where he was part of a Jayhawks team that disappointed relative to preseason expectations. Last season, Griffen averaged only 6.3 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 20.2 minutes per game. He made 20 starts and appeared in 33 of Kansas’ 34 games last season.

 

Griffen’s 3-point shooting dipped down to 33.6% last season. He shot 37.2% from the field at Kansas after shooting 45.4% from the field during his final season at Alabama.

 

According to the 247Sports transfer portal rankings, Griffen is the No. 73 overall player available in the transfer portal.

 

There’s also a notable Kentucky connection to be aware of with Griffen before he takes his recruiting trip to Lexington. Griffen was high school teammates with recent ex-Cat Cason Wallace at Richardson High School in North Texas.

 

Wallace — now in his second NBA season — played 13 minutes and was a staggering plus-30 when on the floor for Oklahoma City on Sunday as the Thunder began a Western Conference first-round playoff series with a dominant 51-point home win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

 

Rylan Griffen averaged 6.3 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 20.2 minutes per game at Kansas during the 2024-25 season.

Rylan Griffen averaged 6.3 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 20.2 minutes per game at Kansas during the 2024-25 season. Dominick Williams

PJ Haggerty leads list of recent transfer portal entrants

While Kentucky has already completed most of its offseason portal work, plenty of talented college players are still jumping into the portal as Tuesday’s deadline nears.

 

In recent days, the following notable college basketball players have entered their names into the portal:

 

▪ Chad Baker-Mazara (Auburn): One of the players most synonymous with Bruce Pearl’s Auburn Tigers, Baker-Mazara is hitting the transfer portal after two seasons on The Plains. The 6-foot-7 senior swingman averaged 12.3 points per game last season for Auburn, which won the SEC regular season title and reached the Final Four for just the second time in program history.

 

▪ PJ Haggerty (Memphis): The consensus top player now available in the portal, Haggerty was an All-American and the player of the year in the American Athletic Conference last season. The 6-3 redshirt sophomore guard averaged 21.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game for Memphis, and he’s set to command a high-dollar figure from whichever school that lands him.

 

Haggerty was third in the NCAA in per-game scoring last season.

 

▪ Andrej Stojakovic (California): This one will be of particular interest to Kentucky fans who recall that Pope and the Wildcats pursued Stojakovic last offseason when he was transferring from Stanford. The 6-7 sophomore guard averaged 17.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game this past season for Cal.

 

▪ Simeon Wilcher (St. John’s): A former four-star high school recruit from New Jersey, Wilcher, a 6-4 sophomore guard, started 25 games and averaged 8 points per contest for Rick Pitino’s Red Storm last season. St. John’s won both the Big East regular season and tournament titles.

 

Former Memphis star PJ Haggerty is considered to be the top available player in the NCAA transfer portal.

Former Memphis star PJ Haggerty is considered to be the top available player in the NCAA transfer portal. Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Of this group, Haggerty is likely to be the one who has the biggest impact on a team’s fortunes in the 2025-26 season. Haggerty is ranked as the No. 2 player in the transfer portal, per 247sports. He’s also a top-15 portal player in college basketball statistician Evan Miyakawa’s rankings.

 

Again, players like these can make their college decisions at any time from the portal.

 

On Sunday, two players from the portal who had previously been linked to Kentucky made their college choices. Former Robert Morris forward Alvaro Folgueiras — last season’s player of the year in the Horizon League — committed to Iowa. Also, former North Dakota guard Treysen Eaglestaff committed to West Virginia, after previously committing to and decommitting from South Carolina out of the portal.

 

Auburn, Texas A&M add players from transfer portal

A pair of SEC programs made some very notable gains via the transfer portal in recent days.

 

First, let’s look at Texas A&M and new Aggies head coach Bucky McMillan. A&M has added former Indiana forward Mackenzie Mgbako, who took a recruiting visit from the transfer portal to Kentucky a few weeks ago. Mgbako averaged 12.2 points per game during both of his seasons at Indiana.

 

Mgbako is now the second transfer portal add for the Aggies under McMillan’s leadership. A&M has also landed guard Jacari Lane, who averaged 17.3 points per game last season at North Alabama.

 

Four former Aggies — Pharrel Payne, Solomon Washington, Andre Mills and George Turkson Jr. — have opted to follow former head coach Buzz Williams to his new coaching stop at Maryland.

 

Elsewhere, Auburn picked up another commitment from a highly rated player making the jump up to the Division I level. The Tigers have a commitment from Elyjah Freeman, a 6-foot-8 wing who averaged 18.9 points and 8.7 rebounds per game last season while playing for Lincoln Memorial, an NCAA Division II school in Harrogate, Tennessee. Freeman shot better than 45% from 3-point range during his lone season at Lincoln Memorial.

 

Freeman joins Emeka Opurum and Abdul Bashir — both of whom arrive from the junior college ranks — as accomplished players from the lower-levels of college basketball who will be suiting up for Pearl’s team next season.

 

And while it wasn’t a transfer portal add, some big news in the high school basketball recruiting world took place Sunday night that will benefit an SEC school.

 

Nate Ament — previously the top uncommitted prospect in the 2025 high school recruiting class — committed to Tennessee on Easter Sunday. Ament picked the Volunteers from a group of finalists that also included Arkansas, Duke, Kentucky and Louisville.

 

As far as the 2025 high school recruiting class goes, UK’s last remaining target appears to be Braydon Hawthorne, a four-star small forward who was previously signed to play at West Virginia. Hawthorne took a recruiting visit to Kentucky last week.

 

UK has already signed guard Jasper Johnson and in-state center Malachi Moreno from the high school ranks for next season. The Wildcats also have a commitment from Andrija Jelavic, a soon-to-be 21-year-old big man from Croatia.