Kentucky's transfer portal net, in spite of being widely boiled down to the relatively muddy Zoom Diallo visit over the weekend, is among the broadest cast. Mark Pope is not only working not to overpay players this time around, but apparently, he's making contact with just about anyone willing to listen.
This could come across as a worrying strategy for Cats fans that fear Coach Pope will settle on someone at an important position; although, in fact, he's doing the opposite. Everyone on the transfer portal's upper echelon is hearing from Kentucky, all being tested and tried to the program's standards as well as their own individual fit within Pope's system. This time around, especially, he seems to be concerned with securing a concrete backcourt.
The latest of his pursuits has led him to Butler Bulldogs guard Finley Bizjack who, according to Pete Nakos, Kentucky is in the process of securing a visit with. If the Big Blue Nation can learn anything about Bizjack (beyond his ridiculously flashy passing), it's that the guy can score at a lethal pace.
Pope Pursuing a Lethal Scorer
Bizjack's All-Big East Third Team honors don't even begin to do him justice. Averaging 17 points per contest in his most recent campaign, the guard only failed to reach double-digit scoring in four of his 31 total games played. If Kentucky wants to solve a scoring issue in the most basic possible sense, look no further than Finley Bizjack.
Allthough, in the same breath, Bizjack scores so much because he shoots the ball... a lot. With a 43%/35% shooting split, it's clear that the bulk of the Bulldogs' offense rested on his shoulders.
What he did with that weight is both worrying and impressive in equal parts. Bizjack has the skillset to absolutely thrive in Pope's perimeter offense, but he'd first have to mould to the system.
Moulding Bizjack to Pope's System
Shave a few shot attempts in favor of no-look passes to open teammates and slashing oops to Malachi Moreno and, all the sudden, you've got a real multi-faceted distributor on your hands. The obvious kicker is whether or not Pope could break Bizjack through that ceiling and get him to the level the Wildcats would require for success.
Then again, if Pope is chasing him to the point of a visit in the portal, he clearly believes in that possibility. For now, at least, the BBN can buy in.