Kentucky basketball is heading into a make-or-break season under Mark Pope in year 3. If things do not go well, Mark Pope will not be in Lexington for year 4. And that means he must nail this Transfer Portal season.
Who is leaving?
The first part of any portal season is deciding who you will have coming back. The coaching staff is currently in the midst of the season-ending meetings with each player. After those are done, expect a lot of movement over the next 3 days ahead of the portal's April 7th opening. The only player we know for sure is leaving is currently point guard Jaland Lowe, who lasted just one injury-impacted season in Lexington.
As more names get announced, this list will definitely fill up. For now, though, let's go ahead and look into who is staying.
Who is staying?
Mark Pope's press conference after the Iowa State loss was somber, but the coach did deliver the two players he had hoped would stay, Collin Chandler and Malachi Moreno. Those two have not announced they were staying just yet, but two others have.
Braydon Hawthorne and Reece Potter completed their redshirt seasons in Lexington this past year. Both have announced they plan on being back, so the only thing that would stop it from happening is if Kentucky asks them to move on. That is highly unlikely to happen, especially considering Kentucky will have less money available to them than they did last season.
Braydon Hawthorne
Reece Potter
This list will also continue to grow, but it may depend on how well the next list goes, the target tracker.
Kentucky basketball Transfer Portal target tracker
Kentucky is going to need to fill at least 2 feature roles with Denzel Aberdeen and Otega Oweh graduating. But that's unlikely to be the only roles that need to be filled, especially considering Kentucky still has zero recruits in the high school class.
Miles Byrd
Camren Hunter
Finley Bizjack
Miles Byrd is the MWC defensive player of the year, and KSR has reported he will be a big target. That isn't all that surprising. Mark Pope did pretty well with a defensive player from San Diego State in year 1, and he is going to try to do it again in year 3.
Byrd averages 10 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks, and a steal a game.
Camren Hunter is a bucket getter. He had a great 2 years at Central Arkansas and transferred to Wisconsin. That move didn't pan out, and he only played in 11 games before transferring back to Central Arkansas. In the 3 seasons in the ASUN, Hunter averaged 17 points per game, including 21 a night last season.
Finley Bizjack comes from Butler, and I think fans will have to look beyond the numbers with this one. Yes, he averaged 17 a night, but he had to take 12 shots a night to get there and only shot 42% from the field.
Those are the confirmed names for the moment, but as the news breaks we will update this page.