The Wildcats plan to be judicious with the final roster spot.
First-year Kentucky coach Mark Pope has already signed a 7-man transfer class that is currently ranked No. 5 nationally by 247Sports.
In total, he’s inked 10 scholarship players to the Wildcats’ 2024-25 roster.
But the work is far from over.
Pope still needs a proven bucket-getter and to that end, is still actively pursuing North Florida transfer Chaz Lanier, BYU Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year Jaxson Robinson, and Miami transfer Wooga Poplar. Pope has been in attendance this week at both the NBA Draft Combine scouting Robinson and the G League Elite Camp scouting Lanier and Poplar.
Also looking to add frontcourt depth, UK is currently hosting Fairleigh Dickinson transfer forward Ansley Almonor on an official visit.
In talking to CBS Sports college basketball insider Jon Rothstein, Pope said the plan is to use all 13 roster spots.
“We’re at 10 scholarships right now. I have two really, really important pieces that I have to add. The 13th scholarship is a floating piece,” Pope said. “It could be a place for a young player. It could be a place for a senior player who is going to take a redshirt year. It could be a place for a project. It could be a place for a high-risk guy. We’re really dialed in on filling these last two spots. It is a priority right now.”
UK assistant Cody Fueger reiterated that point during an appearance on Kentucky Sports Radio Tuesday.
“I think we’ll close out to 12 here in the next couple weeks or so, but we’re definitely going to fill all 13 scholarships. We’re going to fill one and two and keep this third unless it’s a no-brainer and we gotta have somebody. We’re going to fill this roster, we’re just going to take our time with that 13th one. Something’s always changing. The Wyoming coach just went to be an assistant at Texas Tech. You never know what European kid is going to want to play college basketball late. Things are so fluid and changing in this college basketball environment right now.”
After losing all 13 scholarship players from last season to graduation, the transfer portal, or the NBA Draft, Pope says starting from scratch at Kentucky next season isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“This is year one of a project. But this group that we’ve assembled has way more experience than the team that we had last year at BYU. These guys are proven quantities. They’ve been into the NCAA Tournament multiple times and hit game-winning shots to get into the national championship game. Veteran, veteran guys who have played for a long time at the highest level,” Pope said.
“It was terrifying, but it actually turned out to be a real blessing that we got to start from scratch here. We got to hand-pick guys that fit perfectly into the way that we play. We want to expand the genre of game that we played last year. I feel great about our roster right now. We have a couple of really, really important pieces that we still have to fit in. On paper, I love it.”
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