Kentucky basketball announced the hiring of Mark Pope as its next basketball coach on Friday. Pope, who spent the last five years as BYU’s coach, will need to hit the ground running in recruiting as he steps in to one of the most high-pressure jobs anywhere in sports.
It was proven again in the 2023-24 season at places like South Florida and Utah State that first-year coaches can enter and have early success by flipping their rosters through the transfer portal. The expectation at UK will be for Pope to do the same. Is it possible that a couple of players from the Wildcats’ 2023-24 roster could return? Absolutely. Is it possible that a couple of freshmen who signed with the program under John Calipari could still choose to attend Kentucky? Of course.
But the safe bet is that Pope’s first roster at Kentucky will have more transfers than the combined total of returners or freshman signees. So who will Pope and the Wildcats pursue? Here’s a look at the top 60 players on the move in this year’s transfer cycle.
The spring portal window runs from March 18 to May 1. However, players who have entered the portal by then don’t face a firm deadline on when they must commit. Additionally, graduate transfers and players impacted by coaching changes that occur after May 1 will be able to transfer after the deadline. Players who have also entered the NBA Draft will have until 11:59 p.m. Eastern on May 29 to withdraw if they wish to return to college for the 2024-25 season.
As players enter the portal, we will rank the best of them here. The rankings will be updated regularly as players either enter the portal or announce their intentions to enter the portal.
Check out the latest transfer portal updates from 247Sports
1. Johnell Davis
Old school: FAU
Davis played a key role in taking FAU to the 2023 Final Four and built on his breakout season by upping his scoring average to 18.2 points in 2023-24. The 6-foot-4…
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