Kentucky Wildcats

2023-24 Results: 23-10 (13-5 SEC), NCAA Tournament Appearance

Key Additions

Jaxson Robinson (BYU)

Kerr Kriisa (West Virginia)

Lamont Butler (San Diego State)

Andrew Carr (Wake Forest)

Otega Oweh (Oklahoma)

Amari Williams (Drexel)

Koby Brea (Dayton)

Ansley Almonor (Farleigh Dickinson)

Brandon Garrison (Oklahoma State)

Collin Chandler (BYU)

Key Losses

DJ Wagner

Zvonimir Ivisic

Aaron Bradshaw

Adou Thiero

Ugonna Onyenso

Justin Edwards

Reed Sheppard

Rob Dillingham

Tre Mitchell

Antonio Reeves

Projected Starting Lineup

Head Coach: Mark Pope (1st Season)

Guard: Lamont Butler (5th year)

Guard: Koby Brea (5th year)

Guard: Jaxson Robinson (5th year)

Forward: Andrew Carr (5th year)

Center: Brandon Garrison (SO)

The team with the most change in the country this season is Kentucky. They watched their longtime head coach, John Calipari, leave for conference rival Arkansas. With him went just about every player on the roster and in the 2024 recruiting class. New head coach Mark Pope, Kentucky basketball alum, has done a nice job responding to that. He brought in a strong recruiting class and took several players from his previous job at BYU with him. Given the circumstances, Pope did a nice job putting together a team that can be ready to compete in the SEC. 

Every contributing player from last season’s roster left, whether that was by transfer or leaving for the NBA. Pope brought in good rim protection in Amari Williams from Drexel and Brandon Garrison from Oklahoma State, who both averaged over 1.5 blocks per game last season. They won’t lack size, with their smallest player being 6 ‘2 Lamont Butler. The wing defense will be held down by Koby Brea and Jaxson Robinson, with Robinson certainly being the better defender of the two, and already knowing Pope’s defensive system having come over from BYU. Butler comes from San Diego State, where defense was not optional if you want to play, so he will compete and be a pest in the backcourt for the Wildcats defense. Pope is a good coach who, while needing to adjust to the SEC style of play, typically has his teams playing solid team defense and will benefit from having size and rim protection in the frontcourt.

Offensively, the Wildcats have a bunch of players that averaged double figures at their previous school in 2023-24. Jaxson Robinson will likely be the go-to scorer for them, along with Andrew Carr who transferred in from Wake Forest. Lamont Butler and Kerr Kriisa will run the show in the backcourt, with Butler being more of a downhill scorer and Kriisa more of a shooter. For Kentucky to be most successful, they might want to play more of Butler around some of their other depth shooting because he can get downhill Otega Oweh, Oklahoma transfer, should also fit in nicely off the bench and produce big games for them with his efficient scoring. Kentucky will also have an interior presence in Amari Williams and Brandon Garrison to play off of the guards and get into pick and roll action. The biggest mystery for this team is former 2022 4-star, and the number 33 ranked player in that class, Collin Chandler. A former BYU commit who just got back from a two year mission is ready to start his college basketball career now. Having been such a highly recruited prospect, you’d expect the talent to still be there, but expect some growing pains getting back into the flow of things after being away from the game for a couple of years. Given the roster turnover, Pope did a great job reconstructing this team to include solid options at all three levels to give Kentucky a good chance to still compete in the SEC and make the NCAA tournament.

With the retool of Kentucky’s roster, they will still compete at a high level this season. They shouldn’t have a problem making the NCAA Tournament, but will probably be in the second tier of teams in the SEC hierarchy alongside teams like Texas and Arkansas. Pope’s first season won’t result in better than a Sweet 16 finish, but given the loss of legendary recruiter John Calipari, Pope did a nice job making sure that the Wildcats will still compete with top teams in 2024.