‘All doors are open right now’ as UK basketball coach Mark Pope builds his first roster

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Mark Pope’s first roster as the Kentucky basketball coach will, essentially, be started from scratch.

The last week-plus has seen a player exodus from the Wildcats’ 2023-24 roster under former head coach John Calipari, now at Arkansas.

From last season’s Wildcats (who went 23-10 overall with an opening round NCAA Tournament exit) the following roster news has occurred, as of Tuesday morning:

▪ Aaron Bradshaw (Ohio State) and Zvonimir Ivisic (Arkansas) have left UK for new schools via the NCAA transfer portal.

▪ Joey Hart, Adou Thiero and D.J. Wagner are in the transfer portal.

▪ Rob Dillingham, Justin Edwards and Ugonna Onyenso have declared for the 2024 NBA draft.

▪ Tre Mitchell and Antonio Reeves — UK’s most experienced players — have exhausted their college eligibility.

▪ Reed Sheppard and Jordan Burks haven’t yet made a public stay-or-go decision.

In addition to this, Kentucky has lost five players from its six-player 2024 recruiting class, assembled by Calipari and ranked second in the country: Guard Boogie Fland, small forwards Karter Knox and Billy Richmond and centers Somto Cyril and Jayden Quaintance have all decommitted from UK. In-state guard Travis Perry is the only recruit from this group expected to play at UK.

Safe to say, Pope has plenty of work to do when it comes to assembling his first team in Lexington.

That work began in earnest Tuesday morning, when it was announced that former BYU signee Collin Chandler would be following Pope to Lexington. A former four-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class, Chandler served a two-year mission trip following his commitment to the Cougars.

Chandler, who is Pope’s first recruit at UK, will make his college basketball debut with the Wildcats next season.

This represents the first step in Pope’s construction of the UK roster for next season. He talked about this process Monday night during his first UK radio show.

“What we’re really, most importantly looking for, (is) we’re looking for great players with epic talent that can go hang a banner, that fit what Kentucky stands for,” Pope said. “That’s a lot, and it’s going to be a very selective process. I don’t think it’s just about going out and getting the most raw talent, I think it’s about going out and getting the pieces that can fit together to form a team that is elite and dangerous.”

Some early news on this roster-building front via the transfer portal arrived early Sunday, just hours before Pope was officially introduced as the Kentucky basketball coach in front of a packed Rupp Arena crowd.

Aly Khalifa, a skilled 6-foot-11, 270-pound center who played for Pope at BYU last season, is in the transfer portal and is considering Kentucky, Louisville and a possible return to BYU.

Pope and the Wildcats also have a transfer portal visitor lined up for next week: Former Drexel big man Amari Williams, known as one of the best defensive bigs in all of college basketball, will be visiting the Cats after taking other recruiting visits to St. John’s, Creighton and Indiana.

During his remarks at Sunday’s Rupp Arena event, Pope also singled out Perry, who signed his national letter of intent in November to come to Kentucky. Conversations are ongoing between Pope and Perry, and signs appear good that the all-time leading scorer in Kentucky high school boys basketball history will be a Wildcat next season.

But beyond these players — and Pope’s hope for a possible return by national freshman of the year Reed Sheppard — Pope is still in the process of identifying who he wants on his first Kentucky team.

Despite the distinct context of the school Pope was recruiting to — BYU has a religious affiliation with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Pope successfully recruited a wide variety of players to Provo via both traditional high school recruiting and the transfer portal during his five seasons with the Cougars.

Chandler, the 2022 BYU signee who will now come to Kentucky, was set to be BYU’s highest-ranked recruit in more than a decade.

Pope also successfully recruited three-star point guard Dallin Hall from the high school ranks. Hall’s 5.1 assists per game last season with the Cougars ranked in the top 50 nationally. Hall is now in the transfer portal.

Success stories authored by Pope at BYU from the transfer portal include Alex Barcello (Arizona), Brandon Averette (Oklahoma State and Utah Valley), Matt Haarms (Purdue), the previously mentioned Khalifa (Charlotte) and Jaxson Robinson (Texas A&M and Arkansas), who led the Cougars in scoring last season.

“The portal’s important. There’s a real space for some veteran leadership, some experience on a roster,” Pope said. “Especially if you can get a leader, especially if you can get someone whose voice can be heard, someone who’s developed their skill in a leadership role.”

One thing that’s clear for Pope, a man who now has significantly more recruiting resources at his disposal in Lexington than he did in Provo?

All options are on the table.

“Yes, for sure,” Pope said in relation to adding freshmen to the UK roster for the 2024-25 season, a comment that came to fruition hours later with Chandler’s commitment. “There’s some movement there and we’re also recruiting some guys that have been floating around this program. Yes, all doors are open right now.”

As Pope moves to put together a roster, some key deadlines will loom large.

College basketball players have until May 1 to enter the NCAA transfer portal. The early-entry deadline for the 2024 NBA draft is April 27, and players who enter the draft with remaining NCAA eligibility will have until May 29 to remove their names from consideration and return to school.

“The best part of recruiting is getting to know these kids,” Pope said. “These are young men with huge dreams and aspirations and they come from all different backgrounds and all different places and building relationships is the best part, and getting to know each other is the best part …

“We’re going to actually be the best team we can possibly be if we don’t trick kids into coming here, or get the wrong kids. It’s (going to be) getting the right kids that are going to live and die wearing a Kentucky uniform. That makes it fun. Because the job is not to convince, the job is to build relationships and that’s actually a super fun part of the process right now.”

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