Talent is a defining feature for Kentucky basketball’s 2025 newcomers
The group of newcomers that Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope is bringing to Lexington this year has gotten considerable buzz from all corners of the college basketball world. As way-too-early preseason projections continue to be discussed, it seems to be a near consensus that UK will be a borderline top-10 team to start the 2025-26 season, Pope’s second as the Kentucky head coach. That would be significant progress from last year, when Pope’s first Kentucky team — which didn’t feature a single returning scholarship player and only one player who had previously played for Pope — debuted at No. 23 in the preseason AP poll. While we’re still several months away from the release of the preseason AP poll, two projections that are currently available highlight why prognosticators are so bullish on the Wildcats for next season. 247Sports has Kentucky ranked in the top 15 of both the list of the best incoming transfer portal classes and the list of the best incoming freshman recruiting classes.
UK is one of only two schools — along with BYU, Pope’s previous head coaching stop — to hold this distinction. On the transfer portal front, Pope has put together one of the best classes in the country for a second straight year. UK is bringing in six players from the portal this offseason, and 247Sports has this group of transfers ranked as the fifth-best in the nation for next season.
Kentucky only trails St. John’s, Michigan, Louisville and Kansas State on this ranking. Following Kentucky (fifth) in the top 15 of these 247Sports transfer class rankings are Southern California, Iowa, Florida, Auburn, Indiana, Oklahoma, Creighton, North Carolina State, BYU and LSU. Per the 247Sports rankings, Kentucky will be welcoming a trio of top-50 transfers to Lexington: Jayden Quaintance (No. 12), Jaland Lowe (No. 38) and Kam Williams (No. 44). When it comes to incoming freshman players, 247Sports ranks Kentucky as having the 11th-best incoming group of first-year college players. UK is just outside the top 10 of these rankings, which includes (in order) Duke, Houston, Arizona, UConn, Notre Dame, Arkansas, SMU, North Carolina, BYU and Syracuse. Rounding out the top-15 list of incoming freshman classes after Kentucky (11th) is Mississippi State, Tennessee, Ole Miss and Alabama.
It’s also worth noting that Kentucky would be higher in these rankings, but only three of Kentucky’s incoming freshmen — guard Jasper Johnson, small forward Braydon Hawthorne and center Malachi Moreno — are factored in. There is no 247Sports ranking for Andrija Jelavic, a 6-foot-11 Croatian big man who will arrive at UK as a 21-year-old with previous professional playing experience in Europe.
All of this adds up to a unique blend of incoming talent and proven — to an extent — college production that will form the core of Pope’s second Kentucky squad.
During his first press conference of the offseason earlier this month, Pope was asked to describe Kentucky’s group of newcomers in three words. “Competitive. Deep. Skilled,” are the words Pope chose. Why? “I think the guys that have chosen to be here are guys that are just starving to come test themselves every single day in practice, to come get better,” Pope elaborated. “I got hungry, hungry, hungry guys. I got guys that have really unique, distinguishable skill sets that fit us really well. … I’m excited about this crew. This is going to be a really special crew.”
