2025-26 Roster Chatter (UPDATE: Oweh Returns, Roster Complete)

[KentuckyWild2020]

That had to be a really really tough decision for Travis to make.

[TrueblueCATfan]

Sorry to hear this...Hate to see our own Kentucky boys transfer

[Lighthouse]

GOOD LUCK TRAVIS! I hope you find the perfect spot for you.

[Uncle Dave]

Sorry to hear this...Hate to see our own Kentucky boys transfer

Right. Particularly POTY. That's a gigantic reality check.

[teamchemistry15]

I'm regards to JQ, I know that players are limited to the amount of time they can spend with coaches during the off season, but what about strength and conditioning and rehab staff? Can he be in there as much as he's able to with UK employees working on his injury and getting healthy during the off season?

[Joneslab]

I'm regards to JQ, I know that players are limited to the amount of time they can spend with coaches during the off season, but what about strength and conditioning and rehab staff? Can he be in there as much as he's able to with UK employees working on his injury and getting healthy during the off season?

Can't imagine there would be stipulations on that. I think the NCAA rules about coaching is only about instruction and trying to make it so that programs don't relentlessly practice nonstop.

[Joneslab]

Last figure was that over 3300 players entered the transfer portal this year. I believe there are 335 D1 programs…..so there have been enough players go into the portal to reload every D1 team.


mind boggling.

We're following a sport at this point that has no rules. Imagine you set up a school, run the school in this weird, inconsistent way like the NCAA did with college basketball for 50 years, and then you get sued a bunch of times and lose. So you say: to heck with it, and you just duck out of the picture completely.

What you're left with is a vacuum. That's the situation as it stands now. There are no guardrails, no barriers in place to keep the players from doing anything. We went from a draconian situation of not allowing them to have summer jobs to this. And, somehow and against all odds, this is worse.

The games themselves are still fun. What we saw last year was an improvement in play from the era where the best players were 18 or 19. We saw that on the regular in the SEC. But outside of that, the game is an absolute mess and probably teetering on the brink of unsustainability.

[Joneslab]

That's my issue: Its everyone's incentive to fudge the numbers.

In the end it doesn't matter. It gives people something to discuss.

UK has $12M (supposedly) but let Dickinson go to Kansas. Just because you have the money, doesn't mean you want to pay the player's demands. So far I am very happy that Pope seems to be choosy with NIL money.

I think you can get a feel for what Pope was trying to do with NIL just in the way he courted favor with Kelly Craft.

The front row where she sat was a who's who of Republican heavyweights. And that was obviously by design. The Dickinson recruitment you're talking about happened during a time when Cal and the Crafts were reportedly on the outs. Pope saw to it that that wasn't going to happen, so it's only logical that our NIL budget would've gone up. Probably way up.

The exact number really doesn't matter. Only thing that matters in this landscape is that you have enough money to win recruiting battles. I don't really think UK had the enormous budget at the beginning of this portal cycle...but after missing on Dent and then Pierre and then Lee and then Wilkerson, I do think the purse was opened up to get Aberdeen. That's Pope playing a game you absolutely have to be playing to tread water in this day and age.

[Bluesong]

^ I believe September would only be 6 months. That's what they're shooting for.

I didn’t think that looked right. September is pushing it. Doesn’t he have to have a medical release from a doctor in order to play?

[Joneslab]

I didn’t think that looked right. September is pushing it. Doesn’t he have to have a medical release from a doctor in order to play?

Yes, and just generally over the last few years the UK medical staff has been very cautious. Not as much last year as they were under Cal, but then again, I think last year there were some missteps and guys were maybe brought back too quick.

So I would assume they'll be *very* cautious with Quaintance, in part because you've got a kid who will just have turned 18 years old when he starts playing here.

[Joneslab]

Ranking players in the portal is the biggest waste of time imaginable, even moreso than incoming freshmen, but at the end of the day Kentucky ended up with according to 247:

Quaintance, #12
Lowe, #39
Williams, #45
Aberdeen, # 57
Dioubate, #64

Dioubate and Lowe particularly seem misranked here, but as I said paying much attention to this sort of thing is crazy. It's more just for fun. One obvious issue is sameness; 75% of those players in the portal would be a variation of the same guy.

https://247sports.com/season/2025-basketball/transferportaltop/

[KCKUKFan]

Ranking players in the portal is the biggest waste of time imaginable, even moreso than incoming freshmen, but at the end of the day Kentucky ended up with according to 247:

Quaintance, #12
Lowe, #39
Williams, #45
Aberdeen, # 57
Dioubate, #64

Dioubate and Lowe particularly seem misranked here, but as I said paying much attention to this sort of thing is crazy. It's more just for fun. One obvious issue is sameness; 75% of those players in the portal would be a variation of the same guy.

https://247sports.com/season/2025-ba...sferportaltop/

It should be noted that Quaintance would be 1 if not for the injury.

[teamchemistry15]

I think you can get a feel for what Pope was trying to do with NIL just in the way he courted favor with Kelly Craft.

The front row where she sat was a who's who of Republican heavyweights. And that was obviously by design. The Dickinson recruitment you're talking about happened during a time when Cal and the Crafts were reportedly on the outs. Pope saw to it that that wasn't going to happen, so it's only logical that our NIL budget would've gone up. Probably way up.

The exact number really doesn't matter. Only thing that matters in this landscape is that you have enough money to win recruiting battles. I don't really think UK had the enormous budget at the beginning of this portal cycle...but after missing on Dent and then Pierre and then Lee and then Wilkerson, I do think the purse was opened up to get Aberdeen. That's Pope playing a game you absolutely have to be playing to tread water in this day and age.

I think one thing Pope did that is going to be under appreciated by most is not over paying for a guy who is going to come in for the wrong reasons. It seems he's avoided the players who are ONLY looking for the highest bidder because they'll probably cause issues in the locker room. He's got (seemingly) a great combination of kids who are coming here for more exposure than they got at their smaller schools or over seas, more playing time than their previous stop, or to play in a system that better suits them. The money obviously factors in, but when you hear things like JQ turning down a higher offer from another school it tells you Pope is approaching this in a way a lot of coaches aren't. Wilkerson might be a better shooter than Aberdeen this coming season, but his comment about not wanting to be just another guy spoke volumes to me. He wants to be THE guy which means he wants the most money. We got the better fit at 2G.

[Joneslab]

Matt Jones is saying that the $20 million in NIL number is way high for UK and inaccurate, a number that is likely inflated by all the agents flooding the space.

[dcaudle68]

Matt Jones is saying that the $20 million in NIL number is way high for UK and inaccurate, a number that is likely inflated by all the agents flooding the space.

Likely very true and agents obviously have a strong interest in making that number as high as possible for obvious reasons and the fact it really can't be verified.