Kentucky, Mark Pope Still Have Plenty of Time to Build Competitive Roster

The Wildcats can stil put together a very good team despite its shortcomings

Mar 22, 2026; St. Louis, MO, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope reacts during the first half against the Iowa State Cyclones during a second round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Enterprise Center. | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

There has been no team under fire more this offseason than Kentucky after missing on some of its top transfer portal targets but there is still time for the Wildcats to put together a roster that can compete at the top of the SEC.

The latest blowup was Rick Pitino and St. John’s swopping in late to land Syracuse transfer Donnie Freeman after it was thought that he was a heavy lean to the Wildcats.

But Kentucky got on the board last week with the commitments of Washington guard Zoom Diallo and Furman guard Alex Wilkins while returning Kam Williams, Malachi Moreno, Braydon Hawthorne, and Trent Noah.

All of a sudden, it’s looking like a roster that has potential to be a Top 20 team this season if Mark Pope adds to it with high-end transfers and can get a few players to withdraw from the NBA Draft and join the Wildcats.

Baylor freshman Tounde Yessoufou entered the transfer portal hours before the midnight deadline on Tuesday and Kentucky immediately emerged as a candidate to land the guard with NBA potential. He averaged 17.8 points per game last year for the Bears despite struggling from 3-point range.

The Wildcats have also been heavily linked to Iowa State transfer Milan Momcilovic, who has entered the NBA Draft. He shined for the Cyclones last season, leading the country in 3-point percentage at 48.7-percent while posting 16.9 points per game.

Yet Kentucky will be met with stiff competition for Momcilovic if he decides to return to college basketball. Florida and Duke, along with others, have also been connected in recent weeks.

Lastly, Kentucky remains one of the three schools recruiting Tyran Stokes, the top ranked incoming recruit to college basketball. Stokes is also considering Kansas and Oregon, but the Jayhawks and Wildcats are considered the top two contenders for his commitment.

Sure, Mark Pope might have misjudged a handful of recruitments this offseason and perhaps didn’t want to match the offers of other programs after putting together a reported $22 million roster last season, but there is still time for Kentucky to manufacture a very competitive roster for the 2026-27 season.