Two of the top five defenders in the transfer portal are now Kentucky Wildcats

Kentucky answered the need of improving on defense in a big way.

Feb 19, 2025; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope watches the action during the first half against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images | Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Entering the offseason, Mark Pope and the Kentucky staff wanted to check a couple of boxes to improve on with physicality and defense. Safe to say, they did just that through the transfer portal. According to a predicted study ran by Evan Miyakawa's analytics site, Kentucky has two of the top five defensive players in the transfer portal for next season in Jayden Quaintance and Mo Dioubate.

Miyakawa's study was based on 'predicted defensive impact' for the upcoming season. In the rankings, Quaintance actually ranks as the top defensive player in the portal for next season, while Dioubate is ranked fourth. That speaks volumes to not just how good the two big men are, but also to how well Kentucky answered one of their biggest needs of improvement heading into the offseason. Quaintance, a 6-10 big man transfer from Arizona State and one-time Kentucky commit out of high school, suffered a season-ending ACL injury on February 23 last season against Kansas State. The big man is expected to have no setbacks in terms of rehabbing from his injury, on pace to get back on the court in time for the start of the season. His potential for next season has NBA scouts drooling, with ESPN even having him going 5th overall in their latest 2026 NBA mock draft. His best game at Arizona State last season was a 19-point and 11-rebound performance against Massachusetts.

As for Dioubate, a 6-7 big man transfer from Alabama, is an elite rim-protector and filled a huge void in that area for Kentucky in the frontcourt, as did Quaintance. Dioubate ranked fifth in the SEC last season in defensive rebound efficiency. He played very well against Kentucky in the SEC Tournament, having 13 points on 5-6 shooting and 8 rebounds. Dioubate had six double-doubles on the season, his best coming against Vanderbilt where he had 22 points on 8-9 shooting and 10 rebounds to go along with 2 blocks and a steal. He's going to be an absolute force for the Wildcats.

Quaintance and Dioubate are going to be a dynamic duo on the defensive end for Kentucky next season and it looks like many people are starting to take notice of what the two are capable of.

Here are the top defensive players in the the transfer portal based on predicted defensive impact for next season at https://t.co/cegyfz96ax:

1. Jayden Quaintance
2. Morez Johnson
3. Zvonimir Ivisic
4. Mouhamed Dioubate
5. Moustapha Thiam pic.twitter.com/ZJ7OGaFVI2

— Evan Miyakawa (@EvanMiya) April 28, 2025