Things are going to look vastly different in Lexington this season, as the Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball team has undergone major changes. The biggest was head coach John Calipari taking the head coaching job at Arkansas, leaving a huge void on the sidelines.
With Calipari out, many players also left the program. That left his replacement, former Kentucky Wildcats player Mark Pope, hitting the transfer portal and recruiting trail hard to fill those spots on the roster.
To this point, he has done a very good job. Kentucky has had nine players depart that were considered key losses by college basketball insider John Rothstein. Pope has wasted no time in filling those spots, as seven players have been added to the transfer portal.
Alas, the work does not seem done for the Kentucky Wildcats. On Tuesday, they are hosting forward Ansley Almonor of Fairleigh Dickinson. He isn’t the only player Pope has set his sights on, as he was present at the G League Elite Camp in Chicago this week, keeping tabs on two more transfer portal targets.
Chaz Lanier of North Florida and Wooga Poplar of Miami (FL) both took part in the camp hoping to receive an invite to the NBA Combine. Five out of the 45 participants received invites, but Lanier and Poplar were not one of them.
Both players have garnered interest from Pope and Kentucky. They fit the mold of what Pope is looking for in his offensive system, as both guards can fill it up and have the ability to knock down shots from 3-point range. Lanier shot 44 percent from 3-point range, while Poplar knocked down 38.5 percent of his long-range attempts.
At BYU, Pope’s game plan was predicated on shooting 3-pointers early and often. The recruits that he has targeted and landed to this point all can knock down perimeter jumpers, as the new-look Kentucky Wildcats under Pope are going to be lighting opponents up from the perimeter.
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