John Calipari still open to bringing Oscar Tshiebwe back to Kentucky

Kentucky basketball is in the throes of roster building at the moment. It’s a total construction site down off Triangle Park as John Calipari madly roots through his roster to figure who is staying, who is transferring and who is going to the NBA. It’s a mix of all three options (plus more) for the 2022-23 Wildcats at the moment, meanwhile the staff is tasked with vetting possible replacements, who they can’t makes any promises to because of the unresolved situations with their current players.

That’s enough to give a man a headache. At least on Thursday morning, Kentucky’s options became a bit more clear when prized transfer Hunter Dickinson selected Kansas over the Wildcats and others. With that domino down, Calipari now turned towards his other options in the front-court, starting with the potential returners.

The big one is former National Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe, who has one more year to use if he wants it. As always, Calipari wants him to immerse himself in the NBA Draft process first before making a decision. Here was his comment on the Oscar situation to Fox Sports’ John Fanta:

“He’s been great and we’ve been great. I told him to go for it. If you want to come back, you can come back, but you’ve gotta go for it. Don’t shortchange yourself. We have stayed in touch.”

The other forward Calipari is waiting on a decision from is would-be sophomore Chris Livingston, who came on strong enough at the end of his rookie year to warrant some pro looks.

“Chris Livingston is another guy. I’ll do everything I can to help him get to where he’s trying to go,” said Coach Cal. “He’s got to run this down. He’s a terrific young person. Physically, he’s ready for the NBA.”

Seems like Calipari believes Livingston is ready for and/or is headed to the NBA, meanwhile Oscar is weighing his options and taking the pro route a little more serious than he did a year ago. Since Kentucky doesn’t have surefire answers either way on these guys yet, that’s why they haven’t recruited the portal too hard yet. Although, options are beginning to run thin.

“We haven’t done much in the portal. We’ve recruited one kid. Most of that recruiting effort has been my staff. We’ve got a good group.”

Calipari is happy with the players he’s got on the team now and likely knows the roster needs some finishing touches out of the portal, but just like the last two seasons, he’s in no rush to add transfers quite yet. Because an Oscar Tshiebwe or Chris Livingston trumps whatever you’re going to get in the Transfer Portal.