Kentucky has the second-best portal class in college basketball

by:Jack Pilgrim•about 23 hours

Tulane-Transfer-Kam-Williams-Talks-Kentucky-Interest — Mar 15, 2025; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Tulane Green Wave guard Kam Williams (3) scores a layup against Memphis Tigers guard PJ Haggerty (4) during the second half at Dickies Arena. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-Imagn Images

You know that early victory lap Louisville took for those three portal commitments in Ryan Conwell, Adrian Wooley and Isaac McKneely, the one that had Card Nation talking a big game about Kentucky ‘coping with Pope’ — despite losing 10 of the last 12 head-to-head battles and not winning a tournament game since 2017? That 93-85 win for the Wildcats inside Rupp Arena back in December clearly meant nothing to them. You’d think they would stop punching up at this point, but hey, the excitement is cute.

What if I told you, though, those jabs wouldn’t even lead to an on-paper win for the evil red over the good guys in blue? That portal class they’ve been hyping up is undoubtedly good — top 10 in the country, to be clear — but Kentucky‘s is just better.

In fact, the Wildcats’ four-man group of Jayden Quaintance, Mo Dioubate, Jaland Lowe and Kam Williams currently sits at No. 2 in the country, behind only Michigan. That’s according to Evan Miyakawa’s latest incoming transfer class rankings over at EvanMiya.com.

Kentucky ranks No. 2 nationally while Louisville sits at No. 9 overall.

Michigan
Kentucky
Tennessee
Miami
UCLA
Washington
Iowa
BYU
Louisville
Creighton
Georgetown
Clemson
Arizona State
Virginia
Texas
TCU
UConn
Purdue
USC
Wisconsin
Indiana
St. John’s
Baylor
Ohio State
Syracuse

Here are the best incoming transfer classes in the country at https://t.co/cegyfz96ax as of today, from the Class Rankings page.

The top 5:
1. Michigan
2. Kentucky
3. Tennessee
4. Miami
5. UCLA pic.twitter.com/VhB5PcKkzZ
— Evan Miyakawa (@EvanMiya) April 11, 2025

Speaking of the Wildcats, Quaintance sits at No. 8 nationally in EvanMiya.com‘s individual portal rankings. He’s ranked as the best defensive threat in the top 10 by a mile, coming in as a firm five-star transfer addition for Kentucky.

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The best part? Mark Pope and his staff aren’t done yet, set to host one of the best available shooters in the country in Sam Houston State’s Lamar Wilkerson, who will be on campus in Lexington this weekend. If not him, it’ll be someone else ready to pick up where Koby Brea left off as a go-to sniper on the wing. And if they really want to pad their stats, maybe a backup point guard, too, with Acaden Lewis decommitting on Thursday?

We’re good with our group over here. That early victory lap is probably worthy of another fake banner inside the Yum! Center, though.