Kentucky signed two top-four defenders out of the portal -- including No. 1 overall
Mark Pope‘s first moves upon taking the Kentucky job last spring consisted of signing three-time CAA Defensive Player of the Year Amari Williams, two-time Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year Lamont Butler and Otega Oweh — known for spending “his entire season last year picking up the point guard full court in the Big 12,” as the head coach put it once the Oklahoma transfer put pen to paper with the Wildcats.
Those three worked out well for Pope, I’d say.
A year later, Kentucky is investing in defense once again, signing two of the top four players in the transfer portal on that end of the floor — including No. 1 overall.
In Evan Miyakawa’s newest portal rankings, the college basketball analytics guru listed Arizona State transfer Jayden Quaintance as the No. 1 defender in the class, followed by Alabama transfer Mo Dioubate at No. 4. Those grades factor in projected defensive impact for their new programs in 2025-26.
Elsewhere, former Wildcat Zvonimir Ivisic — who transferred from Arkansas to Illinois this offseason — came in at No. 3 overall. Morez Johnson, who the Wildcats faced in the Round of 32 with the Fighting Illini before he transferred to Michigan, sits at No. 2.
Not too shabby for the newest pair of Kentucky forwards, who are set to join a portal class that includes All-ACC point guard Jaland Lowe from Pitt, a national championship sixth man from Florida in Denzel Aberdeen and a high-ceiling two way standout in Tulane transfer Kam Williams.
Quaintance was named to the Big 12 All-Defensive Team at just 17 years old, the youngest player in college basketball last season. He’s been called a “unicorn talent” by evaluators — “he sits at the table with some of the best underclassmen defensive prospects over the years,” as one put it, ahead of the likes of Dereck Lively, Joel Embiid, Nerlens Noel, Walker Kessler and Karl-Anthony Towns.
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Plenty of familiar faces there.
KSR’s Zack Geoghegan recently broke down Quaintance’s defensive upside at Kentucky on the website, highlighting his top-10 mark nationally last season with 2.6 blocks per game with a block percentage of 9.8, good for top 20 in the country.
As for Dioubate, his impact speaks for itself — Kentucky saw plenty of him last season with the Crimson Tide. Pope was quick to single out his defensive versatility upon signing with the Wildcats, arguably his best performance coming, unfortunately, against the Wildcats in Tuscaloosa, the first to hold Oweh to single-digit scoring to end his double-digit streak at 26 games.
“Mouhamed is a special young man who is a perfect fit for the way we play,” Pope said. “He is a ballhandling, decision-making, physical, competitor. Mo can play and guard all five positions and has a presence as a point forward which makes him uniquely suited to play for us.”
Looking at Kentucky’s overall class, Evan Miyakawa has the Wildcats ranked No. 2 overall in college basketball, behind only Michigan. Tennessee (No. 3), Miami (No. 4) and Washington (No. 5) round out the top five while no other SEC foe comes up until Texas at No. 14 overall.
I know it’s still April, but can we tip off the season yet?
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