Three Priorities for the Kentucky Basketball Offseason

It still doesn’t feel particularly real. However, we are officially over a week into the Kentucky Basketball offseason.

Saint Peter’s is still dancing, at least through Sunday night, which adds a little insult to injury as well. There will come a time though when the page gets turned and focus shifts to the spring/summer recruiting scene. For the Kentucky coaching staff that has already happened. For those of us among Big Blue Nation, that may have to wait until the nets are cut down in New Orleans and we accept the finality of another college basketball season.

Coach Calipari and company have already gotten busy on the recruiting trail since the premature loss to the Peacocks. Fast-rising 2022 guard Adou Thiero earned a scholarship offer from the Wildcats during an in-home visit over the weekend. Thiero is a 6’5″ guard from Pennsylvania who is shooting up the recruiting rankings. Meanwhile, the NCAA Transfer Portal is heating up with a couple of legitimate targets for the ‘Cats. Next week we will release our Transfer Portal Rankings Version 1.0 for a running series, much like we had last offseason.

With recruiting in full swing and no Kentucky Basketball left to watch this season it feels appropriate to outline a few priorities for the offseason. There are still reasons for optimism for fans of the program. However, it also is fair to say some things need to change. Landing a couple of shooters in the transfer portal, re-recruiting the current roster, and establishing a great base for the Class of 2023 would be great starting points for Coach Calipari and his staff.

Find the Right Pieces in the Transfer Portal

The transfer portal is a tricky beast. Coach Calipari proved that he can win the portal last season with the impact signings of Sahvir Wheeler, Kellan Grady, and Oscar Tshiebwe. C.J. Fredrick was another pickup who should play a big role in the upcoming season. However, the portal is also ever-changing and will require year-to-year expertise to remain a top college basketball program. The Wildcats have already been linked to players such as Xavier Pinson (LSU) and Terrence Shannon Jr. (Texas Tech). There will likely be plenty more names to surface in the coming weeks.

Kentucky Basketball signed a pair of Top 10, five-star prospects in Chris Livingston and Cason Wallace. The recent offer extended to Thiero shows that the ‘Cats haven’t closed the book completely on the high school ranks yet. However, the transfer portal will be where Kentucky’s roster gets bolstered from the most this offseason. As players decide to stay in school or go to the NBA more portal names will appear.

The Wildcats know they will be replacing Kellan Grady and Davion Mintz due to graduation. TyTy Washington Jr. is still projected as a fringe lottery pick so he is likely gone as well. That effectively eliminates the outside shooting from this year’s team. Grady and Mintz combined for 132 three-pointers while Washington added another 36. That is over 81% of Kentucky’s three-point shooting. Even with Fredrick getting healthy there are a lot of threes to replace, not to mention it would be nice to make even more triples next season.

For the most part, Kentucky should only be considering portal prospects that have a proven track record of making three-pointers. Making one or more per game at 35% or better seems like a fair baseline to work off of. That is what makes a player like Texas Tech’s Terrence Shannon so intriguing. One of the best “3-and-D” players in college basketball, the 6’6″ Shannon shot 38.4% from beyond the arc last season on reasonable volume. He seems like the first “all-in” transfer portal target of the offseason for Kentucky Basketball.

Re-Recruit the Kentucky Basketball Roster

In the age of testing NBA Draft waters and the transfer portal, it is just as important to recruit your current roster as your next one. That is especially true this season for Coach Calipari and the Kentucky Basketball staff with a team full of players with tough decisions to make. TyTy Washington Jr. might still be a lottery pick, but he has real reasons to comeback as well. Injuries threw him off course down the stretch and caused his stock to drop from a potential Top 8-10 pick to just hanging on to the back of the lottery. His return would make him an instant preseason All-American and a potential Top 5 NBA Draft pick in 2023.

Along with the Washington decision, all eyes will be on Oscar Tshiebwe. It isn’t often that a National Player of the Year would return to school, but it is a real possibility with Tshiebwe. His draft stock isn’t all that high and with Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) opportunities he could make as much more more at Kentucky next season. However, due to the student visa situation, his access to that NIL money could be in jeopardy. His decision will likely be as simple as whether or not he can make money in college. If he can, the ‘Cats could return their National Player of the Year. However, without NIL opportunities he would likely pursue the professional path.

While the high-profile decisions of Washington and Tshiebwe will command the bulk of the attention, and rightfully so, other players have important decisions to make as well. Keion Brooks Jr., Jacob Toppin, Bryce Hopkins, Lance Ware, etc. could explore transfer portal opportunities. Brooks is a polarizing figure among Big Blue Nation, but having a senior who continues to develop should be welcomed with open arms. Toppin is a guy who could breakout at any time and it would be nice to see that happen in Lexington. Hopkins didn’t quite play the role some expected this season, but the flashes of talent could make his sophomore year very intriguing. As for Ware, you always need guys like him if you want to compete for championships.

There continue to be some growing rumblings of unrest around the Sahvir Wheeler experience so that will be one to watch as well. It is hard to not want a Bob Cousy Award finalist back, but his game also comes with limitations. If he were to leave it would make Kentucky the number one point guard destination in the transfer portal. The Wildcats don’t need to get all of these guys back. However, it would be nice to get either Washington or Tshiebwe back for some star power. Then, as long as you retain one of Brooks/Toppin and one of Hopkins/Ware you likely will do nothing but upgrade from the portal.

Win the Class of 2023

Recruiting is all about momentum. The offseason is really all about momentum as well. Most Kentucky Basketball fans are over winning the offseason and worrying about recruiting, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t incredibly important for the staff. Now that Coach Kenny Payne is the head man at Louisville that rivalry will extend to the recruiting trail. Right off the bat in 2023 we will have one of the most followed recruitments in the country with D.J. Wagner. Long considered a lock to attend Kentucky, Coach Payne will have a strong case for him to become a Cardinal. Losing Wagner to Louisville could have major negative implications for the state of the Kentucky Basketball program. There may not be a decision this summer, but laying a great 2023 foundation will be critical in the coming months.