If nothing else, the era of the transfer portal has created a continuous cycle of engaging optimism for college sports’ fans across the country. No matter the sport, no matter the school, there’s always hope that your program can add an impact player to the roster.
The NCAA added fuel to the fire by proposing a new system centering around five years of eligibility for student-athletes within five years. Notably, this could translate to members of the class of 2022 being able to return to college with another
year of eligibility on the table. The framework of this proposal is unsurprisingly being heavily litigated and appealed.
At the moment, you could argue the waters are murkiest for NCAA basketball coaches. Mark Pope and his peers are now tasked with navigating various scenarios that may or may not play out the way they hope.
Fortunately for Kentucky fans, Coach Pope’s forward thinking has put the Cats in a favorable position to upgrade their firepower even further, potentially. Currently, UK has 14 players on the roster with a 15th spot up for grabs should the right suitor emerge.
Coach Pope recently spoke with UK Sports Network, offering his insight at this stage in the search.
“We’re getting new rulings every single day, and there are appeal cases on the boards. But it’s interesting to be this far into the summer and still uncertain about what the rules even are. It certainly opens up some opportunities for us that we’ve been anticipating and sitting on and waiting for. And so we’ll see how things play out.”
In a world where no one knows what’s going to happen, I suppose it’s ok to let our imaginations run wild. If Mark Pope could land any player, assuming the class of 2022 is eligible, who would you like to see in a Wildcat uniform this fall?
The initial heavy-hitting names mentioned have been Michigan State’s Jaxon Kohler, Missouri’s Mark Mitchell and former Auburn Tiger Keyshawn Hall.
You can’t deny the scoring intrigue of a proven bucket-getter like Mark Mitchell. However, I’d personally lean towards taking the Tom Izzo product for a fifth year. With Mark Pope’s heartfelt approach, I see value in bringing in Jaxson Kohler and trusting that the habits he learned under Izzo will rub off on others.
Hopefully, the NCAA and lawyers can put some finality to this important aspect of the game and allow Pope to confidently add what will be the final piece to the puzzle.
