After a successful debut season in Lexington, Mark Pope reloaded Kentucky’s roster through the transfer portal. Most of the Wildcats’ incoming portal additions for 2025-26 are considered among the best in the country, too.
On Friday morning, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello updated the worldwide leader’s top 100 men’s college basketball transfers of the offseason. Five of Kentucky’s six portal acquisitions cracked the top 80, led by one especially promising big man in the top 10. The only transfer who did not make the cut was Reece Potter, a 7-foot-1 Lexington native who transferred to UK after two seasons at Miami (OH).
Here is where ESPN ranked the other five:
7. Jayden Quaintance (Arizona State) 6-9, PF, Fr.
25. Jaland Lowe (Pitt) 6-3, PG, So.
60. Kam Williams (Tulane) 6-8, SF, Fr.
61. Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama) 6-7, F, So.
76. Denzel Aberdeen (Florida) 6-5, CG, Jr.
Kentucky is one of just two schools with five portal commits ranked among ESPN’s top 100. The other? Rick Pitino‘s St. John’s program, of course. The former UK head coach is bringing in Ian Jackson (No. 10), Bryce Hopkins (No. 12), Joson Sanon (No. 33), Dillon Mitchell (No. 68), and Oziyah Sellers (No. 81) for next season. Only 15 programs are bringing in at least three of ESPN’s top 100 portal prospects.
In a similar vein, Kentucky finished with the 6th-best freshman group in ESPN’s final 2025 recruiting class update. Despite losing Acaden Lewis to Villanova, the Wildcats’ four-man rookie class still sits comfortably in the top 10. Jasper Johnson (No. 18), Malachi Moreno (No. 25), and Braydon Hawthorne (No. 81) make up UK’s incoming high schoolers for 2025-26. They also included Croatian big man Andrija Jelavić in this freshman group, but as an international recruit, he does not hold a ranking by ESPN.
Mix a deep and talented portal class and a top 10 group of freshmen with four key returning pieces, headlined by All-SEC guard Otega Oweh, and it’s no wonder Kentucky is being mentioned as a preseason top 10 program going into next season.
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