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The Kentucky Wildcats are getting set for their first season under head coach Mark Pope, who finalized his Kentucky basketball coaching staff earlier this week. Mikhail McLean, who earned NCAA Tournament coaching experience as the Director of Player Development at Houston several years ago, will be the fifth and final staff addition as an assistant coach. Pope had to rebuild the Kentucky basketball roster this offseason after every player from last year’s roster left following the departure of coach John Calipari. The new Kentucky basketball lineup is full of additions from the transfer portal who are hoping to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

Calipari spent the last 15 seasons guiding Kentucky’s men’s basketball team, so this has been one of the most notable off-seasons for the program in decades. Pope won a national championship as a player with Kentucky and now will try to win a championship as a coach. If you love the Wildcats, or just want the latest roster updates and college basketball transfer portal news, be sure to see what the proven team of insiders are saying at CatsPause, the 247Sports affiliate that covers Kentucky.

The team of insiders at CatsPause.com are providing up-to-the-minute scoop on the latest intel surrounding the Kentucky basketball coaching transition and roster changes. CatsPause has built a solid reputation over its 20+ years covering the Wildcats, and has deep-rooted sources inside and around the Kentucky athletic department. And right now, CatsPause is offering 50% off the first year of an annual subscriptions*, so now is the time to sign up.

The team at CatsPause has full coverage of who is coming and who is going on the Kentucky basketball roster. Head to CatsPause now to see all the insider info.

Kentucky basketball roster departures

Pope had to hit the ground running when he was named Kentucky’s new head coach since several members of last year’s Kentucky basketball roster have departed Lexington. Forward Zvonimir Ivisic is the first player to follow Calipari to Arkansas, and guard/small forward Adou Thiero followed after playing his past two seasons with Coach Cal. Aaron Bradshaw joined Ohio State, and guard Joey Hart will be on the Ball State roster next season. Point guard D.J. Wagner will follow Calipari to Arkansas.

Justin Edwards, Rob Dillingham and Ugonna Onyenso have all made the final decision to declare for the Draft. Kentucky will also be without top scorers Tre Mitchell and Antonio Reeves next season since both players graduated. Join CatsPause to see the latest on all of Kentucky’s roster changes.

Kentucky basketball news, roster

Pope hit the transfer portal as hard as any coach in the country, snagging players like BYU guard Jaxson Robinson, Oklahoma State center Brandon Garrison and Wake Forest forward Andrew Carr. Robinson led the Cougars in scoring (14.2 ppg) while winning the Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year award. Garrison is a former McDonald’s All-American who averaged 7.5 points and 5.3 rebounds across 22.7 minutes last season.

He had season-highs in points (21), field goals made (7) and free-throw attempts (12) in a win over BYU in February, which was likely a key factor in Pope’s decision to target Garrison from the portal. The Wildcats have a trio of incoming freshmen in Collin Chandler, Trent Noah and Travis Perry. Chandler was originally set to play for Pope at BYU, but he became the first commitment of the Pope era at Kentucky instead. Join CatsPause to get the latest on all of Kentucky’s roster additions.

Tonight is the 2023 NBA Draft, and four former Kentucky Wildcats are hoping to hear their names called tonight.

Cason Wallace should feel pretty confident going into the night. His projections are varied, but most mocks have him somewhere in the late lottery or mid-first round. He’ll likely hear his name called somewhere between 10-20, and hopefully he lands on a team that he can fit in well with.

After that, things are pretty murky. There are some rumors out there that both Chris Livingston and Oscar Tshiebwe have secured guarantees from teams to be picked in the second round. Hopefully that is the case and they can land some kind of a guaranteed deal in the second round because a lot of projections have neither being picked.

Finally, Jacob Toppin is in the draft and most projections don’t have Toppin being selected. However, I’d expect not long after the draft Toppin has a deal in place with a team and will have a chance to compete in Summer League.

A lot of trade rumors are flying right now, and with a lot of question marks in this class outside of the top 3, this could be a very entertaining draft night.

This will also be an open thread tonight, so come join the fun as we see several Wildcats live out their NBA dreams!