“They actually have the skill sets that translate to what we do. There are some advantages, some real, substantial advantages to recruiting guys out of the portal,” Pope said.
During an appearance on The Jim Rome Show, he said he was also “intentional about recruiting great human beings” like he had on this year’s team.
“Every single one of them can see something more important than themselves in the world, right? Every single one of them has been really intentional about getting to know their teammates and loving them and fighting for them and playing for them,” Pope told Rome. “It’s what our guys have done, working to build bonds with each other. That’s given us a chance to withstand all the adversity that we’ve faced during the course of the season.”
Pope has already been active in the transfer portal with the commitment from Tulane freshman Kam Williams, a 6-8, 190-pound forward who averaged 9.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.3 steals, 1.0 blocks and 32 minutes per game while starting 28 games last season. He also shot 41 percent from 3-point range.
Williams told ESPN he also considered Florida, Louisville, Baylor, Texas, LSU, Texas Tech, Arkansas and USC but he picked UK without even making a visit to Kentucky.
College basketball analytics guru Evan Miyakawa (EvanMiya.com) says one thing jumps out at him about Williams.
“He’s probably a good knockdown shooter but for playing so many minutes at Tulane, he didn’t shoot that much and barely scored,” Miyakawa said.
Kentucky added eight transfers last season and Miyakawa warned that every one of those players except Almonor was ranked higher in his transfer portal database than Williams is this year.
“If UK is getting Kam Williams to be a valuable rotation piece then I think it is a pretty decent addition. But if the hope is that Williams will be a top three or four player on the team, I’m not as sure about that fit,” Miyakawa said.
