For the first two months of the offseason, Kentucky basketball waited in hopes of getting Oscar Tshiebwe to return, but it’s getting into crunch time and Kentucky must start finalizing their roster before they play in the GLBL Jam this Summer.

As of right now Kentucky only has seven scholarship players on their roster, including five freshmen and two sophomores. With that being said, two players from the class of 2023 are expecting to have official visits this week. One that includes Joey Hart, who many people are expecting to be committing this week to Kentucky, even Matt Jones of KSR tweeted about a commitment coming soon.

Although Jones never said who it was in that tweet, he later revealed it to be Joey Hart on Monday’s Kentucky Sports Radio show. Hart, a three-star shooting guard from the class of 2023, had an excellent end to his high school season – especially with his 3P shooting – and recently decommitted from UCF as he started to receive interest from more prestigious programs such as Kentucky, Indiana, and Texas among others.

With that said, there is one other player that KY Insider has been told is “Kentucky’s to lose”.

Meet Jordan Burks, a 6-foot-9 forward who is also in the class of 2023, ranked as a three-star recruit. Playing at Overtime Elite, similar to Kentucky freshman Rob Dillingham, Burks was the league’s leading scorer. Following Kermit Davis’ firing from Ole Miss, Burks reopened his recruitment and is coming off a visit to Kentucky the last few days.

In a statement last week, John Calipari said “We’ve prepared for all scenarios”. The addition of Hart and Burks will certainly be good for depth, but the Wildcats still need to return Reeves and find one more high-impact player such as Arthur Kaluma.

Returning just two players that played 5+ minutes per game last season, the biggest thing giving Kentucky fans any sense of optimism or hope is the incoming freshman class.

Featuring five players in the top 45, including three in the top 10, the 2023 class is Kentucky’s second No. 1 class since 2015. Even more interesting, the class features two of the three top five prospects the Wildcats have signed in that same span. In other words, there are high expectations.

Of course, five freshmen and two returnees can’t win a National Title, but while we await the staff to fill next season’s roster, the freshmen have started to move into campus at the Wildcat Coal Lodge.

On Wednesday, Reed Sheppard kicked things off as he backed out of the Kentucky-Indiana High School All-Star Classic to move in early. As the official Kentucky men’s basketball account put it, “the Sheppard Family legacy continues.”

On Friday, two more members of the freshman class moved into campus, Rob Dillingham and Aaron Bradshaw.

With Sheppard, Dillingham, and Bradshaw now moved in, that leaves just Justin Edwards and DJ Wagner to make their moves. That is expected to happen this week. With Kentucky representing the United States in Canada for GLBL Jam, starting July 7th, it will be important for this team to start building chemistry.

Kentucky’s off-season just got even more interesting. After Oscar Tshiebwe and Chris Livingston announced their intentions to stay in the NBA, it was announced that Kentucky has reached out to Creighton transfer forward Arthur Kaluma, one of the best front-court players available in the transfer portal, according to ESPN’s Jeff Borzello.

During his career at Creighton, Kaluma averaged 11.8 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.6 assists, shooting 42.3% from the field. Kentucky is joined by Alabama, Texas Tech, and Texas who are pursuing the sought-after new transfer.

Kaluma will be a hot commodity in the transfer portal, one that will have plenty of suitors. As it stands, it is reported that Alabama and Texas Tech are recruiting Kaluma the hardest. However, Kentucky is very interested and could envision him on next season’s roster.

It will be interesting to see how Kaluma’s recruitment develops over the coming days and weeks. Check out some of his highlights below: