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John Calipari Expects Mass Exodus of Players

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UK Athletics

Coming into this season, Kentucky returned three of their top six players from last season, a rare occurrence in the John Calipari era. However, it doesn’t look like that will be the case next season as Calipari expects a mass exodus.

Kentucky has six seniors, but all have one year of eligibility remaining. Those players include:

  • Brennan Canada (three-year walk-on)
  • CJ Fredrick
  • Antonio Reeves
  • Jacob Toppin
  • Oscar Tshiebwe
  • Sahvir Wheeler

“My guess is they will all leave,” Calipari said of Kentucky’s seniors after the loss to Kansas State. “That’s my guess, but I have not talked to them all.”

That list of players doesn’t even include the decisions of guys like Cason Wallace (projected lottery pick), Chris Livingston, and Daimion Collins.

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Over the coming weeks and days, Calipari will to each player individually to help them with their decision, but not before they have some time to gather their emotions and digest the season. “We’ll sit down. Now is not the time, “Calipari said. “I hugged them all after the game, told them I loved them, and appreciated everything they’ve done.”

There will be plenty of time to speculate who is leaving and going, but one thing is for sure, a large number of them will not be at Kentucky next season. Fortunately, the Wildcats have a historically rated recruiting class coming in, which includes five top-25 prospects, and four ranked in the top 10.

If Kentucky can return Reeves and/or Livingston to combine with Ugonna Onyenso, Adou Thiero, and a talented freshman class, the pieces will be there for a deep run, as will the expectations.

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BB Recruiting

Malachi Moreno Helping Kentucky Recruit Top 2025 Point Guard

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Five-star Kentucky commit Malachi Moreno is helping the Wildcats recruit one of the top point guards of the 2025 class Acaden Lewis.
UK Athletics

This past weekend was a big moment for Kentucky basketball, as the first Big Blue Madness of the Mark Pope era took place. In years past, the event has hosted multiple five-star recruits and this year was no different.

While the guest list was smaller due to USA Basketball junior mini camp, the Wildcats had two top recruits in attendance, 2026 five-star Anthony Thompson and 2024 four-star combo guard Acaden Lewis.

The latter is one of Kentucky’s biggest recruiting priorities in the 2025 class and was also on campus for an official visit as he prepares to make his college decision in early November. To help was five-star commit, Malachi Moreno.

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While Moreno couldn’t make it to Big Blue Madness, he was able to meet with Lewis during his visit on Thursday and even took part in his photo shoot, as the pair posed together in Kentucky uniforms in Rupp Arena.

It helps to have a five-star commit just down the road to help recruit. Could we see the pair play together next season at Kentucky? Things are trending in that direction, but time will tell.

Also published on A Sea of Blue.

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BB Recruiting

Mark Pope Hints at Next Basketball Commitment, “Details to Come”

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Kentucky basketball head coach Mark Pope hints at his next commitment, already with a top five class.
Chet White | UK Athletics

When Mark Pope was first hired by Kentucky in April, the biggest concern was if he could recruit. Within weeks, he assembled a staff and recruited the fifth-ranked transfer portal, including the likes of Jaxson Robinson, Amari Williams, and Lamont Butler.

Now nearly six months later, Pope has gotten some big high school recruiting victories, receiving commitments from five-star prospects Malachi Moreno and Jasper Johnson. While early, the Cats currently have a top-five class for 2025 and are the only program with multiple five-star commitments. Still going after multiple top names, the class is far from finished. In fact, another commitment may be on the horizon.

In an interview with the Sources Say Podcast, talking about his recruiting, Pope said that is currently in a chess match for one recruit.

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“Recently, in the fall — I can’t name names, but we’re trying all kinds of different things,” Pope said. “I’m a terrible, terrible chess player, but I love doing it. I do have one intense chess match on the board with a recruit that is for a commitment.”

“We’ll see if that comes to fruition. We’ll see. Details to come.”

Who could this player be? The Wildcats are still pursuing multiple five-star targets, but Pope’s comments are likely about Acaden Lewis or Caleb Wilson.

The former, a four-star combo guard, is expected to make a decision in early November, and will be in town for Big Blue Madness this Friday. The latter, a unanimous top-10 prospect, has been rumored to move his timeline up as well, however, there have been conflicting reports.

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Only time will tell…

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Five Star Recruits Hint at Teaming Up at Kentucky

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2025 five star recruits Caleb Wilson and Acaden Lewis hint at teaming up at Kentucky, joining Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno.
UK Athletics

Top recruiting classes were the norm for Kentucky under John Calipari, but could Mark Pope pick up where his predecessor left off?

Pope’s first order of business as the coach of Kentucky was to assemble a staff and he added two of the best recruiters in the country to the staff in Alvin Brooks III and Jason Hart. Together they’ve already locked down in-state, five-star talents Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno. Currently sitting with the second-ranked class in 2025, Pope and Co have their eyes set on a few more top recruits, including two who are publicly hinting at joining forces in Lexington.

This past weekend, Kentucky hosted top-five target Caleb Wilson and it could not have gone better as they rolled out the carpet for him. Amidst the visit, fellow Wildcat target Acaden Lewis announced his finalists, Kentucky being one of them. To which Wilson replied, “come on over bro.”

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The following day, Wilson posted photos from his visit, to which Lewis commented, “I wanna play w(ith) this guy.”

The most recent interaction came Tuesday night as Wilson and Lewis shared some cryptic emojis.

Recruiting is fluid and young prospects can say a lot of things. However, you have to like this for Kentucky as Wilson and Lewis are expected to make their final decisions this fall. If Pope can get commitments from both, it would be big for recruiting momentum, besting Calipari for Wilson and three other blue-blood schools for Lewis.

Current Kentucky commit Jasper Johnson is even doing his part to recruit them, sending a direct tweet to Wilson.

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