There are a lot of question marks surrounding Kentucky basketball going into next season, but one of the biggest is Braydon Hawthorne.

Not if Hawthorne will be on the roster, the redshirt freshman has already signed his NIL contract and announced he is returning, but how talented is he, and how impactful will he be?

The former Top-35 prospect was a late addition for the Wildcats last offseason, a cherry on top of what many believed was a Final Four-contending roster. That roster, suffering multiple injuries, didn’t reach the heights set for them, and Hawthorne elected to redshirt.

That didn’t stop Hawthorne from receiving rave practice reports, confirmed by the likes of Jack “Goose” Givens, or from Mark Pope comparing him to a Kentucky basketball legend.

“This Braydon Hawthorne, he is one of the most unique kids I’ve ever coached,” Pope said last summer. “I don’t know what his ceiling is, but if I were going to compare him to a player right now, and I’m doing this in incredible humility, there is so much of some type of Tayshaun Prince vibe in him.”

“This kid, I don’t know how soon it’s going to happen, but I think this kid has a chance to be special. He just might have the goods, man. Like, it’s very cool to watch it.”

After a season in the program and adding nearly 20 pounds to his frame, Hawthorne is ready to capitalize on his opportunity and prove he has the goods.

“Get ready,” his father, Walter, told Kentucky fans over the weekend on the Heavy Pour Sports Podcast. Of course, a father has the utmost confidence in his son, but he is confident because of the work Braydon has put in.

Braydon was often the first one on the court pregame, getting a workout in with one of the team’s graduate assistants. However, that work ethic was there behind the scenes as well, from the weight room to the practice court. It is also beneficial when an All-SEC player like Otega Oweh takes you under his wing.

“Oweh took Braydon underneath his wing,” Walter explained. “I really appreciate that a lot. Braydon learned a lot from a lot of him.”

Oweh not only provided an example of how to be a leader and how to conduct yourself as a player at Kentucky, but the two also played 1v1 every day in practice. Playing against a player who relies on their physicality, like Oweh, is a great way to prepare you for SEC play. With the work he has put in, multiple people have expressed their confidence in Braydon’s ability to handle the physicality of the SEC next season.

The staff is high on the impact Hawthorne can have for this team, and fans are intrigued by his potential. For Braydon himself, he just wants to win and prove himself.

“He’s trying to win,” Walter said. “He wants to make everyone proud. Kentucky was his favorite basketball team growing up, and for him to win a championship for Kentucky would mean the world to him.”

“He’s going to show everybody he’s got something to prove.”

Check out the full podcast here.

As next year’s roster becomes more and more complete, a key piece of the team is yet to officially announce whether or not he’s keeping his name in the NBA Draft.

Malachi Moreno, the star freshman who thrived under starting role-pressure last season, is still testing the draft waters and looking to accomplish his dream of playing professionally. On April 6, the Georgetown native elected to maintain his college eligibility and declare for the draft after he averaged 7.8 points per game, 6.3 rebounds per game and 1.5 blocks per game.

Crucially, it’s understood that losing an inside prescience like Moreno would tank Kentucky’s expectations tremendously. He showed flashes of his potential last year, due to the injury of Jayden Quaintance, which is likely why his once dismal stock has now jumped up the charts.

While multiple publications are releasing updated mock drafts weekly, such as Yahoo Sports, who currently ranks Moreno as the No. 30 overall prospect, a new development has reassured the doubtful members of Big Blue Nation that the 7-foot big will be back for another year in the blue and white.

Making the original list of players to participate in the NBA Combine on Sunday, news broke that Moreno will no longer be participating from Kevin O’Connor, with a reason for why he changed his mind not identified. His name surfaced in several first-round mocks last week, but sources aligned with CBS Sports, ESPN and NBC still have Moreno slated as a mid to late second-round pick. His absence in the event will likely drop his stock.

One may assume that this is quite similar to Otega Oweh’s situation last offseason, who also wanted to see where he stood among the field, but even Oweh took part in the full combine and scrimmages before returning to Kentucky for his senior season.

Moreno’s decision to not take part doesn’t guarantee that he will return to school, but it is movement in the right direction for that to occur – he would frankly surprise everyone if he elects to keep his name in the draft, given the opportunity he has next year of being a lottery pick in a weaker college class.

His choice will eagerly be awaited by fans, hoping they can see a Kentucky kid in a Kentucky jersey for one more round of action.

Across the nation, and now for some time, multiple A-list programs have utilized general managers to oversee NIL affairs, roster construction and agent relations.

Kentucky, while fans have been curiously watching other programs with a head honcho build championship-capable rosters, has a different system running in its front office.

During his marathon of answering questions from the Big Blue Nation, Mark Pope was asked by a fan: “Why have you and the staff not hired an actual GM?”

Fair question to ask, and Pope answered with complete transparency in response.

“In this ever changing, dynamic college basketball environment, everyone is trying a different solution,” said Pope. “For us, instead of hiring a singular GM, we’ve gone with a more comprehensive general management team approach.”

Keegan Brown is mentioned first, labeled as Kentucky’s roster analyst. Nick Robinson handles salary cap situations, Kevin Sergent deals with the legal language of contracts as the compliance officer and Kim Shelton is tasked with NIL duties, JMI and corporate sponsorship.

Brown spoke out on social media to further expand on his role, sharing how grateful he is for his position and opportunity to work with Pope once again.

“The analytics is just the foundation for me,” said Brown. “Every day I’m talking to agents, building player projection models, running cap models with Nick (Robinson), managing contracts start to finish, grinding film, and building the systems that power our front office.”

This is quite a different approach, and with integrity this new team is very open on where they have their hands busy, but a true experienced agent regulator would still be a nice addition when considering any future positions for this team.

Dealing with players and recruiting is quite difficult, and having one position to utilize one’s former experience and make it their sole focus would help the Wildcats future more than it would hurt it.

It’s to note that two of these hires would be there without Pope (Sergent and Shelton), but regardless, we have an answer to the long-awaited “where’s our GM question?”

This is a one of a kind team in the current field of college ball, and as time goes on, it’ll be interesting to see if it remains successful for the team.