Before they were these Kentucky Wildcats, the UK men's basketball team were Oklahoma Sooners, Dayton Flyers, Drexel Dragons and more. The list of schools that UK's stars of today transferred from is fascinating, and it's cool to see a disparate group of college players congregate at Kentucky and make an NCAA Tournament run.
Kentucky coach Mark Pope deserves all the credit he's receiving; Pope took over a program from a coach who won national titles, and had to build a roster from the ground up. He's done a hell of a job building.
Where every Kentucky Wildcats starter transferred from
Otega Oweh — Oklahoma Sooners (2022-2024)
Kentucky's leading scorer landed in Lexington after two season in Norman at the University of Oklahoma. Last year, his sophomore season, Oweh was an important contributor for the Sooners. But he's been an even bigger part of UK's plans this year than the most optimistic Wildcats fan could have imagined.
Jaxson Robinson — Texas A&M (2020-21), Arkansas (2021-2022), BYU (2022-2024)
The Wildcats' other starting guard to begin the year, Jaxson Robinson, made his rounds around college hoops with two stops in the SEC, one in the Big 12, and now back the SEC to finish things off with Kentucky. Unfortunately, Robinson suffered a season-ending injury near the end of the regular season.
Koby Brea — Dayton (2020-2024)
Brea earned some Frequent Flyer miles before heading to Kentucky — and he was pretty massive in Kentucky's second-round win over Illinois, scoring 23 points on 10-16 shooting. He's been a sublime fill-in since Robinson went down with an injury
Lamont Butler — San Diego State (2020-2024)
Much like Brea, guard Lamont Butler is a fifth-year senior who spent his first four years at one school. For Butler, that school was SDSU, where he etched his name into Aztecs lore with a Final Four buzzer-beater to beat Florida Atlantic in 2023.
Amari Williams — Drexel (2020-2024)
West Philly, represent. Williams, a native of Nottingham, England, was a Drexel Dragon for four years before spending his final year of eligibility at Kentucky.
Andrew Carr — Deleware (2020-2022), Wake Forest (2022-2024)
Carr was one of the better players in the transfer portal when he announced he'd be leaving Wake Forest but looking for somewhere to play his fifth year of college ball, and the West Chester, PA native found a home with Kentucky. He does a little bit of everything for Mark Pope's team
Kentucky grabs sharpshooter from the transfer portal for next year
This team has a game to play against Tennessee in a few hours, but that didn't stop Mark Pope from getting a pretty big win in the transfer portal today, as Kam Williams announced he would be playing for Kentucky next year after a year at Tulane.
If Pope can recapture the magic of this year's run, he might be the best coach ever. If he can start to build a team of his own and find a roster that can compete again in the SEC after losing most of his key players from this year... that would be a success, too.