It may be NFL Draft week, but Mark Pope is having his own mini-draft when it comes to bringing in new players for the Kentucky Wildcats.

Kentucky landed Drexel center Amari Williams over the weekend and is now hosting BYU guard Richie Saunders, while Utah State forward Great Osobor is set to visit at some point.

It sounds like there will be several more players in town this week.

According to CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, Kentucky is hosting a different player every day this week, so there will potentially be seven different players in Lexington at some point.

After the three names mentioned above, it’s anyone’s guess as to who the rest could be. My guess is several of them will be in the backcourt, as Kentucky currently does not have a transfer guard committed for next season.

Some of the top available backcourt players Kentucky has contacted include FAU’s Johnell Davis, Oklahoma State’s Javon Small, Villanova’s TJ Bamba, Utah’s Deivon Smith, Stanford’s Andrej Stojakovic, Dayton’s Koby Brea, and Saint Mary’s’ Aidan Mahaney.

My educated guess is that Bamba is one of the visitors since he recently included Kentucky on his list of schools that are in consideration.

We’re also still waiting to see what BYU guard Jaxson Robinson will do after it initially looked like he could follow Pope to Kentucky but has yet to enter the transfer portal.

There was a report that Kentucky wanted to get a visit from Oklahoma State center Brandon Garrison this week.

It also needs to be pointed out that Kentucky is pretty much in the clear when it comes to potential returning players from the NBA Draft. With Reed Sheppard all-in on the draft, Kentucky doesn’t have to wait for the next month to figure out if he’s returning or if his spot needs to be filled.

Yes, Adou Thiero is testing the waters, but he seems likely to play college, and I doubt he’s affecting Pope’s roster-building plans the way Sheppard would anyhow. Without having to worry about the draft, Pope can go all-out to build his roster ASAP, and that’s precisely what he’s doing in what’s likely to be the most critical recruiting week of the offseason.

Isn’t it nice to build a roster now instead of waiting for the NBA withdrawal deadline?