As soon as Mark Pope was hired at Kentucky, he went to work acquiring talent from across the transfer portal. Less than two weeks later, Lamont Butler was his next point guard.

Butler entered the NCAA transfer portal shortly after San Diego State‘s season concluded in the Sweet 16. One season after leading the Aztecs to a national championship game — including Butler’s infamous game-winning buzzer-beater in the Final Four to down Florida Atlantic — Butler’s skills will once again be showcased on a national level, this time in Lexington.

“As soon as I entered the portal, Kentucky was one of the main schools that was on me,” Butler said. “I think I committed maybe three or four days in the portal. So it was a very quick portal. It was a no-brainer once Coach Pope told me his plan and how he saw me fit into that and I was ready to go once he came and talked to me and my family.”

Butler is expected to be Pope’s main point guard during his inaugural season as head coach, joining a backcourt comprised of Kentucky high school legend Travis Perry, Otega Oweh and Kerr Kriisa.

With talents like Jaxson Robinson and Koby Brea on the wing and three big men standing 6-foot-10 and able, Butler will have no shortage of playmakers available while conducting Pope’s offense.

“The whole coaching staff is great. It started with Coach Pope,” Butler continued. “Ever since I came to the portal he’s been talking to me. He’s just been a great person, a great role model. Just a great leader. He really believed and he really trusted me. It goes on with other coaches as well. Coach [Cody] Fueger, he’s the offensive genius and he’s in there every day. Coach Jason Hart, I’ve known for a while. He recruited me at his old school [USC], So there’s kind of a relationship there.”

Butler is someone who’s been following the Kentucky basketball program for as long as he can remember. Dating back to the beginning of the John Calipari era with John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, anyone who knows Butler will know that he paid a bit more attention when Kentucky was on his screen.

Those were the players he started watching college basketball with — and now he has the opportunity to improve his skills in the same gym where those Kentucky legends cut their teeth.