Today an exceptional athlete made a popular decision by joining a slew of talented college basketball players who will return to the sport for another season. Wooga Poplar withdrew his name from NBA Draft consideration about five hours before the midnight deadline. Jon Rothstein had the news first.

Kentucky has two open scholarships and Mark Pope is considering Poplar as an option to fill one of them. The 6-foot-4 swingman has a visit scheduled to Oregon next week. A trip to Lexington has not been set in stone but is certainly a possibility down the road.

A Philadelphia native, Poplar spent his first three years of college basketball playing for Jim Larranaga at The U. After helping the Canes reach the Elite Eight as a freshman, a program first, he started in 36 of 37 games and averaged 8.4 per contest on their road to the 2023 Final Four.

The third time was not the charm for Miami last season, but Poplar still put solid numbers on the stat sheet. In 29 games he shot 38.5% from three and averaged 13.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game, all career highs.

With Poplar officially back on the Kentucky basketball recruiting board, the Big Blue Nation only has one name to monitor before the midnight NBA Draft Withdrawal Deadline, BYU’s Jaxson Robinson. For the latest on what all the news means for the Kentucky basketball roster, tune into a special edition of Sources Say, tonight at 11 pm EST on the KSR YouTube Channel.

Big-Time Player Returning to the SEC

One of the best players in the SEC is running it back for one more season. Mark Sears, an Ohio transfer, guided Alabama to the program’s first-ever Final Four. Now the second team All-American giving Nate Oats more star power on an already loaded roster.

“NIL has changed basketball and NBA teams told me that age isn’t a factor in today’s game, so I was comfortable coming back to try and bring home a national championship to Alabama,” he told ESPN.

Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas are amassing impressive rosters. Unlike his predecessor, Mark Pope will not have the benefit of beating up on a weak SEC. As they say, It Just Means More.

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