Mark Pope had no choice but to go all-in on the transfer portal entering his first season as the Kentucky men’s basketball head coach. When the old staff left, not a single scholarship player filled out the 2024-25 roster by the time he arrived.

Pope brought in nine players through the portal during the offseason, putting an emphasis on experience. Seven of those nine are either seniors or graduate students. He was still able to find some pieces in the high school ranks, adding a pair of in-state prospects and one former commit from his time coaching at BYU. But those three rookies might not even be part of the rotation this season.

In past years, a freshman not playing at Kentucky typically meant there was a good chance they would leave the following offseason in search of more playing time. But Pope has put an emphasis on recruiting players who want to be at Kentucky. That’s why landing Travis Perry and Trent Noah was so important — they can lay the foundation of what this program will look like in 2-3 years, even if they aren’t playing right away. Their time will come, and they know that.

Pope, like most coaches, doesn’t want a revolving door of players hitting the portal every single offseason. Players leaving happens everywhere, but the idea of sticking around for the long haul is baked into how he pitches potential Wildcats. Building up chemistry year after year is important to him.

That being said, there will be significant roster turnover after this season. Seven of Kentucky’s players on the 2024-25 roster will have no choice but to move on from the college game. But Pope brought in so many veterans to help establish a culture (and win some games, of course) for the future. Perry, Noah, and the third freshman, Collin Chandler, all expect to return in 2025-26. Sophomore Brandon Garrison and junior Otega Oweh should as well barring a surprise leap to the NBA. There are three talented incoming freshmen already on board with the possibility of a fourth on the way. That’s nine players right there for next season, leaving only a handful of spots to fill out in the portal.

Pope will go out and find the guys he wants to round out the roster through the portal. It’ll happen every offseason under the current portal rules. Some will be seniors, some will have a couple of years left. But above all else, he wants to start with high school kids and build them up at UK over the course of their time in college.

“I think it’s a balance. There’s no science behind it,” Pope said Thursday. “I do think this (2025) freshman class is really important. These three guys are going to be real important. Pieces we may add in the future are really important to this freshman class.

“I think the portal is really, really important. And I think the most important thing of all is the guys in the program that have a chance to come back next year. And so those are three spaces — you want to pay attention to all three of them, because they all are massively important continuity in a program. I don’t know if there’s a magical number, but if there is one, hopefully we’ll hit it.”

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