This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/kentucky as Mark Pope has called out one of Kentucky's players to take on a leadership role.

College basketball coaches are getting more adept at recruiting — not for their current class but setting the stage for transfers in future classes.

Last season, the expectations weren't that high for Coach Pope in year one, but he found a way to make the Sweet 16. If he is able to exceed expectations this year, it could lead to a national title.

Here are some men’s college basketball teams that got better over the offseason ... and a couple that got worse.

By Keith Taylor Kentucky Today Kentucky coach Mark Pope is high on Malachi Moreno. The former Great Crossing standout has ...

Mark Pope has put together a basketball team that has enough talent to do something very special during the 2025-26 season. Some basketball teams have enough ta ...

Former Kentucky basketball star Ramel Bradley, who played for the Wildcats from 2004 to 2008, was arrested Sunday in ...

Kentucky basketball historically is one of the best programs in college basketball, but over the last handful of years, the ...

Earlier this summer, Kentucky’s Mark Pope directly coached some of the nation’s top college basketball recruits.

Mark Pope did an excellent job of landing elite talent to put together his 2025-26 roster. Adding players from the transfer portal, high school recruiting, and getting Otega Oweh back has the Wildcats ...

Kentucky basketball transfer forward Jayden Quaintance claims the 2025-2026 Wildcats team will have an elite defense ...

While playing high school sports in central Kentucky, there was never any doubt that Jasper Johnson would play on the college ...