It’s looking more every day like Kentucky will actually field a full roster under new coach Mark Pope — and it’s shaping up to be a pretty good one. A very old one, too. Pope has been on the job for just 16 days and inherited a roster of zero scholarship players. Now he has six.
Andrew Carr, a 6-foot-11 forward from Wake Forest, became the latest addition and fourth transfer to pick Pope and the Wildcats. He gives Pope’s high-octane, 3-point-heavy offense a legitimate stretch-4. Carr averaged 13.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 blocks last season for the Demon Deacons — and he made 37 percent of his 3s on almost 100 attempts.
Advertisement
Also notable: Carr has played 117 college games and made 112 starts. He’s part of a dramatic makeover in the makeup of Kentucky’s roster, which was perpetually young under Pope’s predecessor, John Calipari. This new group already has Carr, former San Diego State guard Lamont Butler (131 games, 102 starts), former Drexel center Amari Williams (105 games, 79 starts) and former Oklahoma guard Otega Oweh (60 games, 37 starts).
Even one of the Cats’ two incoming freshmen, former top-40 recruit Collin Chandler, is 20 years old after serving a two-year Mormon mission. And Kentucky is only going to keep getting older as it continues building out the roster through the transfer portal.
Pope hosted former Saint Mary’s guard Aidan Mahaney (69 games, 60 starts) for a visit over the weekend. He’ll host former Utah State forward Great Osobor (104 games, 38 starts) and former Minnesota guard Elijah Hawkins (92 games, 88 starts) for visits this week. Pope’s best player at BYU, 6-foot-7 wing Jaxson Robinson (96 games, 44 starts), also just entered the transfer portal and the Wildcats will be a major player for his services.
As for the latest addition, Carr might be the most skilled player on the roster so far. He had 31 points and 11 rebounds against Georgia in the NIT this season, dropped 28 points on eventual Final Four team NC State and had 26 points, six boards, three blocks, two steals and two assists in a win over Florida. He also had a 12-and-12 double-double against Virginia, an 18-point game against Duke and 17 points, five rebounds and three assists against Clemson.
Not only is he a strong addition, but Carr represents another big recruiting win for Pope. Carr came to Lexington straight from a visit to Texas Tech. Then he took a visit to Villanova right after the trip to Kentucky. And by Sunday night, he announced his commitment to the Cats. This on the heels of Pope’s whirlwind to end last week: he hosted Oweh on Thursday, locked up a commitment and flew across the country to Las Vegas on Friday to close the deal on Butler. He was back in Lexington that same night to welcome Mahaney and Carr.
That’s how you go from zero to six players in 16 days.
Required reading
(Photo: Icon Sportswire / Getty Images)
