Kentucky Basketball Transfer Portal Struggles Continue After Rob Wright Decommitment


Kentucky had seemingly made some headway in the transfer portal. The portal window followed what was largely a disappointing season where a $22 million roster resulted in one NCAA tournament win and a lot of disappointing losses.

Mark Pope promised good news when he first took over as head coach. More than a year later, Kentucky is still waiting.

Two days after getting a verbal pledge from the No. 5 ranked player in the transfer portal Rob Wright, he changed his mind. The BYU transfer decommitted from Kentucky and is now considering pulling his name out of the transfer portal.

Wright wasn’t just the highest ranked player at his position, he was the highest ranked player that committed to an SEC school. Wright was also Kentucky’s only commitment.

There are signs every year that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, and the last year and a half of Kentucky basketball may be the best example. A restless fanbase that grew tired of not winning it all decided that feeling was somehow worse than not winning at all. John Calipari was forced out after over a decade of service and postseason shortcomings.

Kentucky powers that be traded that for offseason shortcomings. Now they’re not only not winning national championships, they currently haven’t won a single offseason portal recruiting battle.

How bad is it? Kentucky has lost eight players to the portal and brought in none. Their team ranking on On3 is 77th in the country – out of 77 teams.

The disappointment continues.

Chris Marler

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