After days of speculation and hope from Kentucky fans that projected lottery pick Reed Sheppard would return to Lexington for his sophomore year, he officially announced that he would be declaring for the NBA Draft on Thursday.
Now, Kentucky has just three players on its roster for the 2024-25 season — including sophomore Jordan Burks and incoming freshmen Travis Perry and Collin Chandler.
Mark Pope’s best teams have been led by strong guards and shooters — two skillsets that Kentucky now needs with the departure of Sheppard.
With thousands of players in the transfer portal and numerous major prospects still without a transfer destination, Kentucky has a few that it needs to target.
Here’s a breakdown of five point guards Kentucky should prioritize to replace Sheppard.
Whoever ends up playing basketball for the University of Kentucky next season and however the Mark Pope era turns out, one thing is for certain. History will show that the very first player to fully commit to this new chapter of UK basketball will be Collin Chandler. And he’s coming to Lexington under a unique set of circumstances. Chandler is in the final stage of a two-year mission trip for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he’s scheduled to arrive home in the United States in less than two weeks. A top 40 national prospect in
A top 40 national prospect in the 2022 class, Chandler signed with BYU before his senior season of high school and opted to serve a two-year mission before enrolling in the school. Obviously, a lot has changed around BYU basketball since his departure. Pope left Provo to become UK’s new coach on April 12, and Chandler — a Farmington, Utah native — flipped his two-and-a-half-year commitment from the Cougars to the Cats four days later. In doing so, he officially became Kentucky’s first confirmed player for the opening season of the Pope era.
