Pope has a strong roster for Year 2 when Otega withdraws from the NBA Draft and Kentucky’s best player returns.
Thanks to Oweh running it back with the Cats, Kentucky now has a top-10 case following a successful portal cycle.
Among the most crucial choices is the last one made before the NCAA’s Wednesday deadline for underclassmen to withdraw from the NBA Draft. According to sources who spoke to CBS Sports, Otega Oweh of Kentucky has chosen to withdraw his name from consideration for the 2025 NBA Draft and will spend his senior year back in Lexington.
Due to Oweh’s improved stock from his interviews and exercises over the previous two weeks, the call ended up being a tight one. If he had stayed in, he most likely would have been draughted.
Last season, Oweh led the UK in scoring with a team-high 16.2 points per game, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.6 steals. In his first tour as coach of the Wildcats, he shot 49.2% from the field and 35.5% from beyond the arc for a 24-win squad that advanced to the Sweet 16 as a No. 3 seed. A year ago, Kentucky brought in a diverse group of transfer players, and Oweh was anticipated to play a significant part.
Rather, he had more 20-point games than any other player on the team and was crucial to the UK’s record-breaking season with eight victories over top-15 opponents. After two seasons as a Sooner, Oweh transferred from Oklahoma.Additionally, last season, Oweh advanced to the SEC Tournament by defeating his old team, OU, twice on game-winning jumpers in the dying seconds.
Oweh, who measured 6-foot-4 and 212 pounds at the NBA Draft Combine, will be an important member of Kentucky’s defence and a shooting guard. He will have a case to be named an All-American if he keeps improving on his junior year. He won’t have to bear a burden that is too heavy, though. UK also brings back shooting guards Trent Noah and Collin Chandler, as well as power forward Brandon Garrison. By adding portal acquisitions Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama), Denzel Aberdeen (Florida), Jaland Lowe (Pitt), and Jayden Quaintance (Arizona State), Pope strengthened Kentucky.
