John Calipari defends Kentucky amid transfer portal, NBA Draft losses

Basketball fans across the state of Kentucky are sharpening their pitchforks and lighting their torches in preparation of storming John Calipari’s house after he’s failed to fill out his roster so far this summer. On May 31, the deadline passed for college players to pull their name out of the NBA Draft and BBN hoped for three guys — Oscar Tshiebwe, Chris Livingston and Antonio Reeves — to opt to come back. Well, they went 0/2 on Oscar and Livingston while Reeves announced he’s coming back to college but did not confirm he would return to Kentucky specifically.

So, on a bright and sunny morning to start the month of June, John Calipari released a sort of statement on Twitter regarding the current UK roster situation. Of course, he wished the outgoing future pros nothing but success, but also calmed some worries by assuring fans that the 2024 roster “isn’t finished yet.” Take a look at his little mid-summer opus after a really tough day of news for the ‘Cats on Wednesday:

“I woke up this morning thinking about our team now that the NBA deadline has passed. We support all of our players as they weigh their options and pursue their dreams and it’s my job to make sure these kids are making informed decisions. It may not be what you think or I think – but it’s informed. But that also makes it hard to move until you really know what your roster is going to be. We’ve prepared for all scenarios and now we can move forward.

“There’s so much misinformation out there and most of it we can’t address publicly. Numbers being thrown around just aren’t accurate, who we are in contact with or who we are not in contact with, we don’t make it public.

“We want players who want this culture, who care about winning, understand what it means to play at Kentucky – both how hard and how rewarding it is – and have the ultimate drive to win and succeed on the biggest stage, which helps everyone. We have a talented group right now which isn’t finished yet, but when it’s done we will have a talented team who will chase the ultimate goal together and make #BBN proud.”

There you have it. It’s nice to see Coach Cal confirm that he’s still trying to fill out the roster, but that was pretty obvious given the team only has seven players right now. Most folks will let this message slide through one ear and out the other, because at this point, it’s time to stop reassuring and start landing dudes.