The Kentucky Wildcats have a roster loaded with transfer portal players and a few incoming freshmen. It is different than the roster compilation this team has had over the past decade, but it’s one that should bode well for former BYU head coach Mark Pope.

Pope, who has been quoted saying he has added each player with a purpose, will have big shoes to fill with John Calipari now in Fayetteville. Pope immediately got to work upon being hired, adding numerous players from the transfer portal.

With the summer workouts having kicked off, we’re starting to hear from many of them.

Fairleigh Dickinson forward Ansley Almonor has been hearing and seeing Kentucky not being in many top-25 rankings. After a few practices, he has let people know of the high expectations this team has internally and that they plan to “shock a lot of people.”

“I feel like we’re going to go out there and shock a lot of people in the country,” Almonor said in a recent interview with local media. “People are underestimating us, I feel like. We have a really, really good team and a really experienced team. It’s going to be fun to watch us, for sure.

Almonor’s comments about being an underdog have been commonplace at the Joe Craft Center, as Andrew Carr believes Kentucky will surprise people with how good they are on the defensive end.

”I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people defensively,” Carr said.

A big part of that in summer practices has been how well this veteran team communicates on the defensive end, something that’s been quite problematic with Kentucky in recent years.

”Transition defense will be big for us, and that comes with communication. It’s been really cool to see not only one or two people talking, and things like that, it’s really been the whole team trying to take that next step communication-wise,” said Carr.

It also helps that Kentucky has two legitimate rim protectors in Amari Williams and Brandon Garrison.

”(Amari) has done a special job, he and BG (Brandon Garrison),” Carr said. “That center spot holds together the defensive unit and most of the time is able to see everything, has to have a very loud voice, and they’ve done a really good job kind of growing and trying to make a concerted effort to be as loud as possible.”

It also helps that Kentucky has legitimate depth at all five spots.

“I think a lot of people have done a really great job (in practice),” said Carr. “For us, it’s been really cool because it’s not just one person every day. It switches every single day. Different people have good days on different days. That’s what I’m super excited about with this team in general, the depth. We’ve got two of everything. So it’s been really fun to see that throughout practice.”

Next season can’t get here fast enough.

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