When Mark Pope arrived at Lexington, he quickly assembled a roster for the 2024-25 season. He did this mostly using the transfer portal, and that let the new Kentucky coach build a roster full of veteran players.

Justin Wiles of Busting Brackets wrote an article grading the offseason of each SEC team, and he gave Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats an A.

Wiles had this to say about giving Kentucky an offseason grade of A, “When Mark Pope took the Kentucky job back in April, he needed to move quickly to put a roster together. With little to build on, Pope turned to the transfer portal to assemble a roster that could compete in the SEC immediately. And in signing one of the larger transfer classes, Pope quickly rebuilt his roster. Kentucky should have a well-rounded team this upcoming season. Mark Pope did a good job of signing players with different strengths that will complement each other’s play, bringing on good scorers, both inside and out, and a truly great interior defender. Not many schools have that kind of balance.”

Wiles is correct about Coach Pope recruiting a roster that is full of players who will complement one another. He has a ton of guys who can shoot, rebound, defend, pass, and get to the rim. When you have a roster full of players who can do all of these things, it will lead to good things.

Only seven SEC teams earned an A so clearly Wiles was impressed with the offseason Coach Pope had putting together his first Kentucky roster.

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LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – Some Kentuckians are preparing to send crews to Georgia and Florida to assist with relief efforts in the wake of tropical storm Debby.

“Our crews will be on standby for those who are going down to help with mutual aid. And then after that water subsides, and you see all the damage left behind, they will begin rebuilding the electric system that was wiped out by that big storm surge,” said Joe Arnold, Vice President of Kentucky Electric Cooperatives.

Kentucky Electric Cooperatives is just one of the organizations from Kentucky on standby to head to the Southeast.

The American Red Cross Bluegrass Chapter and Lexington-based company Emergency Disaster Services are also ready to step in.

Kentucky Utilities is sending 50 of their people down to help.

With some forecasts projecting upwards of 20 inches of rain in part of the south, electrical grids will take a huge hit.

“You do not rebuild an electrical system in water. The same way as the winds will come in with a hurricane and take trees down and power polls down or power lines down, water can have that same effect. So after that storm surge subsides, that’s when our crews can go in and rebuild the system,” said Arnold.

When Hurricane Idalia hit in 2023 with a track similar to Debby’s, Kentucky Electric Cooperatives sent crews to South Carolina and Georgia and crews say they’re ready to do it again.

“It looks like Georgia is going to be our best match in terms of where our equipment can be the most effective and the conditions we are expecting them to hit,” said Arnold.

“These line-workers are heroes. They are people who are leaving their families and the safety of the job behind to go into areas that are in terrible shape,” Arnold said.

As of now, Kentucky electric cooperatives have around 8-10 co-ops who are able to spare crews to Georgia to help with relief

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