LEXINGTON — Kentucky basketball opens the 2024-25 season — and the Mark Pope era — next week, as it welcomes Wright State to town for a 7 p.m. tipoff at Rupp Arena.

The Wildcats held their annual Big Blue Madness event earlier in October, which included a 3-point competition and dunk contest. Then they held a scrimmage session during the repurposed Blue-White event — though only fans in attendance at Memorial Coliseum were able to watch in person, as it wasn’t televised. And now, UK is done with the preseason, routing Division II clubs Kentucky Wesleyan and Minnesota State Mankato in a pair of home exhibitions.

But there’s still plenty to learn about this season’s roster.

The Courier Journal provides insight about this edition of the Wildcats by answering key questions entering the 2024-25 campaign:

Everything. From the scholarship players to the coaches, not a single part of the 2023-24 team is back this season. For that reason, the 2024-25 roster is historic: Per bigbluehistory.net — a statistical database devoted to detailing every aspect of Kentucky’s men’s basketball program — the 2024-25 campaign will be the first time UK has fielded a roster without a returning scholarship player from the previous season. Two seniors from last season, Tre Mitchell and Antonio Reeves, ran out of college eligibility. Three more (Rob Dillingham, Justin Edwards and Reed Sheppard) entered the NBA draft. The other seven scholarship players transferred: Aaron Bradshaw (Ohio State), Jordan Burks (Georgetown), Joey Hart (Ball State) and Ugonna Onyenso (Kansas State) left the SEC, while three ex-Wildcats (Zvonimir Ivišić, Adou Thiero and D.J. Wagner) followed former UK coach John Calipari to his new intraconference gig at Arkansas.

With Calipari gone, Kentucky turned to Pope, an alum and a team captain of “The Untouchables,” the program’s iconic national championship squad of 1995-96.

The dozen scholarship exits wrought 12 scholarship newcomers. Pope and the Wildcats treaded heavily in the transfer portal, adding nine players: guards Koby Brea, Lamont Butler, Kerr Kriisa, Otega Oweh and Jaxson Robinson, forwards Ansley Almonor, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams and center Brandon Garrison. UK also had a three-man signing class composed of Collin Chandler, Trent Noah and Travis Perry.

No one. Other than a pair of walk-ons (Grant Darbyshire and Walker Horn) who played a combined five minutes in 2023-24.

Jaxson Robinson. He’s the only member of UK’s roster to have played for Pope before. (Robinson spent the past two seasons at BYU, Pope’s previous school.) He was the Cougars’ top scorer last season, coming off the bench to average 14.2 points per game on his way to winning the Big 12’s Sixth Man of the Year award and earning an honorable mention nod for the All-Big 12 team. Robinson’s already showcased his top-flight ability offensively, pacing the Wildcats in points in both of their exhibition outings, scoring 19 versus Kentucky Wesleyan and 24 against Minnesota State Mankato. In the latter, every point from Robinson came from distance, sinking eight 3-pointers.

While he’ll likely be the Wildcats’ chief point-getter at the end of the season, don’t expect much of a margin between Nos. 1 and 2 — or perhaps even 1 and 5. Pope and his staff crave balance and sporting multiple scoring options on the floor at all times.

Take note: Four players on BYU’s 2023-24 roster finished with double-digit scoring averages, with three more above 9.0: Robinson (14.2), Fousseyni Traore (10.9), Trevin Knell (10.6), Spencer Johnson (10.3), Richie Saunders (9.6), Noah Waterman (9.5) and Dallin Hall (9.0).

Ansley Almonor. He’s the lowest-ranked transfer to join the program, according to every major recruiting service (Rivals, 247Sports and On3). The same goes for basketball statistician Evan Miyakawa, who not only had Almonor last among UK’s nine transfers but also questioned how quickly the former Fairleigh Dickinson star could adapt to the SEC. “He was (FDU’s) leading scorer last year, and he put up good numbers. … But they don’t play in a great league,” Miyakawa said. “So those sorts of statistics don’t typically translate that well, and my projections take that into account: just the massive talent jump that he’s gonna be taking in terms of teams that he’s playing against.” At UK’s media day in October, Almonor said he’s well aware of his detractors; friends and family pass along critical comments they’ve heard aloud or seen on social media. Now, it’s on Almonor to prove his doubters wrong.

Andrew Carr. A good bet to rank among the top two in points (behind Robinson) and rebounds (alongside center Amari Williams), Carr could have the best statistical profile of any Wildcat come the end of the season. He’s a gifted passer, too. But that’s not all: His 6-foot-10 frame belies his shooting ability, which he showcased throughout the team’s pro day Oct. 7. Carr was arguably the Wildcats’ top player that evening — and put that on display for scouts from all 30 NBA teams. With his size, length, top-tier decision-making and knack for knocking down shots from well beyond the 3-point line, Carr possesses every skill NBA teams desire from big men in modern basketball. If Carr’s play matches his potential, that bodes well for the Wildcats this season.

Seven. As in, seven players on Kentucky’s roster have played 2,000 or more minutes in college. (A hat tip to former Courier Journal UK beat writer Kyle Tucker for that figure, which he unearthed during a deep-dive analysis of the SEC ahead of the 2024-25 season.) Those seven 2,000-plus-minutes Cats are more than any outfit in the now-16-team conference, besting Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas A&M, which each boast six such players.

No, not a single member of UK’s roster has played together before. But the past decade has proven that programs with plenty of experienced veterans win national titles. No SEC club is as seasoned as the Wildcats in terms of college minutes. If the chemistry develops quickly, Kentucky will be a contender in March.

Lamont Butler. His individual stats might not dazzle. He might not go among the 60 picks in next year’s NBA draft. But Butler’s importance to this team’s won’t be judged by such numerical measures. His best attribute: lockdown, 1-on-1 defense. Pope regularly refers to him as the best perimeter defender in college basketball. Up and down Kentucky’s schedule, foes feature ultra-talented guards. Those lead guards take on even greater importance in March Madness; more often than not, teams with the best guard play make the deepest NCAA Tournament runs. Butler flummoxing and frustrating those guards would go a long way toward ensuring UK has a long stay in the Big Dance.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @RyanABlack.

Last week, the Kennesaw State Owls picked up one of the program’s most notable wins, downing their first FBS opponent in a victory over Liberty. This week, however, the Owls couldn’t find the same magic against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.

WKU’s offense was firing on all cylinders Wednesday night, on the way to a 31-14 win. Here’s what stood out from Tyson Helton’s latest blowout victory.

Another Big Day From The WKU Offense

The Tops totaled 462 yards of offense on Wednesday, their fifth time going over the 400-yard mark this season. Running back Elijah Young had a season-best performance, carrying 15 times for 114 yards.

Through the air, Caden Veltkamp was again very productive, completing 17 passes on 22 attempts for 276 yards and three touchdowns. A completion percentage of 77% was his second-highest this season.

Easton Messer’s Highlight-Reel Touchdown

Redshirt sophomore Easton Messer had arguably the biggest offensive play of the night. In the first quarter, Messer caught a pass from Veltkamp on what appeared to be a post route. Messer sprinted to the end zone for a 64-yard score, with roughly 55 of those yards coming after the catch.

What It Means & What’s Next

The Tops improve to 6-2 overall and 4-0 in conference play with the win. WKU have now reached bowl eligibility for six consecutive seasons. Their conference record also keeps them at the top of the CUSA standings for another week.

Jacksonville State also won on Wednesday night, meaning both the Tops and the Gamecocks are 4-0 in league games this season.

WKU will face New Mexico State on November 9 in Las Cruces, looking to pick up their seventh win and secure their fourth consecutive winning season. Kennesaw State face UTEP in El Paso that same day.

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LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – The recovery process in North Carolina is lengthy. Many roads are having to be completely rebuilt.

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet crew members have been down there helping all they can.

“We went down there, and there are just pockets of complete devastation. You might be driving down a road that looks perfectly fine, and then you come across a community where the road is gone, houses had 3 to 4 feet of water in them at times,” said Logan Murphy of Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District 7.

Murphy said the scenes in North Carolina remind him of some of the natural disasters that have recently happened in Kentucky.

“We knew what it’s like. We’ve had disasters in western Kentucky with the tornadoes and eastern Kentucky with the flooding, so we knew what they needed. We knew how hard it is to rebuild after situations like this,” said Murphy.

Murphy was involved with a crew that was down there for two weeks.

“We were able to work on five or six roads. A couple of them were impassable. There was one section of roadway where all it took was one pipe to be clogged up and the river rechanneled, took out the road,” Murphy said.

The joy of helping others is what fuels people like Murphy to do things like this.

“It’s very fulfilling work because I know we are doing a good job. I know we are helping speed up the process of recovering because it’s going to take them a long time to recover in some of these areas. Just anything our crew could do to help speed it up just a little bit,” Murphy said.

Murphy said he would be headed back down to North Carolina to relieve some of their crews on Friday.

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