Before John Calipari decided he would leave for Arkansas, Kentucky basketball had the No. 2 recruiting class for 2024. However, five of the six players who signed in the Class of 2024 were released from their national letter of intent after Calipari jumped ship and new head coach Mark Pope is scrambling to put together a competitive Kentucky basketball roster for 2024-25. Only Travis Perry, a four-star out of Kentucky, has remained committed to the Wildcats from the Class of 2024, but Pope has already secured commitments from seven players in the college basketball transfer portal to join the Kentucky basketball lineup.

With zero scholarship players returning from last season’s team, Pope still has plenty of ground to cover in the high-school ranks and transfer portal. The portal is closed now, but those who entered it and remain uncommitted can still take visits while they make their decision and there are still unsigned high school prospects available that could become Kentucky basketball recruits. If you love the Wildcats, or just want the latest roster updates and college basketball transfer portal news, be sure to see what the proven team of insiders are saying at CatsPause, the 247Sports affiliate that covers Kentucky.

The team of insiders at CatsPause.com are providing up-to-the-minute scoop on the latest intel surrounding the Kentucky basketball coaching transition and roster changes. CatsPause has built a solid reputation over its 20+ years covering the Wildcats, and has deep-rooted sources inside and around the Kentucky athletic department. And right now, CatsPause is offering 50% off the first year of an annual subscriptions*, so now is the time to sign up.

The team at CatsPause has full coverage of who is coming and who is going on the Kentucky basketball roster. Head to CatsPause now to see all the insider info.

Kentucky basketball roster departures 

The 2024-25 Kentucky basketball roster is quickly starting to take shape, as Pope landed another key player earlier this week. San Diego State transfer Lamont Butler, the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year last season, committed to Kentucky as one of the top players from the college basketball transfer portal. He averaged 9.3 points, 3.0 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 27.6 minutes per game and has played in 11 career NCAA Tournament games.

Kentucky’s defense is already looking like a strength, as three-time CAA Defensive Player of the Year Amari Williams also committed earlier this month. He averaged 12.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.8 blocks per game for Drexel last season. Pope also has a pair of recruits committed in Travis Perry and Collin Chandler and is hosting multiple visitors in the coming days. Join CatsPause to see the latest on all of Kentucky’s roster changes. 

Kentucky basketball news, roster

With most of the immediate impact players in the high school ranks already signed to letters of intent, Pope has primarily focused on the NCAA basketball transfer portal to address his immediate roster needs. Kerr Kriisa, Otega Oweh and Brandon Garrison were all starters at Big 12 schools last season and should be in line for significant roles in Lexington.

Meanwhile, San Diego State transfer Lamont Butler Jr. and Duquesne transfer Amari Williams were defensive players of the year last season. Dayton transfer Koby Brea was also the A-10 Sixth Man of the Year and Andrew Carr has scored 1,286 points over a four-year career that has included two seasons at Delaware and two seasons at Wake Forest. Pope and the Wildcats are also reportedly in the mix for North Florida shooting guard Chaz Lanier and four-star in-state prospect Trent Noah is interested in Kentucky and Tennessee after being released from his letter of intent at South Carolina. Join CatsPause to get the latest on all of Kentucky’s roster additions. 

How to get insider Kentucky basketball roster updates

Pope could also be bringing at least one big-time BYU player with him, so be sure to join CatsPause to see who that is and get the rest of the insider roster news. 

Who are the top names Kentucky basketball is pursuing under coach Mark Pope, and what former BYU player could land in Lexington? Go to CatsPause to see their insider information, all from a team of reporters with years of experience covering the Wildcats, and find out. And reminder, CatsPause is offering 50% off the first year of an annual VIP membership*, so subscribe now before it’s too late.

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LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 10, 2024) — Emily Fields was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, but she will tell you she bled blue her whole life, just like her mom. She has family in Kentucky and she grew up loving University of Kentucky sports. As an avid gymnast and cheerleader in high school, she was passionate about being an athlete. However, after a significant knee injury and multiple surgeries, her career as an athlete was put to an end, but she never lost her passion for sports.

Once Fields arrived on the UK campus in 2016, she set a new dream into motion.

“I always said if I can’t be an athlete anymore, how do I stay involved with what I’ve wanted to do practically my whole life,” Fields said. “When I decided to come to UK, I chose to major in integrated strategic communication (ISC). It was so unique in the sense I was learning about public relations, marketing, digital media, advertising and so much more. There were so many different avenues I could take.”

A game changer for Fields was having the good fortune to find a public relations internship in the UK Athletics Department. She said her experience there helped mold her degree and it kept her in the game.

“I worked with our men’s football, men’s basketball and gymnastics program very closely for about four years,” Fields said. “This experience shaped my future career in ways I would’ve never imagined, and I am fortunate to have made so many relationships that still hold strong to this day. I’ve got multiple mentors in UK Athletics whom I still talk to often.”

In 2019, Fields earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in ISC with a focus in public relations from the UK College of Communication and Information with a minor in community and leadership development from the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. The next chapter of her education played out on the University of Florida campus where she earned a Master of Science degree in sports management in 2022. Additionally, Fields became a certified athlete development specialist, providing her the pathway to become an advocate for so many athletes in her journey within the sports industry.

After leaving Florida, Fields went straight into positions with several sports organizations, serving five years in the National Football League (NFL), that took her to several states and as far away as Seattle, Washington, where she worked in communications for the Seattle Seahawks. Soon after, she received a phone call with a job offer that would take her back to Central Kentucky, where she truly calls “home.”

“For me, it was a no-brainer and I jumped at the opportunity to get back to the place I love and call home,” she said. “I was brought to the Lexington Sporting Club (LSC) to help create market and establish a true brand for our club, helping to show the Lexington community that we’re here and ready to get involved in the community.”

Fields is currently working as the marketing, communication and community engagement coordinator for LSC, a professional soccer organization now in its second year in Lexington. Their men’s professional USL League One team is the second tier of the USL for men, and the women’s USL Super League team is the same level as the National Women’s Soccer League (NSWL) and the highest level in women’s soccer. Additionally, LSC has youth programs that work with kids and teens to develop their soccer skills from the ground up.

 “It’s not every day, especially at my age, I’m only 25-years-old, to be able to work with and help create so many marketing, media and community opportunities for a professional sports organization that is just getting started,” Fields said. “It’s a unique opportunity to write a story for the Lexington community and be a part in establishing LSC’s legacy as ‘A Club to Call Your Own.’”

Many people consider sports administration, much like sports in general, a male-dominated industry. Fields says that being a woman in sports administration is only a challenge if you let it and it’s all about the way you present yourself. Fields has two strong female mentors who have shaped her career.

“Susan Lax, director of athletics communications and public relations (football), was one of my biggest mentors at UK,” she said. “She taught me pretty much everything I know from a sports communication’s standpoint, and to this day is someone I can call upon for advice. She held herself with this confidence and determination that I always admired and took with me when I ventured out on my own.”

Fields describes her other mentor, Julie Barber, director of media service operations for the Seattle Seahawks, as a powerful woman in sports who walks into a room with confidence, and at the same time is nurturing and forthcoming with her desire to teach and develop others in the industry.

“Both women have shaped my career,” Fields said. “Instilling in me that, while this industry can get very intense and stressful at times, if I stay true to who I am, be authentic, be confident in what I do, my work will speak for itself.”

Fields will tell you that her favorite part of her job is the same thing that motivates her in her career, and that is creating a beautiful narrative to tell the stories of the talented athletes that represent LSC.

“I love sitting down with my players and listening to their stories, why they do what they do, and then turn that around and show the world how great these athletes truly are,” said Fields. “With players from so many different backgrounds, each and every person has a different passion behind what they do and why they play. I’m incredibly lucky to learn from each of them, and I am honored to be able to share their beautiful stories with the world.

“There are so many ways you can tell a story and I think that’s the unique thing about what we do,” she said. “It’s no longer just writing; it is social media, it’s television, it’s everywhere. I can write a feature story on an athlete or write a press release on why an athlete is coming to the team, or it can be something as simple as a photograph or video to visually showcase their personality even more on social media.”

Storytelling and player development is the heart and soul of what Fields does every day. She says that making a difference in an athlete’s life through her work is the reason she loves her work.

“Every day that I get up for work, I’m not necessarily doing it for me. I’m telling someone else’s little piece of history, and the fact that I get to make an impact on the athletes and provide them with the spotlight, is something that is really important to me. Especially from working in college athletics, I’ve seen the impact it can make, and it may be small changes but it still matters. I get to watch them go off and progress in their career and become successful.”

Fields says the LSC currently has two indoor facilities and a host of outdoor fields that are open to the public, but plans are underway to build a stadium on Athens Boonesboro Road in Lexington that will hold about 7,500 people when it is complete.

“We are very proud to be in Lexington and that’s why our owner Bill Shively put us here. We love this community, and the biggest thing right now is we want to give back to it as much as possible,” Fields said. “Something I believe is so unique, is that we are ‘One Crest, One Club.’ Meaning from our youth programs all the way to our professional teams, we all wear the same crest on our body. No matter what, we are all in this together, creating something really special right here in Central Kentucky.”

For now, Fields is looking forward to the start of the USL League One men’s 2024 season which runs through October. She describes this year’s team of players as “phenomenal” and hopes people will want to come out and fall in love with the players and the sport of soccer.

“There’s just something about the Lexington community and the way people are here that always draws me back,” she said. “I always say that Atlanta raised me, but Kentucky made me who I am. I wouldn’t be in this profession, and I wouldn’t have had the experiences I’ve had if I didn’t go to UK, if I didn’t take the internship in UK Athletics, and if I didn’t have the people and mentors that I have had here. The feeling of home that I get here and the encouragement and empowerment that you get from the people who represent home to me even when I was across the country is something I would not trade for the world.”

Learn more about the Lexington Sporting Club at https://www.lexsporting.com or sign up for their e-newsletter here. 

What you may not know about Emily Fields

Fields is a huge music fan and has been to over 100 concerts in her life. Concerts were an activity she shared with her mother as early as the age of six or seven. At some point growing up, she stopped asking for gifts and asked for concert tickets instead because she says nothing beats having the experience that live music brings.

“I love the feelings and emotions you get from music,” she said. “I love the storytelling aspect in every part of my life and music tells a beautiful story and people can take from it the positive or the negative.”

For the second straight week, 11 Personnel is talking about a new addition to the Kentucky football program. This time it’s a homecoming for an Owensboro quarterback.

A day after officially visiting Kentucky, Gavin Wimsatt committed to the Cats. A former four-star talent, Wimsatt spent the last three years at Rutgers and was the starter for a 7-6 Scarlet Knights team that won its first bowl game in 10 years. 11 Personnel shares what the addition means for the program and how the running quarterback may be used in the offense.

That’s not all we’re talking about on tonight’s show…

— If you have two quarterbacks, do you really have none?
— Coaches are making stupid NIL comments
— Intriguing early college football lines
— a Kentucky basketball/football cross-over

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More UK News and Views on the KSR YouTube Channel

Kentucky Sports Radio has expanded its coverage of the Wildcats in the most ridiculous manner possible on our YouTube Channel. Here you will be able to find interviews with coaches and players, as well as commentary from the KSR crew. From Rapid Reactions following big events to our lengthy lineup of live shows, subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel to stay up to date on everything happening around the Big Blue Nation.