Oscar Tshiebwe is one of four transfers who will be on UK's roster next season. (UK Athletics Photo)
Kentucky might look like Transfer U. this season but that is not something John Calipari wants to become a trend for the Wildcats. He has added transfer Oscar Tshiebwe, Kellan Grady, CJ Frederick, and Sahvir Wheeler to next season’s roster but indicated Friday that is not the new normal — or at least he hopes not. Instead, UK had to do that this year to fill obvious holes in its roster.
“Thank goodness that we could tap into that market (last year), but it’s not something that we’re saying that we’re just going to live by,” Calipari said Friday.
However, he also understands the transfer portal has changed how college basketball coaches must operate to fill a team’s needs.
“This is a different place for that but this year it’s good. I’m not sure where it will go going forward but we’ll be evaluating,” Calipari said.
Calipari asked media members on a Zoom call Friday if they knew how many teams had seen six or more players transfer out since the end of last season. No one knew. He said as of two weeks ago it was 130 and the total might be 150 by now.
“It’s almost like, ‘Who’s going to do it? Okay, I understand. Now who are we getting?'” the UK coach said. “Four years ago, if five players transferred from a team, everybody would go crazy. ‘The program is crumbling.’ Well, 150 programs are crumbling.”
He took a subtle shot at the NCAA for not adjusting quicker to changes in the college basketball landscape.
“As the NCAA, we have to be able to be nimble and pivot with all this stuff we’re doing that’s changing the game, you can’t have it take two years,” Calipari said. “To change something that had unintended consequences, whether it’s the portal, whether it’s name, image, and likeness, we may need to turn on a dime right now.
“It’s like you’re on an aircraft carrier. Need to be on a speed boat the next three years because we don’t know where any of this stuff is going. And we’re guessing, I’m guessing like everybody else, and my thoughts are always going to be three or four years out, what this looks like.
“With all the leagues and all the stuff and all the transfers and the change of this change in my staff, how do we take advantage? How do we stay the gold standard in all this?”
