Mark Pope’s Kentucky have been thoroughly tested in last few months. In fact, the whole of last season has been a pretty difficult ride for the Wildcats. Despite investing around $22 million into NIL, the team did not do well. Mark Pope had to navigate through countless injuries to many key players and that stunted the season badly.
They got eliminated in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Their bad luck extended beyond the season. Kentucky Wildcats has unfortunately struggled in the transfer portal as well. Multiple targets rejected Kentucky for other schools and there were some key players leaving for NBA draft and entering the transfer portal.
This also means that Kentucky has the same NIL budget this year also. They once again have around $22 million and the remaining options might just give Mark Pope the boost he needs. Considering every setback, the most ideal situation for Mark Pope would be the return of Malachi Moreno. Analyst Jon Rothstein recently talked about that.
“I have Kentucky right now ranked 40th on the Rothstein 45, with this projected starting 5,” Jon said with Zoom Diallo, Alex Wilkins, Kam Williams, Brayden Hawthorne and Malachi Moreno in the starting 5.
Malachi Moreno’s NBA draft projections
Malachi Moreno is a player who is also going through the NBA draft process along with maintaining his college eligibility. In many projections, he is being considered as a late first round pick.
Another Kentucky star who is in the draft process is Jayden Quaintance. Malachi Moreno is now mocked to the Atlanta Hawks at pick 23 in latest NBA mock draft, while Quaintance is mocked to the New York Knicks at 24.
Jon thinks it is absolutely vital for Mark Pope and Kentucky to retain Malachi Moreno at all costs despite his NBA draft process. That would be the only way for the Wildcats to go in the right direction and try to find some success.
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