This Kentucky basketball season is finished, and one of the most exciting teams in years fell well short of its ultimate goal. The Wildcats lost 80-76 to 14-seeded Oakland on Thursday night, suffering a major upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the last three years. Kentucky basketball offseasons under John Calipari are never dull, with several players shuffling off to the NBA draft, and — in more recent years — entertaining the thought of entering the transfer portal. This offseason could be even more eventful.
Though he still has five years remaining on his contract, Calipari’s own future at UK will probably be a topic of conversation in the days ahead. The Hall of Fame coach, who turned 65 years old last month, just wrapped up his 15th season in charge of the Cats, but the program’s Final Four drought will now be extended to 10 years — second-longest in UK history — and the next March Madness will mark 13 years since Kentucky’s only national title in Calipari’s tenure. The Wildcats have not advanced past the second round of the NCAA Tournament in five years. A lot of difficult decisions will be made in the coming weeks. Which UK players will be back for another run next season? Calipari typically meets with each player individually within days of the final game, so it won’t be long before the first wave of stay-or-go decisions are announced. He actually said after the loss to Oakland that he planned to meet again with his players in his hotel room later Thursday night. The deadline for college players to withdraw from this year’s NBA draft will be May 29, so it could be a while before some of those decisions are finalized. Here’s a look at every scholarship player on the roster, with predictions for what each might do. LEAVING KENTUCKY Obviously, fifth-year players Tre Mitchell and Antonio Reeves have both played their final games for Kentucky. The two veterans of the UK basketball team used up their last season of eligibility to play for the Wildcats, with Reeves emerging as a possible NBA draft pick following his spectacular run in 2023-24 and Mitchell likely to get looks from NBA teams this offseason. Two other players are almost certainly leaving the program. Rob Dillingham: The offensively electric freshman from Hickory, North Carolina, quickly established himself as a key member of the Wildcats early in the regular season and ultimately emerged as a projected lottery pick in this year’s draft.
