4-star ahead Braydon Hawthorne dedicated to Kentucky on Tuesday, giving coach Mark Pope a late addition to his 2025 recruiting class. Hawthorne, the No. 33 total participant within the 2025 class by 247Sports, dedicated to the Wildcats over Duke, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Pittsburgh.
Hawthorne was the highest-ranked obtainable participant within the 2025 recruiting class and the one top-40 recruit left on the board. The Huntington, West Virginia, native beforehand signed his letter of intent with West Virginia earlier than backing off his pledge earlier this spring after coach Darian DeVries departed Morgantown for Indiana.
Hawthorne is the fourth member of Kentucky’s 2025 recruiting class, becoming a member of four-star guard Jasper Johnson, four-star heart Malachi Moreno and Croatian ahead Andrija Jelavić, one of many prime European prospects in his age group.
With Hawthorne’s late pledge, the Wildcats now have the Eleventh-ranked recruiting class within the 2025 cycle.
Whereas Kentucky made key additions through highschool recruiting this offseason, Pope primarily rebuilt his roster with switch portal additions, headlined by former five-star and one-time Kentucky commit Jayden Quaintance. The Wildcats have the No. 4 ranked switch portal class within the 247Sports rankings behind solely St. John’s, Michigan and Louisville.
Kentucky basketball roster 2025-26: Monitoring who’s in, who’s out heading into Yr 2 of the Mark Pope period
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With Pope securing a late win on the highschool recruiting path, right here is an outline of Kentucky’s offseason and what could be subsequent.
Assessing Kentucky’s offseason
As talked about above, the Wildcats have been aggressive within the switch portal to reshape their roster heading into the second 12 months of Pope’s tenure at his alma mater. Hawthorne is the newest addition to a pleasant offseason overhaul for the Wildcats. Kentucky signed six gamers within the switch portal this offseason: Quaintance (Arizona State), Denzel Aberdeen (Florida), Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama), Jaland Lowe (Pitt), Kam Williams (Tulane) and Reece Potter from Miami (Ohio).
Quaintance is the participant who can swing all the pieces for Kentucky. The projected top-five choose within the 2026 NBA Draft underwent surgical procedure to restore a torn ACL in his proper knee on March 19 and is anticipated to be cleared for contact in September. Quaintance was beforehand dedicated to Kentucky below the earlier teaching workers earlier than signing with Arizona State after John Calipari left to turn into the coach at Arkansas.
Jayden Quaintance commits to Kentucky: Wildcats add key piece in projected top-five 2026 NBA Draft choose
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Kentucky has been capable of capitalize on its momentum after reaching the Candy 16 for the primary time since 2019 in Pope’s first season on the job. Pope’s rosters shifting ahead — and beginning this season — will likely be extra proficient and able to making deeper runs within the NCAA Event.
An enormous speaking level has been Kentucky’s offseason additions, however Pope has managed to retain a few of final season’s expertise. Massive man Brandon Garrison, guard Collin Chandler and ahead Trent Noah are all set to return after taking part in key minutes off the bench throughout the 2024-25 season.
Probably the most notable participant on final 12 months’s roster that hasn’t selected a subsequent step is star guard Otega Oweh. Kentucky’s main scorer from final season remains to be going by means of the draft course of. Kentucky ought to have a choice sooner moderately than later about Oweh’s plans, because the deadline to withdraw from the 2025 NBA Draft is Might 28.
If Oweh, a projected second-round choose, does return to varsity for an additional season, he may very well be a possible SEC Participant of the Yr candidate.