Transfer portal talk: Former Kentucky Wildcats find new schools for final college seasons

Kentucky men’s basketball’s efforts to solidify its roster for the 2023-24 season remain a work in progress.

While some significant stay-or-go decisions still haven’t been made by several of last season’s top Wildcats — including star Oscar Tshiebwe — the UK coaching staff has made inroads with players in the NCAA transfer portal.

Those discussions, obviously, are made more difficult when it’s still unclear who will remain in Lexington from last season’s team, but UK head coach John Calipari and his staff have still engaged players in conversations about a potential future for them in Lexington.

Here’s a look at the latest news concerning the NCAA transfer portal and Kentucky.

Kentucky among big-name schools connected to Florida State transfer

While there hasn’t been a ton of earth-shattering activity in the portal in recent days in terms of players entering, anytime a power conference player decides to transfer schools it will attract attention.

This was no different with the recent news that former Florida State swingman Matthew Cleveland is looking to change teams.

A former five-star recruit from Georgia, the 6-foot-7 Cleveland spent two seasons at FSU and led the school in scoring last season with nearly 14 points per game.

Kentucky has been one of several high-major schools reported to be interested in Cleveland, although others have made a stronger push than the Cats.

He didn’t have a scholarship offer from UK during his initial recruitment, but he was in conversations with then-Kentucky assistant coach Joel Justus as a high school player.

At the time of his commitment in the summer of 2020, Cleveland picked Florida State from a final group of schools that also included Kansas, Michigan, North Carolina State and Stanford, although it was reported at the time that UK and North Carolina made a late push in his recruitment.

North Carolina appears to again be making a strong play for Cleveland after the Tar Heels went from preseason No. 1 to missing the NCAA Tournament last season.

Former Kentucky players find new schools

A pair of former Kentucky Wildcats appear to have found new homes in recent days.

Former UK guard Sahvir Wheeler — who spent the last two seasons at Kentucky after transferring from Georgia — is expected to transfer to Washington.

Wheeler averaged 7.7 points and 5.6 assists in 28.5 minutes per game last season for the Cats, beginning the year as a starter before settling into an off-the-bench role.

He missed the final 11 games after an ankle injury. Wheeler has one season of college eligibility remaining and appears likely to spend it with the Huskies, which continues a fascinating trend of former Kentucky players during Calipari’s tenure who transfer to Pac-12 Conference schools.

This includes former Wildcats Keion Brooks and Quade Green who both went to Washington, as well as Johnny Juzang (UCLA), Marcus Lee (California) and Jemarl Baker (Arizona).

Speaking of Baker, he’s now made two transfers since that move from Lexington to Tucson, Arizona.

Baker spent the past two seasons at Fresno State, playing just five games during the 2021-22 season due to knee injuries and averaging more than 12 points per game this past season.

Baker announced this week that he would be transferring to another Mountain West Conference school, New Mexico, for his final season of college basketball.

The 2023-24 season will represent Baker’s sixth season of college basketball.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, Baker will need a waiver from the NCAA to grant him that sixth year of eligibility. Baker told the newspaper that waiver process has already begun.

Louisville to host official visit for UMass transfer

Head coach Kenny Payne and the Louisville Cardinals have been cooking in the transfer portal this offseason.

Louisville’s roster from last season — in which the Cardinals infamously won only four games — has been completely revamped.

The outgoing players so far are Fabio Basili, Sydney Curry, El Ellis (Arkansas), Kamari Lands (Arizona State), Ashton Myles-Devore, Devin Ree, Roosevelt Wheeler (VCU) and Jae’Lyn Withers (North Carolina).

The incoming players are Skyy Clark (Illinois) and five freshmen, headlined by four-star small forward Trentyn Flowers and four-star center Dennis Evans, whom Louisville landed after Evans was released from his national letter of intent with Minnesota.

Now, Payne and his staff are working to add another transfer.

RJ Luis, a 6-foot-7 shooting guard formerly of Massachusetts, will take an official visit to Louisville this week.

Luis averaged 11.5 points and 4.6 rebounds a game as a freshman last season for the Minutemen.

He is ranked as the No. 44 transfer portal prospect by 247Sports.

U of L is also in the running to land another incoming freshman in former five-star Duke signee Mackenzie Mgbako, who requested a release from his national letter of intent with the Blue Devils.

The connection that would tie Mgbako to Louisville is current Louisville assistant coach Nolan Smith, who was formerly an assistant coach at Duke who recruited Mgbako to the school.