“I want to try and up my stock even more,” Kentucky Wildcats star Otega Oweh said while announcing his decision to come back to play under Mark Pope for another year. He participated in the recently concluded NBA draft combine and Sports Illustrated’s Draft Digest staff had him being picked 58th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Reportedly, Oweh is determined to become a first-round pick and will have that added motivation when he returns to college this year. He adds more firepower to an already well-setup squad for the Kentucky WildCats which has every critic raving. However, many preseason rankings, like ESPN’s, have the Wildcats at number 9 even after Oweh’s return. This Kentucky insider has explained why the Wildcats had the best transfer portal of all colleges. 

Lance Dawe said on his Locked on Kentucky podcast, “Okay, let’s just look at the players and look at the facts. This includes vibes. Whether or not you still have a coach whether or not you still have a staff the players you brought in, the players you lost—everything.”

Basketball does not always work on the face value of a team. If it did, then it would be too predictable. Just look at the 2024-25 season for the Wildcats as an example, they did not expect anything from Mark Pope’s first season at the helm. He was handed the task of rebuilding the program from the ground up. Pope managed to put together a squad within weeks and led them to a sweet 16 appearance for the first time since 2019. On paper, that squad was never predicted to reach those heights.

“We were never supposed to be here,” Kerr Kriisa had said. “Coach took a chance on us.” Now Krissa has moved on to the Cincinnati Bearcats for his sixth year in college after an injury-ridden 2024-25 season. The Wildcats are on an upward trajectory, which just adds to the good vibes that Dawe mentioned. Now he has had enough time and money to work with this preseason and he has gone out and obtained every player that fits the role that he wants at Kentucky. 

What makes this team special isn’t just the new faces, it’s the way Coach Pope has everyone aligned toward a common goal. Oweh, who returned for his senior season, emphasized the team’s chemistry, stating, “The chemistry is actually really good… Overall, we’re all really connected.”

Insiders note that Pope’s emphasis on unity has transformed a group of transfers and returners into a cohesive unit that plays with heart. That kind of chemistry is what’s got other coaches sweating.

He further said,“I believe Kentucky has had the best offseason out of any program And the main reason is, despite the turnover, despite losing all of these seniors to graduation and losing two players that were not important on your team a season ago to the transfer portal, you were able to bring in, I think, better talent overall while also still retaining some of your top guys.”

Otega Oweh had his breakout season last year, being the top scorer for the Wildcats. With 16.2 points , 1.7 assists and 1.6 steals per game, he was the point man on this side. They have brought in a proper point guard in Jalaand Lowe, who went from 3.3 assists per game to 5.5 at Pittsburgh last year. That is more than any player on the Kentucky roster from last season. 

Another huge win for them was getting Jayden Quaintance from Arizona State. He will definitely be a key part of solving the Wildcats’ defensive woes from last season. It ended up being ranked 51st in the nation in KenPom, while their offense ranked 10th. They were even worse to start the season but slowly improved by the end. Jayden was arguably one of the best defenders last season with 7.9 rebounds per game while averaging 1.1 steals and 2.6 blocks. He will significantly improve Mark Pope’s defense.

The one issue will be how long he takes recovering from his ACL injury, which he went down with towards the end of the season. And will he remain the same player post-injury? Only time will tell. Fortunately, they have Brandon Garrison, who could potentially have a breakout season after being a key part of the Wildcats off the bench last year. This depth is also one of the reasons why they are one of the teams to look out for next season. Along with that, Mohammad Dioubate also adds more defensive power to this squad. 

This focused approach has led to many believing that Pope had a proper plan while going into the offseason and executed it with great precision. The Wildcats have emerged as one of the championship contenders of the preseason. It was not only Lance Dawe who thought this, as CBS sports has also ranked the Kentucky transfer portal as the best of all. 

How did Otega Oweh’s return affect Mark Pope’s plans for the 2025-26 season?

As the deadline to pull out of the NBA draft kept closing in, the murmurs had started that Oweh is determined to become a first-round pick or he will come back. Since none of the reputed publications put him anywhere near there, almost everyone assumed that he would be coming back. However, the Kentucky fans were getting nervous as his official decision was still not announced. Oweh finally revealed his decision on the final day with hours to go that he will be returning to play for Pope once again. 

“He grew so much last season in terms of kind of winning the point of attack over and over, whether it was on the ball or off the ball defensively,” Pope has said. However, he agrees that Oweh can grow even further, as he said, “Like all of us though, he has so much room to grow. I think his ceiling as a playmaker—he hasn’t even begun to tap into that.”

Oweh averaged 1.7 assists per game last season, which was fifth best on the team. So if he improves on that front, he will become the complete player that Mark Pope needs. His ability off the glass is also expected to improve so he and Quaintance could prove to be dynamic defenders. Last season, he was the only Wildcat to make more than 200 shots, with no other Kentucky player hitting even 150. With another high scorer in Jalaand Lowe brought in, the scoring pressure will decrease off him and that may help unlock the creative potential that Pope is talking about. 

Considering that it was well known in the basketball community that Oweh would likely return, Pope would have already accommodated him into his plans long before he announced his decision. Even if he did not return, Pope had Chandler, Johnson, Denzel Aberdeen, and even Kam Williams, who could play at his spot in the starting lineup. Oweh will certainly make them a better side overall after his last season’s exploits.

With Oweh back and a roster stacked with talent, Kentucky has the entire NCAA on alert. Coach Pope’s vision, combined with a team that’s clicking both on and off the court, has analysts like Lance Dawe asserting that the Wildcats are primed and ready to compete for a national title in year two under Pope. For the 67 other teams dreaming of a championship, Kentucky’s rise is a formidable challenge.