With his first season as Kentucky basketball's coach finished, Mark Pope found plenty he liked. But he also identified numerous areas of improvement.

Following a decent 2024-25 season for Kentucky in the first year with Mark Pope at the helm as head coach, the Wildcats lost a prized commit as four-star guard Acaden Lewis made the decision to re-open his recruitment and decommit from Kentucky.

That's because UK will lose at least seven players from the 2024-25 roster. All seven were seniors. Six no longer had any eligibility remaining: Ansley Almonor, Koby Brea, Lamont Butler, Andrew Carr,