Kentucky is going to go from a $22 million roster to a zero-dollar roster if Mark Pope can get his hands on the best general manager in the history of organized athletics. It’s going to be a talent increase while wiping out the payroll entirely — talk about playing for the name on the front of the jersey!

He’s joking, obviously, but the point he’s making is what every coach potentially pursuing roster management help, whether it’s called a GM, executive director of basketball, COO or whatever catchy title the Wildcats come up with — that part matters very little — is looking for.

The person hired for that role will be in charge of finding the best bang for the program’s buck, efficiently loading up on championship-caliber talent.

“What I’m looking for is the guy that can get me all the best players for $0 [laughs],” Pope told KSR.

The follow-up comes on the heels of yet another high-major program making a move on a GM, Auburn targeting a hire ahead of the April 7 portal window, according to On3’s Justin Hokanson. The Indiana Hoosiers added an executive director of basketball earlier in the week, hiring Pacers senior vice president of player personnel Ryan Carr away from the NBA ranks.

Pope addressed the GM position once again during his weekly radio show on Wednesday, saying that it’s still something he’s considering in Lexington with talks ongoing.

“Yeah, that’s been an ongoing conversation for us,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of conversations trying to find exactly the space that will work best for us. But, you know, as everybody figures this out, that is certainly a direction that some teams have gone with, with really incredibly varied levels of success.

“So we’re probably having conversations about it on a weekly basis.”

Not much has changed from Wednesday night to Thursday afternoon in that regard, but Pope did add he’s got former Wildcats in his ear telling him they have all of the answers about how to build a roster and do it without spending an arm and a leg.

What’s the BBN equivalent of Moneyball, made famous by the ’02 Oakland Athletics? Bluegrass Ball? We’ll workshop that one.

“We’re having a lot of conversations. I’ve had several former teammates say that’s exactly what they can do,” Pope told KSR. “I don’t know if I trust them, but it’s a part of the process.”

It’s an important offseason for the Kentucky head coach entering year three and we’re just six weeks away from the start of portal chaos. One way or another, we won’t have to wait long to see what Pope decides to do.