It’s the bye week, and we’re all craving some Kentucky Basketball content. Some familiar names have teamed up to create it.

Matt Jones joined The Field of 68‘s Rob Dauster and Jeff Goodman last night to talk about the state of the Kentucky Basketball program as we enter the home stretch. Over the 35-minute conversation, the three tackled several hot-button topics in Mark Pope’s second season. Here’s a brief rundown:

Kentucky’s struggles early this season, and the week that Matt believes the Cats turned it around

Kentucky’s roster construction issues, specifically in the backcourt

Mark Pope’s weird behavior after some of Kentucky’s losses

What makes this season a success? Matt said Kentucky needs to do two of the following:

Finish in the top three in the SEC standings

Make the championship game of the SEC Tournament

Make the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament

The atmosphere at Rupp on Saturday for Kentucky vs. North Carolina was proof that BBN has bought back in.

From there, the conversation shifted to what happens after this season and the changes Mark Pope must make to keep up with the changing landscape in the NIL/revenue-sharing era. In December, KSR’s Jack Pilgrim and Jacob Polacheck outlined the issues Pope and his staff have faced in recruiting. Kentucky still doesn’t have a commitment in the 2026 class and is trending away from the remaining top prospects.

How does Kentucky fix that for this offseason? Priority No. 1 should be hiring a general manager. Goodman used Duke as an example of a team that’s crushing it in the current landscape, thanks in large part to Rachel Baker, who joined the Blue Devils in 2022 as GM after working for Nike and the NBA. In the SEC, Goodman and Dauster said Alabama and Vanderbilt are doing a good job of adapting. Kentucky needs to catch up, and might not be able to wait until the offseason to do it, as the transfer portal opens right after the national championship game.

“Pope should have understood early that, hey, listen, the roster construction wasn’t right,” Goodman said. “We can’t leave it up to our assistant coaches, because they’ve, frankly, got too much going on during the season. We need somebody. We need to bring in a team, a roster construction team. We have all this money. Let’s delegate it to the right place so that we make the best decisions possible, and it’s not on us while we’re trying to scout the SEC tournament and prepare for that, and then the NCAA Tournament, if you go to the Sweet 16. Again, so many of these kids, by the time they go in the portal, it’s already done.”

For more, just hit play on the video below.

More Kentucky News and Views on the KSR YouTube Channel

Kentucky Sports Radio has expanded its coverage of the Wildcats in the most ridiculous manner possible on our YouTube Channel. Here you will be able to find interviews with coaches and players, as well as commentary from the KSR crew. From Rapid Reactions following big events to our lengthy lineup of live shows, subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel to stay up to date on everything happening around the Big Blue Nation.