There are an extraordinary number of former University of Kentucky scholarship players competing elsewhere in college basketball this season. Ten, to be exact.
Pretty much all of them have had disappointing runs in the 2023-24 campaign.
The transfers range from Jemarl Baker — now at his fourth school after signing with UK way back in the recruiting class of 2017 — to a quartet of ex-Cats who played for Kentucky last season.
Here’s a look at how they’ve fared so far.
SEASON-ENDING INJURIES
The most-celebrated former Kentucky player coming into this college basketball season was Bryce Hopkins, who’s name was popping up on NBA draft boards toward the end of the 2022-23 campaign, before he’d even completed his first year at Providence and after playing sparingly as a freshman at UK the season before.
Hopkins opted to return to the Friars — even after head coach Ed Cooley bolted for Georgetown in the offseason — and was set to be the team’s star once again under Kim English, his third head coach in three years of college ball.
Things started off well enough, with Hopkins averaging 16.3 points and 8.7 rebounds over Providence’s first 13 games, leading the Friars to an 11-2 record and a 2-0 mark in the Big East. In game 14, he suffered a torn ACL, sidelining him for the rest of the season. Providence lost its first four games without him and went from No. 23 in the AP poll to the NCAA Tournament bubble.
A month before Hopkins was lost to injury, former Kentucky player Cam’Ron Fletcher suffered the same fate, injuring his right knee in Florida State’s loss to North Carolina and later being declared out for the rest of the season. Fletcher’s injury occurred on Dec. 2 — 363 days after he suffered a torn ACL in the same knee, ending his 2022-23 season.
Fletcher played sparingly in UK’s COVID-impacted 2020-21 season, but he had established himself as a starter and key player for the Seminoles before suffering the first injury, and he was expected to play a considerable role on this season’s team once he got back to full health.
Fredrick got off to a solid — though inconsistent — start to his first season for hometown Cincinnati, and he was listed among the nation’s top 3-point shooters early on.
He was one of the country’s top shooters as he battled through injuries during two seasons at Iowa, then transferred to UK, where he missed the entire 2021-22 season with a hamstring injury before getting on the court — but again playing through injuries — last season.
He shot just 31.8% from deep in his one season of playing for the Cats, but he was shooting 44.0% through 11 games — and 10 starts — for the Bearcats before being sidelined due to a hamstring injury yet again.
Fredrick has not played since Dec. 22, and Cincinnati coach Wes Miller has not put a timetable on his return.
“But I think he’s heading in the right direction,” Miller said last weekend. “I do think he’s going to be back.”
