MILWAUKEE (AP) — Kentucky and Illinois overhauled their rosters and went right back to the NCAA Tournament.
They reloaded in a variety of ways — and it worked out quite well.
Illinois has one player back from its Elite Eight run last season. Kentucky doesn’t have anyone on its roster who played a single minute in the Wildcats’ first-round loss to Oakland in last year’s NCAA tourney.
Both teams put the pieces together so well that their seasons remain very much alive. The third-seeded Wildcats (23-11) and sixth-seeded Illini (22-12) face off Sunday for a trip to Indianapolis and a spot in the Midwest Region semifinals.
“The terrifying part is that you have zero players on your roster and you’re expected to go win huge, right?” Kentucky coach Mark Pope said. “The exciting part is that you get to start from scratch and kind of really hand-select every single piece to try and fit together, and so you’re not forcing any square pegs into round holes.”
Kentucky had to retool after Pope replaced John Calipari, who went to Arkansas and brought some of his players with him. The Wildcats still got to know one another quickly enough to win 12 of their first 14 games.
We’ve really made a special bond,” guard Koby Brea said. “I think every time we got close off the court, it kind of helped us on the court. That’s been a constant theme for us this whole year.”
Kentucky has seven players with NCAA Tournament experience at their previous schools. The most notable is Lamont Butler, who made a buzzer-beater in the 2023 NCAA semifinals to send San Diego State into the championship game.
But the Wildcats got no points from Butler in their 76-57 first-round victory over Troy on Friday. Butler is playing with a brace on his left shoulder after he got hurt in January and then aggravated the injury in the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Kentucky moved on behind big contributions from players without quite as much NCAA Tournament familiarity.
