Kentucky Wildcats unchanged in ROTHSTEIN 45 after star addition

The Kentucky Wildcats really didn't have much going for them heading into the summer. At that point, many of the top players who were undoubtedly heading back to college had already committed, and Mark Pope had whiffed on many of them, including the No. 1 overall prospect Tyran Stokes.

However, while the Pope era hasn't seen him be able to attract many of the best and brightest high school talents, he has continued to show an ability to recruit transfers to Kentucky, and that remained true this offseason. Of Pope's projected starting five, four of them will be first-time Cats and three of them (if you count being able to bring back Malachi Moreno) have been recruited over the course of the last few months.

For Kentucky, it recently added Mark Mitchell, who was a two-time All-SEC selection and averaged 18.3 points per game at Missouri. He gained a fifth year of eligibility and made his decision quickly after. Having also added Iowa State sharpshooter and star Milan Momcilovic and having returned big-time center Moreno, the Cats should have the best frontcourt in the SEC.

However, despite the addition of Mitchell, the Cats have stayed at No. 15 in the ROTHSTEIN 45, a ranking of the best teams in the country via Jon Rothstein, one of the premier media personalities in college hoops.

ROTHSTEIN 45.

TOP 10:

1. Florida
2. Duke
3. Illinois
4. UConn
5. Michigan State
6. Arizona
7. Michigan
8. Virginia
9. Texas
10. Tennessee

CC: @FDSportsbook, @FanDuelResearch. https://t.co/LavaRBPbop

Mitchell should push the needle a bit for Kentucky. He was a major starter for the Duke Blue Devils as a freshman, ranking as the 13th-best player in the Class of 2022, and then transferred to Missouri. He averaged 11.6 points per game for Duke as a sophomore and then blossomed into one of the best players in the SEC for the Tigers.

The combination of Mitchell and Momcilovic should provide Kentucky with a major one-two punch.

This article originally appeared on UK Wildcats Wire: Kentucky Wildcats unchanged in ROTHSTEIN 45 after star addition