Kentucky and Illinois show how teams can reload quickly in this era of college basketball

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.

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“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.

Oklahoma transfer Otega Oweh never made the NCAA Tournament in two seasons with the Sooners. He had 20 points against Troy.

Kentucky also got 13 points each from Andrew Carr (one NCAA Tournament game in two seasons at Wake Forest), Brea (two NCAA Tournament games in four seasons at Dayton) and Brandon Garrison (no NCAA Tournament experience in one season at Oklahoma State).

Illinois coach Brad Underwood noted that schools undergoing coaching changes often might have to rebuild their rosters now that players are free to transfer without sitting out a season.

“Taking over a new job, I think that’s probably going to be a lot of the norm in today’s world with new opportunities and having to rebuild a roster,” Underwood said. “But when you’ve got a storied program -- and Mark had success at BYU -- those things fall into place. And he’s done a tremendous job of putting that roster together and finding a way to play that he’s very comfortable coaching, and they’re very good at it.

Illinois’ situation was a bit different because it didn’t have to deal with a coaching change, though reserve guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn is the only available player who was part of the Illini’s NCAA tourney success in 2024. Underwood made some key international additions and also hit the transfer portal hard to build a roster that enabled them to remain competitive.

“I think that’s going to be an ongoing thing now in college basketball, with the transfer portal and everything that’s happening with NIL,” Brea said. “Guys are looking for opportunities, and there’s been a lot of movement. It all comes down to the foundation that a coaching staff brings to the university and just making sure they’re able to bring the guys together.”

This Ivisic is on the other side

Illinois center Tomislav Ivisic is the twin brother of Zvonimir Ivisic, who played for Kentucky last season. When Calipari left for Arkansas, Zvonimir Ivisic followed him to Fayetteville.

“He told me all the best things about Kentucky,” Tomislav Ivisic said. “He had a great time there. I’m looking forward to playing that game.”

No friendly crowd for Kentucky?

Kentucky is accustomed to having its fervent fan base flock to postseason tournaments and provide the Wildcats with a home-court advantage wherever they’re playing in March.

That might not be the case Sunday.

Illinois’ campus is about 200 miles from Milwaukee, enabling its fans to arrive at Fiserv Forum in large numbers. Multiple Kentucky players say they’re expecting Illinois to have the majority of the crowd on its side.

“It’ll probably be a little bit of an away game for us,” Brea said.

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