Before the transfer portal was a thing, the idea that a Duke player would come and play for Kentucky was a far-fetched dream. However, with teams jockeying for additions to their rosters for the 2024-25 season that becomes a very real possibility for the Wildcats. It has been reported that Mark Pope has recently expressed interest in Duke guard Jeremy Roach, who entered the transfer portal just a few days ago.
Roach is a member of the 2020 high school recruiting class and Kentucky was heavily involved in his recruitment during that time, but ultimately he decided to commit to Mike Krzyzewski and play for him. The transfer was the twenty-third overall ranked prospect in his class and as he was coming out of the state of Virginia, he was recruited by a plethora of other big-time schools that include North Carolina, Miami, Maryland, Texas, USC, Villanova, and Virginia, among many others.
During Roach's career with the Duke Blue Devils, the 6'2" point guard appeared in 130 total games and managed to start in 108 of those. With an influx of experience, he was elected to be a team captain in both his junior and senior seasons. Last season, Jeremy Roach averaged 14.0 points, 3.3 assists, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game while playing just under 33 minutes a game.
He’ll have one more year of eligibility left if he wants to utilize it instead of staying in the NBA Draft, so Kentucky will look to potentially add him to their incoming roster if he decides to entertain that. Even though he is still testing the professional route, by entering his name into the transfer portal he instantly became one of the most sought-after prospects in the portal this off-season.
With Mark Pope wanting to build a roster fairly quickly, this one may not pan out for Kentucky since Roach has until May 29th to withdraw his name from the NBA Draft. However, it is something to keep an eye on over the next few weeks as the experience he would bring to Kentucky's young team would be refreshing, even as a former Dukie.