This far into the offseason, the transfer portal frequently remains silent. By now, the majority of teams are almost finished, with a few high-ceiling prospects and well-known players lagging behind as teams try to finalize lineups. One of the few teams with lots of money left over and a few unmet needs is Kentucky.
Mark Pope addressed the Wildcats’ opening at the backup five position by acquiring Franck Kepnang over the weekend. We’ll find it out as soon as Malachi Moreno returns from the NBA Draft.
In any case, Kepnang is a seasoned big and aggressive rebounder who should be a solid depth player for Lexington. However, the catch was that he would be starting his seventh year of college basketball. The big was requesting a hardship waiver from the NCAA in order to play another year after battling nearly continual knee issues.
According to Pete Nakos, he got it like clockwork. Kepnang is now formally qualified to lead Kentucky in the paint during the 2026–2027 campaign.
Franck Kepnang is Eligible to Compete
After playing in 27 games throughout his season with the Washington Huskies, Kepnang’s persistent health problems seem to be improving. Kentucky supporters should be ecstatic with his performance if he can remain on the court.
This past season, Kepnang averaged 6.3 rebounds, 6.2 points, and 2.1 blocks—second in the Big Ten. He’s a dirty worker who will go to great lengths to complete the task at hand. However, he can also soar to great heights. Matt Jones posted this dunk versus Iowa on X:
Did it make a difference? No. Does that really matter? No, in my opinion as well. To put it mildly, it was an intriguing call that prevented Kepnang from making one of the season’s worst dunks. Fans of the Cats may now watch for this kind of deadly rim-running every night in the blue and white.
Kepnang significantly improves Kentucky’s roster, particularly the second unit. It can be very profitable to take advantage of high-ceiling new talent, but occasionally securing a man who has been doing this for years is just as effective.
It would have been difficult to find a greater finishing piece for the Wildcats’ frontcourt than Kepnang. A dawg that became a cat.
