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A year ago Aly Khalifa transferred to BYU and college basketball analytics guru Evan Miyakawa called the 6-10 forward a “really nice piece” for BYU coach Mark Pope.
“He can score the ball at an efficient clip, including some great numbers from 3 (38 percent on 3.7 attempts per game). His overall impact for Charlotte was really good as he finished 10th in the C-USA in BPR (Bayesian Performance Rating that uses advanced metrics), the best mark in the conference outside the big three of FAU, UAB, and North Texas. He had the fourth best box offensive BPR in the conference, indicating that his offensive stats are high level.”
Guess who is back in the transfer portal after Khalifa put his name back in the transfer portal after Pope was named the new head coach at Kentucky That’s right. Khalifa averaged 5.7 points, 4.0 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 19.4 minutes per game at BYU last year.
The Alexandria, Egypt native is now a 6-11, 270-pounder who is one of the best players in this year’s transfer portal in part because of his superb passing skills. He had a 4-1.1 assist-to-turnover ratio last season.
The best news for Kentucky is that he put his name into the transfer portal with a “do not contact” tag indicating he already knows where he wants to go. It is the same thing Virginia Tech All-American Georgia Amoore did and now she has signed with UK and her former coach Kenny Brooks.
Khalifa started 26 games last season for the Cougars and knows the system Pope runs. His experience would be huge for Kentucky next season.
At EvanMiya.com, he is ranked as the No. 10 overall transfer in the portal.
“Aly Khalifa was one of the most underrated transfers last offseason, which I highlighted in my blog. If he goes to Kentucky, he will become one of the most talked about bigs in the country due to his unique skill set,” Miya posted on social media.
10 Responses
Egyptian beef on the way…what a welcome sound and sight for a change. You can tell the dude has some better passing skills than we have seen from the bigs also. I have commented before how these other schools can recruit tall beef bangers and Cali-fraudi strands us with Charmin trees….can’t what to see what next man up looks like.
He is definitely a tough dude
We could use that kind of toughness for a change. The portal still has plenty of beef left in it too.
A winner coming to the Champion of Winners- UK!
7-8-9
Add Aly to my list of 7 (that makes 8) who will be at the FF all hyped up to get #9.
The ‘Pope’ brings an Egyptian to join a ‘Sheppard’ on a team that will have a renewed ‘Hart’ – all ready to UGO.
A developed & coached Ugo & Big Z joined by an experienced Aly who has learned from Pope will enhance the play from all 3.
Need Theiro too
That’s unbelievable that he’s ranked the 10th best prospect and he only averaged 5.7 ppg and 4 assist. This shows he makes everyone on the floor better. I watched his highlights at BYU and he might be the best passer in college basketball. What makes him great is that he sees over the defense in a way that’s uncommon for someone 6’11". Now if just big z or ugo come back we will have a great frontcourt to add to in the portal. I hope we get that point guard. He will have 2 years of eligibility left. I can’t think of his name but he went into the transfer portal yesterday. With him and if Sheppard comes back we will actually have 2 guards who can shoot the ball.
Dallin Hall
Colin Chandler is another name to track.
Z has joined Thiero and Bradshaw into the portal. There is still time for Pope to meet with them and change their minds, but I think I would wish Bradshaw the best. Try to keep Adou and have a serious talk with Z to see if he is willing to buy into his new system. If not, so long. As for the recruits, Perry is still coming. If the rest want out…let them go. Pope has a plan. I am sure some of his group from BYU will be Wildcats next season. It looks like Burks will stay and maybe Sheppard will too. A team built around Sheppard, Perry, and Thiero would be a good start. Maybe Onyenso stays. Aly looks like a future Wildcat. This week should answer most of those questions. There are still 2 or 3 guys at BYU who could make the move and there is plenty of talent in the portal. Pope has until the end of the month to put a team together and I think we will like the looks of it when he is finished. Calipari’s departure won’t even be a bump in the road.
I see tonight that Big Z is moving on.
It seems that this player may find a nice situation in Lexington