Denzel Aberdeen had back to back 20-point games in SEC play last season. (Florida Athletics Photo)
Could Florida guard Denzel Aberdeen turn out to be the most important transfer that Kentucky coach Mark Pope landed for next year?
No, he’s not the most talented transfer and certainly is not being projected as a top five NBA draft pick like Jayden Quaintance of Arizona State is.
No, he’s not the physical presence that Alabama transfer Mouhamed Dioubate brings to the Wildcats.
No, he’s not the most intriguing prospect. That is 6-11 Croatian power forward Andrija Jelavic, a 21-year-old wing player who has been playing in Croatia.
No, he’s not as experienced as Pitt transfer point guard Jaland Lowe.
However, the 6-5 190-pound Aberdeen seems to already perfectly understand one thing — what his role will be.
He was a backup point guard on Florida’s national championship team last season when he averaged 19.7 minutes, 7.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 39 games and shot 41.8 percent overall from the field and 35 percent from 3-point range. That was a big jump from the previous season when he averaged only 10 minutes per game.
Aberdeen had back-to-back 20-point games last season in SEC wins over Mississippi State and South Carolina but that type of scoring was not the norm and he understands that is not what will be expected from him at UK.
But what Aberdeen will be is a long, athletic player who can score and be a reliable defensive player coming off the bench. He started five games at Florida last year and averaged 16.2 points per game in those starts and shot 46.2 percent from 3.
He has to understand Lowe was recruited to be UK’s starting point guard and that his value is giving UK an experienced, capable backup point guard — something UK lacked late last season because of backcourt injuries.
Florida is losing terrific guards off its national championship team and certainly wanted to keep Aberdeen. He is a Florida native but UK obviously met his asking price.
“I really think he believes they (Kentucky) can win a national championship and he also still does not know exactly what Otega Oweh might do (in the NBA Draft). Some NBA guys like Owen’s strength, size and maturity,” one national college basketball analyst told me Monday.
“Aberdeen is a good player. He might not play in the NBA but he can play overseas and then you never know what could happen in the future. He had great players in front of him last year but he was okay being a complimentary player coming in when someone was in foul trouble, hurt or needed a break.
“He does not want to or have to be the team’s star. He is fine getting his minutes and winning another championship and he thinks Kentucky can do that.”
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The one thing that stands put about this team is that there are only 2 guys that play one position and that is Moreno at center and Lowe at point guard everyone else can play multiple positions and a couple guys who can play 3 position Dioboute and Williams can play 4 positions. We just picked up one of the main guys that helped Florida win the championship. When key players were hurt on Florida’s team he would pick his game up every time. We have a team full of great defenders and great athletes blended with great shooters and we have much more length and size this year as well. Today last year Pope picked up his first commitment Amari Williams so it shows he had a great season for not having alot of time to build the roster. The best thing about this roster is that we only have 2 seniors on the team. We had 5 kids come back off last years roster. Oweh and Aberdeen are the only seniors. Then JQ is probably a one and done. If we don’t win a championship this year we will be in a prime position to win one the following year. Pope has done a phenomenal job with this roster. To me we have the most deep and talented roster in college basketball. No way anyone is as deep as us 1-13 on the roster. When Perry has the lowest ceiling on your team and he is Kentucky’s all time leading scorer in high school history your team is in great hands. With 4 Kentucky boys on the team they will definitely fill everyone in on how passionate the fans are here and I think its great having these boys on the team. Now we need to get Stokes and Kinney to commit. Maybe every year we can take the best 2 guys in the state or even the best player in the state. I think Kinney commits but I don’t know about Stokes. Stokes will probably want 2 million or more to sign seeing that he is the top guy in the class of 2026.
Perry just announced for Portal late today.
Yea I seen and he’s looking into ole miss
I was thinking that Chandler would get a shot at that role based upon his end of season improvement, but Aberdeen is a proven commodity. Now, barring injuries, both Chandler and Perry will be relegated to mop up duty since the transfer portal closes today. I am sure that neither expected this going into season 2. Chandler might push Johnson for minutes at the 2 spot behind Oweh or possibly do the same with Noah at the 3 spot behind Williams. Perry is the odd man out for sure. What does that say about the caliber of Kentucky high school basketball?
Quaintance is the wild card for next season. When will he be ready to play? Will he be able to find his competitive groove once he does take the floor? I don’t see that happening until at least SEC play. That may be why Garrison decided to stay for year 2. He and Moreno will have plenty of opportunity to show their value in pre-conference play.
The last question for next year will be whether Oweh comes back or not. I don’t see him getting drafted, even in the second round, but I have been wrong before…to the delight of others here, lol. IF Oweh does come back and IF Quaintance is ready to go by Midnight Madness, this could be a Final 4 team. Pope is rolling the dice for sure and that is what it takes with NIL and the portal being what they are. No guts, no glory. Go CATS!!!
This article sums up college BB in one statement…
“UK obviously met his asking price”
It’s an excerpt from the paragraph…
“Florida is losing terrific guards off its national championship team and certainly wanted to keep Aberdeen. He is a Florida native but UK obviously met his asking price.”
College BB became ancient in record time. The crooked floundering NCAA cronies who locked down players so they could not be given a flight ticket to attend a grandmother’s funeral finally lost total control & ow it’s a bidding war to get players.
Why would these players do anything different from last season’s 1 & done players who wore UK jerseys for less than 6 months.
Last season, Coach Pope & his staff did an incredible job to rapidly develop & mold a FF contender – beating FF Duke in the early season on a neutral court. The “original” TEAM played with an amazing ANE (Adjusted Net Efficiency) which only FF contenders can do. After less than a dozen games, SOME selfish players decided they wanted to be the star instead of being a part of a potential National Champion.
The big stars coming to Lexington to wear UK on their jersey for 6 months while getting paid more than graduates with degrees in high quality fields, may listen to the fine coaching staff for a while, but after a dozen games they will be itching to score the most points and get their name in the news more often – most sports writers drool over points scored with very little attention given to assists, rebounds, stifling defense and other plays so vital for TEAM success.
FF ? Not if the KY natives are left out of the primary playing time when players get developed for the post season, With big rolls of cash in their pockets, the big name players will be trying to get the attention of the NBA while their “love for UK” will have wilted away.
UK needs SOME big stars but not an overload..:
UK has ZERO TITLES regardless of how many NBA bound players wear UK on their jersey for 1/2 year, without a KY native playing a key role with very high minutes all season, it’s just a fact.
UK is NOT UK when Kentucky natives are absent from the team – and 5 minutes at the end of a game is equivalent to “absent”
A few fine folks have agreed with me about players from Kentucky, Several have made it clear they think I’m wrong. I’m just presenting the FACTS. 6 months wearing UK on their jersey does NOT win a titles.
You might as well say that Perry will be absent this year, Chandler too. If Quaintance is ready to play by the start of the season, Noah could also join that list. Does anyone else see that Kentucky is becoming a bad place for white kids to come to?
I was destroyed that we didn’t go after Hudson Greer he even said he dreamed of playing for Kentucky to me a top 10 high schooler in the 2025 class. He’s alot like Chandler but bigger and more aggressive but can knock down the 3 from 25 feet in and we didn’t even go after him?? Pope missed on Greer but I don’t think he will be going after to many white kids. The SEC isn’t designed for shooters more physical more fouls more defense but brutal defense that takes a beating on smaller guys. I don’t know why we never get a 5’9-6’0 point guard who is lightning fast. Someone who can run by everyone it seems like basketball has evolved to positionless where everyone is 6’3-6-9 the big post players era is gone.
That’s the craziest comment I read today.
Is the Croatian considered white?
Moreno is half white. He may play half as much as the black guys.
Perry entered the portal today.
He’s going to ole miss
Pope is going after grey hounds the same kind of players Pitino goes after guys that can get up and down the floor and play great defense that leads to a great offense. The SEC is a very physical conference with great athletes its when you blend with the right combination of athletes and pure shooters is where you find great teams. Like Florida was this past season. When Perry Noah and Chandler s number is called they have to shoot the ball like they know they can shoot it. If Perry shoots 45% from 3 then Pope is going to have to play him the same goes for Noah. Chandler is more rounded as he should be for being 2 years older. Last year it was unfair to them because they didn’t play in the games they should have played in and then played in the games that they should have gotten little to no minutes? If they would have played more in the tune up games they would have been better prepared to hit those open 3s later in the season but Pope was trying to get a ton of seniors to gel so I see both sides. Shooting the ball has to be there bread and butter for more playing time.? Would you transfer to a smaller school and start and log 30 minutes a game or stay and play 2-5 minutes a game in blue and white this year?. I just think it sucks for the player who are basically giving away personal accolades for the chance to play for Kentucky that’s why I hope they prove everyone wrong but Perry could be first team all conference type in conference USA which plays pretty good basketball. Honestly Pope kinda wasted a year for both Noah and Perry. If we didn’t have all the injuries they wouldnt have played even half the minutes that they played and they didn’t get a jump on the season in non conference play and I thought for awhile he was going to redshirt them and they would be this good as freshman. It would have gave them a extra year to mature they could have played 4 games of there choice and not burned a year but they should improve by getting to play more at the end of the season. If Perry and Noah would have teamed up at Western Kentucky for there freshman and sophomore year they could have transferred here and been farther along being all conference type guys. I just think they deserve more playing time but you might be surprised when the season rolls around he might put Perry in for 5-10 mins just to bomb 3s and put Noah in for about the same to do the same thing then they can be a key rotational piece for the next 3 years.
Aberdeen will bring his defense presence to the team. He was one of top defenders for Florida last season.