Denzel Aberdeen‘s commitment to Kentucky is one of the headlines of the day in college basketball ahead of the transfer portal closing on Tuesday. As you might expect, there was plenty of praise for the addition, with Aberdeen playing a big role on Florida’s national championship squad; in fact, some pundits argued that Kentucky may be too deep now, which could lead to squabbling over minutes next season. Let’s start there and work our way back toward the positive.
Field of 68’s Rob Dauster and Jeff Goodman went live to talk about Aberdeen leaving Florida for Kentucky. Todd Golden said on more than one occasion that Aberdeen had earned a starting role after backing up Walter Clayton Jr., but what about at Kentucky, where he’ll be playing alongside Otega Oweh and Jaland Lowe? Both Dauster and Goodman said the fact that Aberdeen was leaving the school where he won the title and was promised a bigger role is proof of how money talks now in college basketball. Both said they heard Kentucky offered Aberdeen around $2 million, with Florida offering about half of that.
“You look at it, and you’re like, okay, Aberdeen, where are you fitting in here because, yeah, you could have gotten 30, 35 minutes [per game] at Florida,” Goodman said. “Now, you’re going to fight to get 20, 25 maybe at Kentucky because last I checked, Otega Oweh will likely be back. They signed Jaland Lowe from Pittsburgh. They’ve got guys coming back. Collin Chandler, Trent Noah, Travis Perry. Jasper Johnson, a highly-touted freshman wing, is coming. Obviously, Aberdeen can play the point, so that gives him a little bit of an advantage there, but you’re fighting with a lot of dudes.
“You’ve got 12 guys on the roster right now, as you’ve seen, who can all play. And that’s the beauty of Mark Pope’s roster, but I would expect some things to shake up. I don’t think Noah leaves because he’s a local guy who wants to play at Kentucky, but I don’t know how you keep 12 guys happy in this day and age. I don’t think you can.”
Given Aberdeen’s versatility, athleticism, and experience, I don’t think he’ll have a problem seeing the floor. Plus, given how thin Kentucky’s backcourt got last year due to injuries, the more good guards, the better. Aberdeen stepped into the starting lineup when Walter Clayton Jr. got hurt this season, averaging 14.4 points per game in five SEC starts. He was a big reason the Gators didn’t miss a beat heading into the postseason. If anything, today’s move shows how much Kentucky will ante up for insurance. As Goodman said, the Cats can afford it.
“I think Kentucky could be No. 1,” Goodman said of Kentucky’s NIL budget. “It could be BYU, Kentucky at the end of the day, they’re No. 1 and 2 at upwards of $20 million for an NIL payroll, so they’re gonna have a good roster.”
Kentucky up to No. 3 in Field of 68’s rankings
Despite all their grumblings about what NIL is doing to college basketball and concerns over Kentucky having a logjam at the two-guard, Field of 68 moved the Cats up two spots to No. 3 in their Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings.
“I think that this team is really damn good,” Dauster said. “I think that the Mo Dioubate addition is something that not enough people are getting excited about. Perfect role guy, and when you have a bunch of scorers around him, then that’s something that’s a big-time difference maker.”
When put on the spot, Goodman put Kentucky ahead of Louisville in his rankings, predicting that this upcoming season is when the new era of the rivalry starts in earnest.
“I’m gonna go Kentucky on this one, but I love the fact that both of them are neck and neck. Both of them are right there, and the rivalry is truly back. It wasn’t truly back last year. It was like half-a** back…Now I think both have a chance to be in that top tier when you’re talking about to four, six, eight teams. They could both be in that discussion all year.”
UPDATED WAY TOO EARLY TOP 25 AGAIN
Denzel Aberdeen
Kentucky
Ian Jackson— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) April 21, 2025
More National Reaction to Aberdeen to Kentucky
Elsewhere on the internet, the addition drew plenty of praise, with anonymous insider Trilly Donovan predicting the Cats will be “really good” next fall and John Fanta raving about Aberdeen’s defensive abilities and toughness. Gary Parrish bumped Kentucky up three spots to No. 10 in his Top 25-and-1 rankings. Enjoy a sampling of tweets below on Aberdeen being a Cat.
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