LEXINGTON, Ky. — Perhaps the most enduring complaint during John Calipari’s tenure as the men’s basketball coach at Kentucky — among a large and vocal segment of UK fans, at least — was that supporters of the program had to learn all those new names and faces every year.

For a fan base that prides itself on its knowledge of all things Wildcats and traditionally found joy in watching a player evolve from freshman to senior, the Calipari era was a shock to the system.

Starting in Year 1, with four one-and-done NBA draft picks — for a program that had zero such players, by the modern definition, before Calipari — the trend continued all the way to the 15th and final season.

“They leave before we even get to know them,” was a common lament shared by many. The complaints weren’t quite so loud in the beginning — with all that winning that Calipari delivered as he quickly restored the program to national prominence — but the grumbles were there even then.

As the winning wore off and the Final Four banners stopped flowing into Rupp Arena, the objections grew. And over the past few years, apathy set in, with some longtime fans of UK basketball tuning out altogether, tired of the revolving door of Cats with little to show for the turnover.

Last offseason, all 11 of Calipari’s players had remaining eligibility. Eight left the program, with four transferring to other schools and two more going undrafted. The returnees were Antonio Reeves, who took a long look at other options before rejoining the team, and Adou Thiero and Ugonna Onyenso, who were 10th and 11th, respectively, in minutes played as freshmen.

This offseason might have been just as bad, if Calipari had stuck around. Ten of his players were underclassmen, but it’s unlikely he would have returned more than three or possibly four, especially with six high school recruits on the way into town.

It was long assumed that whenever Calipari left Kentucky — and he bolted for Arkansas this offseason after 15 years on the job — a certain level of roster continuity would be restored to the UK basketball program. The recent emergence of the transfer portal — combined with the offseason process of looking around for more lucrative NIL opportunities — has cast some doubt over the ability to hold the core of a team together from year to year.

How successful will new Kentucky coach Mark Pope be in a pursuit of that goal?

Pope, who transferred to UK as a player in 1993 and played two seasons with the Wildcats, hit the right notes at his Rupp Arena introduction last month, promising the frenzied crowd that he would still pursue McDonald’s All-Americans while clearly reading the room before he entered it.

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