Roster Construction (Done Right and Wrong)

(LEXINGTON, Ky.) – In the six decades I’ve been sitting in the bleachers, glued to the couch, and now spiritually tethered to my seat in the press box, nothing—and I mean nothing—has rocked the foundation of college sports more than NIL and the transfer portal.

Not the 3-point line, not the influx of television dollars, not even conference realignment. NIL didn’t just change the game; it changed the players, the coaches, the incentives, the expectations, and maybe even the very nature of fandom itself.

Today’s buzzword is no longer “athleticism” or “upside” or even that old recruiting classic, “has potential.” No, no, no. The new gospel is two sacred words: roster construction. If you build it right, you can win. If you build it wrong, well…you get the 2025 Kentucky men’s basketball team.

Need proof? Look at Alabama, a football-first program, where Nate Oats doesn’t just buy talent—he assembles a roster with purpose. Shooters, length, rim pressure. He tailors his talent search to fit the blueprint, like a Michelin-star chef assembling a fine-dining tasting menu.

On the flip side, we have Kentucky Basketball, a basketball-first program with more resources than a small nation and yet currently playing like a group of strangers who met at the drive-thru lane at Taco Bell ten minutes before tip-off.

Rumors of chemistry issues? Check.
Hero ball? Big check.
Bad body language? Double check.
Communication breakdowns? Check—except when negotiating with their agents.

It’s a swing and what appears to be a very loud miss for Mark Pope in Year Number Two. Remember Year One? It was the Year of Gratitude—Pope picked players who wanted to play for the name on the front of the jersey. This year it feels like everyone’s playing for an extra digit on their bank app. It’s the island of misfit toys, and—understandably—BBN is not amused.

Contrast that with what Kenny Brooks is doing with the women’s team, and you’d think these two coaches were working in different solar systems.

Now—let me say this clearly before BBN storms my inbox: I am not pitting the men’s and women’s teams against each other. Not at all. Absolutely not. Would never do that.
(Except of course I am. Because how can you not? The contrast is too rich, too glaring, too delicious.)

Brooks is building a roster the way an artist paints a mural—carefully, intentionally, with an eye toward the final picture, not the splashy announcement. Entering his second year at the Kentucky helm, Brooks doesn’t try to win press conferences. He doesn’t chase hype. He doesn’t search for the biggest names or the gaudiest stats. Instead, from the moment the portal cracks open, he’s hunting for puzzle pieces that actually fit together.

When Asia Boone hit the portal—boom, he knew instantly she was his kind of piece. Same for Teonni Key. He knew how they’d mesh with Clara Strack. He knew he needed a shooter. He knew he wanted size. He knew what role each player could fill, starter or not. Every decision was intentional, every choice tied to the larger design.

Brooks’ roster building strategy values continuity, system, and synergy. It builds lineups that complement one another, that pass willingly, that trust instinctively. He doesn’t collect talent—he constructs teams.

“Twenty-five assists in Game 10?” he said, after Kentucky’s most recent win. “That’s because we have the right pieces together.”

In the NIL chaos, Brooks has built something shockingly rare: a roster that makes sense.

Which leads us to the most glaring, neon-lit contrast of all.

I was courtside for the Central Michigan game—an 82–55 cruise control victory—and the moment I saw the women warming up, I knew exactly what kind of night it would be. The smiles weren’t performative. The body language wasn’t forced. The interactions weren’t choreographed. This was a team with rhythm, trust, affection, joy—the kind of connectivity you can’t fake and definitely can’t buy.

This is roster construction as team-building, not talent-hoarding.

Meanwhile, in the men’s program, we’re watching the opposite phenomenon unfold in real time—“beautiful” individual pieces that look like they came from different jigsaw boxes. No cohesion, no rhythm, no sense of collective identity. You can’t engineer chemistry with NIL dollars. You can’t Venmo leadership. You can’t portal your way into unity with fancy-schmancy analytics or algorithms.

Maybe that’s the lesson six decades of fandom have led me to: In the NIL era, you don’t win with stars and stats. You win with fit, cohesion, and heart. Of course you need talented players, but you’ll only win with players who want each other as much as you want them. You win with roster construction, not talent collection. With revenue sharing leveling the playing field, you can’t afford to miss the mark.

Kenny Brooks gets it. Now, Mark Pope understands it too.

This article was originally written for distribution through Nolan Group Media publications.

Dr. John Huang is a retired orthodontist, military veteran, and award-winning author. Currently serving as a columnist for Nolan Group Media, he invites readers to follow him on social media @KYHuangs. Explore his latest, Whining For Posterity