While the transfer portal, NIL, and modern changes in the sport haven't been for everyone - in fact, some of the sport's elite coaches have left the game in recent years, probably due to it - but Mark Pope embraces the challenges.

He told Jon Rothstein in a Wednesday conversation posted on YouTube that the portal gives you great flexibility. It also gives you the ability to study a player from countless angles, much more so than with high schoolers.

But some things are still left to the imagination when it comes to next year's Kentucky basketball team. We don't know what the health of Jayden Quaintance will be like, for instance.

Maybe the biggest variable for next year's team is what level of play Pope can get out of incoming Pitt point guard transfer Jaland Lowe.

Lowe was a third team All-ACC selection last year, but his efficiency took a hit as he was asked to do a lot for the Panthers. The overall numbers were still impressive, but there's room to make him a more complete, more efficient player. How Pope is able to accomplish that will be significant for this year's team, given the role Lowe is likely to have scoring, setting the table, and defending out front.

Rothstein opened the conversation about Lowe by referring to his "craftiness and setting the table," skills that were apparent to those who watched ACC basketball last season.

"I'm excited to get him here and hyperspeed his game. We're going to really unleash him and push him to play with as much pace as he possibly can and he's so athletic," Pope said. "He's got such a herky-jerky nature to his game where he's like an elite level tailback that can cut. His cuts, it could be a 270 degree on a dime cut, change direction. He proved to do everything at Pitt. He was an elite level scorer. He was incredible at getting to the free throw line. He was almost six assists per game. He had a real presence on the ball. He was almost a 3.0 turnover percentage guy. He's got a great package."

To Pope's point the numbers show versatility. Lowe scored 16.8 points, averaged 5.5 assists, and grabbed 4.2 boards per game, to go along with 1.8 steals per contest. He could be the kind of player who pushes for a triple double at times next season. But he only shot 37.6% from the field and his three-point percentage tanked from 35.2% as a freshman to 26.6% as a sophomore.

While Lowe averaged three turnovers per game that came in 35.5 minutes of action on average.

But with a point guard especially, you're can't just talk about a player's athleticism or basketball skills. Much more goes into it than that, and Pope is encouraged by what he's seen in person.

"He's also got great leadership ability," Pope continued. "Having him here on campus, it was fun because you have these new guys on campus and you're out to dinner, and he was the guy who was instigating a lot of the conversation, which was exactly what we need him to be. I think he's going to be an elite level leader. He's got a huge future in this game and he's going to come do it in a Kentucky jersey and join this incredible legacy of Kentucky point guards that have played here."