Once Davion Mintz announced his welcomed return to Lexington for a sixth and final year of eligibility, the Kentucky men’s basketball roster sat at 12 scholarship players, one that included 13,385 minutes, 5,203 points, 1,917 rebounds, 1,132 assists and 543 3-pointers in total returning production at the collegiate level. Factor in the three highly-touted freshmen the program signed in TyTy Washington, Daimion Collins and Bryce Hopkins to round out the 2021 recruiting class, it was a roster most fans were ready to throw a bow on top of while the countdown to Big Blue Madness began.
And then Kofi Cockburn and Jalen Duren – a second-team All-American at Illinois and the No.