BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — As the transfer portal continues to influence college basketball, Kentucky coach John Calipari suggests tightening player eligibility.

At an SEC basketball preview event on Wednesday, Calipari said he would allot players five years to play four seasons — without exception.

“If you want to transfer without penalty,” he said, “you can one time. If you had any other issues — family stuff, mental health — you take the year off to get yourself together and then you play. But you have five years.”

NCAA waivers, combined with the blanket extra year of eligibility granted as a result of the COVID-19 in 2020, has resulted in an abundance of sixth- and seventh-year seniors.

“We don’t want to have 28-year-olds playing against 18-year-olds,” Calipari said. “In high school, you get so many semesters and you’re done. You can’t have a 15-year-old playing against a 21-year-old. It’s the same thing.”

Calipari might be coming from a biased point of view, however, as he acknowledged the youth on his team. Kentucky signed eight players in its 2023 recruiting class, compared to four in each of the previous two classes.

But those eight players represent the No. 1 overall class in the country, according to ESPN, and includes five-star prospects in Justin Edwards, D.J. Wagner, Aaron Bradshaw and Robert Dillingham.

Outside of Tre Mitchell, a senior transfer from West Virginia, and sophomores Ugonna Onyenso and Adou Thiero, Calipari said, “Everybody else is young.”

“Everybody else is 18, 19 years old,” he said. “But I’m not complaining. I love the group. I love walking into practice every day. They want to get better. They’re coachable. And we’re talented. We’re just young.”

Roster building in the era of the portal is different, Calipari explained, saying there were teams late in the summer with only eight or nine players.

“We’re all going through the same thing,” he said. “And the one thing that’s happened to everybody right now is new teams, like they got seven and eight new guys, and I’ve been through that once or twice in my career. And it’s exciting because it’s so new to you as a head coach and to them, but it’s also difficult to get ’em to come together. How quickly can you do it?”

Calipari said it’s a battle they’re all experiencing before correcting himself.

Tennessee, which was picked by the media to win the SEC, returned key players Santiago Vescovi, Zakai Zeigler, Jahmai Mashack, Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka.

“Well,” Calipari said, “we’ve got a couple in our league that have teams back and they have a big advantage. And they should — they got a bunch of guys back. But the reality of it is we have a good group coming in.”

Kentucky finished 22-12 last season, including a loss in the first game of the SEC tournament.

The Wildcats beat Providence in the first round of the NCAA tournament but were eliminated in the second round by Kansas State.

Kentucky, which was picked by the media to finish fourth in the SEC, will open the season at home against New Mexico State on Nov. 6.

A week later, on Nov. 14, the Wildcats will host No. 1 Kansas.