Kentucky is one of six SEC schools ranked in the top 14.
You can tell that summer is just around the corner when your timeline begins to flood with “way-too-early” college basketball lists.
Under normal circumstances, I would label this as a futile exercise. Still, with the ever-evolving transfer portal, I believe there is merit to evaluating and reevaluating each program as rosters begin to finalize.
It’s also nice to see how high many analysts are on the 2025-26 Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball team.
James Fletcher III from On3 released his way-too-early college basketball rankings 5.0 on Monday, and the Cats were favorably positioned.
Kentucky was listed at #4 in the rankings behind Houston, Duke, and Purdue.
Fletcher III noted that losing Acaden Lewis was a setback but that Mark Pope had plenty of options to backfill.
Kentucky was the highest-ranking SEC school on the list, but six schools in total represented what was the best conference in America last season. Auburn found themselves just under UK at #5 with Florida coming in at #10, Alabama #11, Tennessee #12 and Arkansas #14.
Six schools in the top 14 ain’t bad, is it?
The SEC looks poised to make another statement next year, ideally with Kentucky leading the charge.
Using this ranking list as a reference only adds excitement to the recently announced exhibition game between UK and Purdue now set to take place on October 24th in Lexington.
The Big Blue Nation, and most schools, are accustom to playing lower-level tune-up games in October, but this year that changes in a major way. Kentucky always plays an impressive schedule, so why not start before Halloween this year. It will be intriguing to watch the Cats battle a Big-Ten powerhouse with nothing on the line.
By all indications, Mark Pope has reloaded and will enter year two with a roster capable of competing for a championship. He’s already shown us what he can do with little time to prepare, so expectations will increase after a full year of strategizing.