The Kentucky Wildcats are entering a new era. John Calipari is off to Arkansas, and Mark Pope is the head coach in Lexington. All the while, the new-look SEC has officially been welcomed as Texas and Oklahoma have joined the conference.
Kentucky has a full new roster and is looking to make some noise early in Pope’s tenure. They have the roster to do just that. The question still remains: How will they mesh together?
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Overall, the conference is as strong as it’s been in many years. Alabama looks primed to make a run to another Final Four, while Ole Miss, Florida, Tennessee, and others have plenty of experience returning to campus.
For the BBN, that leaves this question: Where do the Cats stack up?
Kyle Tucker of The Athletic examined just that and has the Cats in a solid position with summer workouts in full swing, ranking them No. 6 in the conference.
When talking about UK here is what Tucker had to say:
“There’s a whole lot of projection going on here, considering there’s a new coach in Lexington for the first time since 2009 and Pope has zero returning scholarship players. But on paper, the pieces fit Pope and his offense perfectly,” Tucker writes. “The Wildcats signed a whopping nine players out of the portal, and they wanted vets who can shoot. Kentucky ranks first or second in the SEC in combined career minutes — including a league-best seven players with 2,000-plus minutes played in Division I — as well as total made 3s on the roster (1,033) and top-100 transfers added. It was big for Pope to bring Robinson, Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year, with him from BYU. The Cats landed the NCAA 3-point percentage leader (Brea), former Pac-12 assist leader (Kerr Kriisa), the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year (Butler) and three-time CAA Defensive Player of the Year (Williams). How Pope puts all those pieces together remains to be seen, but Kentucky should be fun to watch this season.”
Leading the way he has Alabama, with Texas A&M, Auburn, Tennessee, and Ole Miss rounding out the top-five. Florida and Arkansas are just behind the Cats.
Kentucky has a great shot. Here is to hoping it all clicks together.
