Vicky Graff Photo
Mark Pope’s first season as head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats will begin as the No. 23 team in the Associated Press Top 25 rankings.
After being hired in mid-April, Pope was charged with the task of building a roster from scratch. All of Kentucky’s “active” players who saw any playing time either entered the NBA draft, entered the transfer portal or had zero years left of eligibility.
That didn’t discourage Pope, though, as he and his staff went to work to build a team of veteran players mixed with talented freshmen – two of which are home grown.
Kentucky’s roster will include nine guards, four forwards and one center – all listed below.
| Amari Williams | Center |
| Andrew Carr | Forward |
| Ansley Almonor | Forward |
| Brandon Garrison | Forward |
| Collin Chandler | Guard |
| Grant Darbyshire | Guard |
| Jaxson Robinson | Guard |
| Kerr Kriisa | Guard |
| Koby Brea | Guard |
| Lamont Butler | Guard |
| Otega Oweh | Guard |
| Travis Perry | Guard |
| Trent Noah | Forward |
| Walker Horn | Guard |
His team has only spent a few months together on campus but haven’t wasted any time building chemistry.
The official preseason rankings are as follows…
| No. 1 Kansas |
| No. 2 Alabama |
| No. 3 UConn |
| No. 4 Houston |
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No. 5 Iowa State
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| No. 6 Gonzaga |
| No. 7 Duke |
| No. 8 Baylor |
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No. 9 North Carolina
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| No. 10 Arizona |
| No. 11 Auburn |
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No. 12 Tennessee
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No. 13 Texas A&M
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| No. 14 Purdue |
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No. 15 Creighton
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No. 16 Arkansas
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| No. 17 Indiana |
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No. 18 Marquette
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| No. 19 Texas |
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No. 20 Cincinnati
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| No. 21 Florida |
| No. 22 UCLA |
| No. 23 Kentucky |
| No. 24 Ole Miss |
| No. 25 Rutgers |
Pope returns to Kentucky from his playing days as a team captain of the 1996 national championship team. He spent the previous five seasons as head coach at BYU after making his head coaching debut at Utah Valley.
The Wildcats open their season on Monday, November 4th in a home matchup with Wright State.
5 Responses
UK BB is back!
The fraud is gone to hog hollow!
Where fans will get fraud-aid to swallow!
UK FB needs a fresh new start & staff!
The chjoker is long gone with shame.
But results are now much the same.
Back to the UK basics…
Can’t wait for UK BB to start…
FB is over & out before the season ends!
UK will be in the S16 – 100% chance
UK will be in the FF – 60% chance
UK hangs banner #9 – 40% chance
For anyone interested…
Perry will average 12-15 ppg
Noah will average 10-12 ppg
I can see 12 from Perry. I only see 4 from Noah. Chandler will account for 6.
I think this is about right were we should be. I would rather start out #23 then #1 or #2. We do better when we have a chip on our shoulder.
Nine guards and one center. That will be interesting.