Kentucky fans will be watching Collin Chandler and his teammates take on No. 1 Purdue Friday night. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Finally, media members and coaches agree on one thing about Kentucky basketball.
Coach Mark Pope’s team was ranked ninth in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 and the USA Today Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll announced Wednesday also has Kentucky ninth going into the season.
Kentucky gets to test its ranking Friday night when it hosts preseason No. 1 Purdue in Rupp Arena at 6 p.m. on the SEC Network. Houston, defending national champion Florida, Connecticut and Duke round out the top five in the coaches’ poll.
Other top 25 preseason teams that Kentucky will face this year other than Purdue and Florida are St. John’s (No. 6), Louisville (No. 10), Arkansas (No. 15), Alabama (No. 16), Tennessee (No. 17), Gonzaga (No. 20), Michigan State (No. 21), Auburn (No. 22) and North Carolina (No. 25).
Purdue is the team generating the most preseason national buzz. The Boilermakers return a talented roster and have several players that ranked highly in various statistical categories nationally last season.
Point guard Braden Smith is the top-returning assist player, Oscar Cluff is the second-leading rebounder and double-double producer, Liam Murphy is ninth among all players in 3-pointers made last season and Trey Kaufman-Renn is the 10th-returning leading scorer.
Smith is the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year and is the only player in Big Ten conference history to amass 1,350 points, 750 assists, 500 rebounds and 175 steals in a career. He is one of 14 players in NCAA history to reach those marks. Smith has 758 career assists and needs eight more to move into third place on the Big Ten’s career list
Purdue had Kentucky have not played since a Dec. 3, 1997, meeting in the Great Eight — one of the nation’s most prestigious non-conference matchups at the time between eight of the nation’s best teams — when UK won 89-75. Kentucky has a 6-2 series advantage with Purdue’s last win over the Cats coming in 1984.
The Boilermakers have never been ranked No. 1 in the AP preseason poll but it is the fourth time in the last five seasons that Purdue has reached No. 1.
7 Responses
Assuming Lowe doesn't play Friday, it will be interesting to see who plays the point and how well that goes.
Just read that Pope said he's out of contact for another week. Chance for Chandler to shine.
Do not forget Aberdeen
I say Chandler or Johnson is the backup PG. I would go with experience which is Chandler who has a year under his belt and is 21 years old. Chandler will be one the best players on the team by the end of this year. Next year the accolades will come with it. All SEC.. Chandler and JQ have the biggest upside on this Kentucky basketball team. I think Jelavic also improves a ton from the beginning of the season to the end.
Chandler is also great at finding whoever is open and he will be a over 40% 3 point shooter as well as playing above the rim.
Why is everyone forgetting Aberdeen? He will start at point guard. Hugh opportunity and probably key to the game.
I thought he played great