SEC Basketball: Power rankings heading into the SEC season

SEC Basketball Power Rankings:
No. 1 Kentucky Wildcats

To paraphrase a (potentially) fake quote from Mark Twain: “Rumors of Kentucky’s demise were greatly exaggerated.” After the ‘Cats lost to Kansas and then dropped a game to UNC-Wilmington, hot takes flew about John Calipari and his team.

Since then, Kentucky has looked like Kentucky once again, and college basketball fans have been reminded that the Wildcats are still elite.

On the season, UK ranks first or second in the SEC in points per game, field goal percentage, 3-pointers made, 3-point percentage, assists, turnovers, assist-to-turnover ratio, steals, and fouls.

The offense has been really good as veteran transfers Antonio Reeves and Tre Mitchell are flanked by freshmen Rob Dillingham, Reed Sheppard, and DJ Wagner. All five of those players score over 11 points per game and are All-SEC candidates.

Kentucky has not advanced past the NCAA Tournament’s second round since 2018-2019, but this year’s team seems poised to change that. The perfect combination of veteran leadership and young talent, Coach Cal has a really good team that should make the Big Blue Nation proud.