CBS Sports Top 25 & 1 sees major change with Kentucky landing Tre Mitchell's commitment

Kentucky officially reentered the chat on Monday with the addition of transfer forward Tre Mitchell out of West Virginia. After weeks of striking out and missing in more ways than one, John Calipari picked up his first portal addition of the offseason and has found some form of momentum after fifth-year guard Antonio Reeves elected to return to Lexington too.

Now, the Wildcats, with their top-ranked recruiting class as well, have found their way back into the national conversation. In an update to CBS Sports’ Top-25 & 1 from Gary Parrish, UK was the only team to rise as they jumped eight spots to No. 17. However, one team did slip as Alabama fell out following Jahvon Quinerly’s decision to transfer. That fall from the Tide bumped Rick Pitino and St. John’s up a spot and into the ‘& 1’ slot in the rankings.

1. Kansas Jayhawks
2. Purdue Boilermakers
3. Duke Blue Devils
4. FAU Owls
5. Michigan State Spartans
6. Marquette Golden Eagles
7. Houston Cougars
8. UConn Huskies
9. Creighton Bluejays
10. Miami Hurricanes
11. Arkansas Razorbacks
12. USC Trojans
13. San Diego State Aztecs
14. Tennessee Volunteers
15. Texas A&M Aggies
16. Arizona Wildcats
17. Kentucky Wildcats
18. Baylor Bears
19. Gonzaga Bulldogs
20. Texas Longhorns
21. Saint Mary’s Gaels
22. North Carolina Tar Heels
23. Illinois Fighting Illini
24. Villanova Wildcats
25. Mississippi State Bulldogs
26. St. John’s Red Storm

Again, the addition of Mitchell can’t be understated for Kentucky. One week ago, Kentucky was preparing to enter next season with only underclassmen and a whole bunch of question marks. Then, over the past seven days, Calipari was able to retain Reeves, UK’s second leading scorer at 14.4 points while shooting a team best 39.8% from three, and bring Mitchell, who has career averages of 13.7 points and 5.9 rebounds over 100+ games at UMass, Texas, and West Virginia, into the fold.

The loss of Quinerly in Tuscaloosa is also a significant development in the SEC. The former five-star had played a big role in the Crimson Tide’s success over the past three seasons under Nate Oats. With what he accomplished at ‘Bama, he will be a highly sought after option in the portal until he makes his next commitment.

Besides that, everything else stayed the same for Parrish at CBS. Kansas, Purdue, Duke, FAU, and Michigan State remained the cream of the crop as the top-five heading into next season.

Kentucky got the experience that they so desperately needed over the last few days. The only question now is how much of a difference will it make during the next college basketball campaign which, at UK, is sure to be a high-pressure 15th season for Calipari.