Championship or bust? Jay Bilas believes this Kentucky team has 'talent to make some noise.'

Kentucky stacked wins against some of the biggest names in college basketball last season — including two Final Four teams and the eventual national champion. Eight top-15 victories tied an all-time record in the sport, which isn’t easy to do in Lexington when you’re already the winningest program in history. Factor in the injury bug gnawing on the Wildcats all season, and you really wonder what could have been with how much more they could have accomplished together.

Could they have won the whole thing? Maybe, maybe not. But if they could make a Sweet 16 for the first time in a half-decade with two key rotation pieces out for the year and others banged up, who knows?

“I would have loved to have seen what a healthy Kentucky team could have done,” ESPN analyst Jay Bilas told KSR on this week’s episode of the Sources Say Podcast. “Now, do I think that Kentucky was better than the four No. 1 seeds that made it to the Final Four last year? I don’t. Now, maybe some Kentucky fans would disagree with that — and it doesn’t mean that they couldn’t have made it — but I would have loved to have seen what a healthy Kentucky team could have done.

“I think it would have been better than what they wound up doing.”

On paper, Kentucky got more talented and deeper this offseason while prioritizing retention with the likes of Otega Oweh, Brandon Garrison, Collin Chandler and Trent Noah back for another ride. No one is guaranteeing the Wildcats a championship because life happens in basketball. Added depth can counter some of those injury issues, but it’s not a perfect science — it’s a different team if, God forbid, Jaland Lowe or Oweh go down or Jayden Quaintance deals with any real setbacks.

Should all go as planned, though, the Wildcats belong in the conversation.

“If they stay healthy and mature the way last year’s team did, this team’s got the talent to make some noise,” Bilas told KSR. “Now, do you put them up right away with Houston or Duke or Purdue or whatever? Maybe not. Maybe they’re a little bit further down the line. … The product on the floor last year, I think, exceeded at least what my expectations were, and I can’t imagine that this year’s team is not going to do the same thing.”

Mark Pope understands the championship-or-bust assignment because that’s the job. Whether that’s sustainable or achievable each year or not, it’s about the obsession and wanting it just as much as Big Blue Nation. If fans are going to be depressed over losses and over the moon about wins, the coach should feel those things, too. Of many incredible traits, that may be among Pope’s best.

That’s why, whether they’ll admit it or not, every Kentucky fan loved year one of the new era. There were some high highs and low lows, but everyone was undoubtedly in it together, and that was a lot of fun — even for a Duke alum like Bilas watching as an outsider.

“I mean, I get the championship or bust thing, and I know that’s the ultimate destination for the Kentucky players, the program, and certainly the fans. But even if that’s the ultimate destination and Kentucky didn’t reach it last year, I can’t imagine that, if you gave everybody truth serum in Big Blue Nation, that they didn’t love last season. It was a joyful year and so much fun to watch and be a part of.”

What’s the expectation in 2025-26? The experience of last season should be considered the floor, but the ceiling is much higher. Bilas believes it’s fair for Big Blue Nation to dream big with Pope and this next bunch, competing in yet another dominant SEC and at the national level.

“To me, that’s sort of the measure — they’re going to be competitive,” he told KSR. “They were in the best league, and I think it’s going to be the best league again. Will it be head and shoulders above everybody else like it was last year? We’ll see, but I don’t see it taking a step back. It’s just whether the rest of the country can take a step up and compete on that level.”

The push for banner No. 9 in Lexington continues.