Kentucky cracks the Top 25 in two preseason polls

We’re officially entering preseason poll season in the world of college basketball as a couple of respectable outlets unveiled their preseason Top 25 rankings on Wednesday. And yes, Mark Pope‘s Kentucky team made the cut for both.

Known for advanced statistics and extensive analytical data, KenPom and EvanMiya both decided now is the time to drop preseason Top 25 polls. KenPom’s poll is actually based on human voters though, as 413 of the website’s subscribers voted (for 19,110 total votes) on the order. EvanMiya’s is based on number projections for the upcoming 2024-25 season.

KenPom’s H.U.M.A.N poll ranked Kentucky at No. 16 while EvanMiya’s numbers ranked the Wildcats at No. 22. The H.U.M.A.N poll is created by giving KenPom’s subscribers 50 matchups where their job is to pick which team they think will be ranked higher in KenPom’s ratings by the end of the season. It actually ranks all Division I teams from Nos. 1-362.

Sticking with the H.U.M.A.N poll, KenPom’s subscribers gave Kentucky 107 wins to 49 losses in head-to-head matchup voting. The Wildcats were only picked three times to beat teams among the Top 10 (3-24 overall), but were the clear favorites to beat teams ranked 11-30 (35-18) and even more so against teams ranked 31-100 (67-7). Looking at the rest of KenPom’s Top 25, UConn narrowly edged out Houston for the top spot while both St. John’s (Rick Pitino) and Arkansas (John Calipari) finished right behind UK at Nos. 18 and 19, respectively.

Moving onto EvanMiya’s projected numbers, the data believes that Kentucky’s best player this season will be Wake Forest transfer Andrew Carr, who is ranked as the 108th most valuable player going into 2024-25. Here is how all of Kentucky’s player ratings shake out compared to the rest of the country.

• Andrew Carr (No. 108)
• Brandon Garrison (No. 142)
• Lamont Butler (No. 145)
• Kerr Kriisa (No. 155)
• Amari Williams (No. 158)
• Otega Oweh (No. 167)
• Koby Brea (No. 174)
• Jaxson Robinson (No. 240)
• Travis Perry (No. 1,041)
• Trent Noah (No. 1,281)
• Collin Chandler (No. 1,632)
• Grant Darbyshire (No. 1,820)
• Ansley Almonor (No. 1,912)
• Walker Horn (No. 4,133)

Considering that walk-on Grant Darbyshire is ranked ahead of Ansley Almonor and that Jaxson Robinson is ranked among the bottom half of the roster, I would take these projections with a grain of salt. The rankings are based on the highest BPR (Bayesian Performance Rating) of each individual, which measures “a player’s overall value to his team when he is on the floor.” I would wager a large sum of money that Almonor is more valuable to Kentucky’s success than Darbyshire. However, these numbers will adjust once the season gets rolling and actual live-game stats are being recorded.

Looking at the rest of the Top 25 rankings, EvanMiya has Houston — not two-time defending champion UConn — as the projected top team. In fact, the Huskies rank No. 9 in the preseason poll. And similar to KenPom, Kentucky is ranked right next to both St. John’s (No. 21) and Arkansas (No. 23).