Kentucky cracks ESPN's Way-Too-Early Top 25 Rankings

How important is Jaxson Robinson to Kentucky’s 2024-25 roster? In the eyes of one national media member, Robinson makes the Cats a Top 25 squad.

ESPN’s Jeff Borzello updated his Way-Too-Early rankings for the first time in a month today and moved the Cats up from “Next in line” to No. 23. The sole reason: Jaxson Robinson, who removed his name from the NBA Draft and committed to Kentucky on May 30. Borzello believes Robinson, who played for Mark Pope for two seasons at BYU, will be the difference maker on Pope’s first Kentucky squad, which will be “drastically different” from most of John Calipari’s teams.

“Out are the five-star freshmen, in are a slew of prolific 3-point shooters to stretch defenses,” Borzello writes. “Jaxson Robinson ultimately followed his former coach from BYU and he’s the best addition, playing himself onto NBA draft boards despite coming off the bench. Robinson is joined by Koby Brea (Dayton), Otega Oweh (Oklahoma), Kerr Kriisa (West Virginia) and Andrew Carr (Wake Forest) as high-level shooters, while Lamont Butler (San Diego State) and Amari Williams (Drexel) bring defensive prowess.”

Borzello picks Robinson, Kerr Kriisa, Otega Oweh, Andrew Carr, and Amari Williams as his starting five, giving Kriisa the nod at point guard over Lamont Butler. Kentucky is one of nine SEC teams in the Top 25. If you’re curious, Arkansas climbed a few spots to No. 14.

• 2. Alabama
• 11. Auburn
• 12. Texas A&M
• 13. Tennessee
• 14. Arkansas
• 20. Ole Miss
• 21. Florida
• 22. Texas
• 23. Kentucky

Kansas tops Borzello’s rankings, with Alabama and UConn rounding out the top three. Gonzaga, whom the Cats will play in Seattle in December, is No. 5, while Duke, Kentucky’s opponent in the Champions Classic in November, is No. 8.

Jaxson Robinson Mic’d Up at Practice

You’ve read about the impact Robinson will have on this team. Over the weekend, we got a glimpse of him in action in some mic’d up practice footage. In the minute-long clip, Robinson shows off his shooting touch and compliments his teammates.

Mic'd up: @Robinsonjaxx 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/zZLuw9ofFR

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) June 29, 2024

At BYU last season, Robinson averaged 14.2 points per game off the bench while shooting 42.6% from the field, 35.4% from deep on 6.9 attempts per outing, and 90.8% from the free throw line en route to Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year honors. This season, in addition to being a go-to scorer, Robinson can help his new teammates learn Pope’s system.

“He’s a pretty good distiller of information for us and then also the vibe, the feel, the approach of the game,” Pope said of Robinson last week. “He’s got a good sense of how we try to build a locker room and the things that are important to us in the locker room, and how we try and cultivate communication on the floor and he’s done a great job of being an example of that. He’s a really, really vital piece of that. It doesn’t hurt that he’s an NBA-caliber player. That always helps, too.“