Kentucky Basketball ranked No. 16 in Preseason AP Poll

Kentucky will begin the 2023-24 season ranked, but just outside the Top 15. The Preseason AP College Basketball Poll just dropped and the Cats are No. 16, just behind Arkansas and Texas A&M. Kansas is No. 1 in the poll, followed by Duke, Purdue, Michigan State, and Marquette. Defending national champ UConn is No. 6. This is the first time in the John Calipari era Kentucky has been ranked outside of the Top 15 in the Preseason AP Poll.

Five SEC teams are ranked: Tennessee (No. 9), Arkansas (No. 14), Texas A&M (No. 15), Kentucky (No. 16), and Alabama (No. 24). Auburn, Mississippi State, Missouri, and Florida also received votes. Eight of the Cats’ opponents made the Top 25; they’ll face three of those, No. 1 Kansas (Nov. 14), No. 13 Miami (Nov. 28), No. 19 North Carolina (Dec. 16), before the end of the calendar year.

Check it out below.

RANK	TEAM	POINTS
1	Kansas	1548 (46)
2	Duke	1466 (11)
3	Purdue	1436 (3)
4	Michigan State	1346 (1)
5	Marquette	1283
6	UConn	1243 (2)
7	Houston	1117
8	Creighton	1099
9	Tennessee	1032
10	Florida Atlantic	1011
11	Gonzaga	830
12	Arizona	776
13	Miami (FL)	750
14	Arkansas	685
15	Texas A&M	597
16	Kentucky	530
17	San Diego State	529
18	Texas	493
19	North Carolina	474
20	Baylor	431
21	USC	427
22	Villanova	395
23	Saint Mary’s	335
24	Alabama	163
25	Illinois	104

Others Receiving Votes: Wisconsin 53, Colorado 49, UCLA 47, St. John’s 47, Maryland 34, Virginia 27, Auburn 27, TCU 24, Mississippi St. 20, Kansas St 13, Xavier 8, Memphis 7, Missouri 6, Boise St. 4, Indiana 3, Florida 2, Coll of Charleston 2, New Mexico 1, Drake 1.

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Kentucky Basketball in KenPom, other preseason rankings

Do you prefer your polls with a side of analytics? The initial KenPom preseason ratings were released on Sunday and Kentucky came in at No. 18 overall, an adjusted efficiency margin of 20.30. For the KenPom newbies, AdjEM is the difference between a team’s offensive and defensive efficiency, meaning Kentucky is expected to outscore the average D-1 team over 100 possessions by 20.30. Kentucky ranks fifth in the SEC behind Tennessee (No. 8), Alabama (No. 10), Arkansas (No. 14), and Auburn (No. 15).

Here’s a rundown of where Kentucky ranks in the other preseason rankings on the interwebs.

• ESPN: No. 15
• CBS Sports: No. 16
• The Athletic: No. 16
• KenPom: No. 18
• Jon Rothstein: No. 21

ROTHSTEIN 45

21. Kentucky pic.twitter.com/plNR0FPnTJ

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) October 16, 2023

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