Now that all of the NBA draft decisions have been made, updates are being made to the early college basketball rankings. Today, ESPN.com adjusted its preseason top 25 to reflect the final roster movement around the sport. Kentucky fared well in ESPN’s reordering of its top teams, mostly due to the return of Otega Oweh for his senior season in Lexington. The Wildcats climbed from No. 11 to No. 9 in the new ranking.
Here’s what author Jeff Borzello said of the Wildcats’ new ESPN ranking:
Kentucky is absolutely loaded on the perimeter next season, with the arrivals of transfers Jaland Lowe (Pitt), Kam Williams (Tulane) and Denzel Aberdeen (Florida) and five-star prospect Jasper Johnson, to go along with the return of leading scorer Otega Oweh and reserve Collin Chandler.
Mark Pope also revamped the frontcourt with defense in mind, with the additions of Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama) and Jayden Quaintance (Arizona State). Quaintance could miss time after suffering a torn ACL in late February, so a step forward from Brandon Garrison will be needed.
Projected starting lineup
Jaland Lowe (16.8 PPG at Pitt)
Denzel Aberdeen (7.7 PPG at Florida)
Otega Oweh (16.2 PPG)
Mouhamed Dioubate (7.2 PPG at Alabama)
Jayden Quaintance (9.4 PPG at Arizona State)
Up top, Purdue, one of UK’s preseason opponents, is the No. 1 team in ESPN’s preseason top 25. Defending champ Florida, Houston, UConn, and St. John’s round out ESPN’s top five.
[How NBA draft withdrawal moved our early NCAA top 25 rankings]
Kentucky is also ninth at The Athletic
Over at The Athletic, CJ Moore’s new preseason poll also ranks Kentucky at ninth in the country. Moore writes that he is “intrigued by Kentucky’s frontcourt” and that the Wildcats will contend for a title if Jaland Lowe reaches all-league caliber at point guard:
Projected starters: Jaland Lowe (transfer) Denzel Aberdeen (transfer), Otega Oweh, Andrija Jelavic (international), Jayden Quaintance (transfer)
Notable returners: Brandon Garrison, Collin Chandler, Trent Noah
Other newcomers: Mouhamed Dioubate (transfer), Kam Williams (transfer), Jasper Johnson, Malachi Moreno, Reece Potter (transfer), Braydon HawthorneThis roster does not have the shooting of Mark Pope’s first Kentucky team, but it should be better defensively and have more playmaking on the perimeter. Pope showed in Year 1 that he can microwave chemistry. He’s also giving himself a ton of lineup options. Not only will there be position battles for starting jobs, but also Kentucky will have some talented players who struggle to even make the rotation.
I’m most intrigued by the frontcourt. Pope likes his bigs to be the playmaking hubs of his offense, and Andrija Jelavic, Mouhamed Dioubate and Jayden Quaintance are all intriguing options, though I’m not sure any of them can fully replace Amari Williams. Jelavic was a double-digit scorer for his professional club overseas, and Quaintance is considered a lottery-level prospect. He’ll have to beat out Brandon Garrison after recovering from a torn ACL.
You know what you’re going to get out of Otega Oweh and Florida transfer Denzel Aberdeen, who would have been a starter on most SEC teams last year. Pitt transfer Jaland Lowe is more of a true point guard than Lamont Butler, but he goes through spurts of inefficiency. If Lowe can be an all-league-caliber guard and one or two of the bigs can produce consistently, this could be a title contender.
[Men’s college basketball Top 25 reset: How transfers, draft decisions change 2026’s contenders]
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