Kentucky falls to No. 24 in ESPN's College Basketball Rankings

We’re a few days removed from Kentucky’s loss to Michigan State, but the reviews are still coming in on the Cats’ dismal performance in the Champions Classic. On Thursday, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello updated his college basketball power rankings. Kentucky barely made the cut this week, coming in at No. 24. The Cats were No. 15 last week after the loss to Louisville and No. 9 in the initial rankings at the start of the season.

As Borzello said, it’s hard to believe this is the same team that ran Purdue off the floor during the preseason. Coincidentally, Georgetown, which beat Kentucky in the exhibition after that, is No. 25 in Borzello’s rankings, one spot behind the Cats.

“Kentucky has been the most disappointing team in the country through the first two weeks of the season, especially given the way the Wildcats handled Purdue in an October exhibition game. Jaland Lowe’s injury has contributed to the struggles, but getting dominated in every facet by Michigan State a week after trailing by as many as 20 points against Louisville doesn’t come down to the absence of one player. The offensive issues are one factor, but the lack of fight on the defensive end and on the glass were arguably more concerning. Teams are simply getting too many open 3s, and Michigan State had its way on the offensive glass on Tuesday.”

Michigan State rose 13 spots in the rankings to No. 8. North Carolina, Kentucky’s next big opponent, is No. 16, and Gonzaga, which the Cats face three days later after the Tar Heels in Nashville, is No. 12. Kentucky plays two games before that very big week, vs. Loyola Maryland and Tennessee Tech, but — barring a loss — neither of those will move the needle when it comes to everyone’s perception of this group.

Over at CBS Sports, Gary Parrish moved Kentucky down to No. 21 in his rankings. If you trust computers more than people, the Cats are down to No. 11 in the KenPom ratings. Going into the Michigan State game, they were No. 4. In BartTorvik, they’re No. 16, a five-spot drop from earlier this week. Evan Miya has Kentucky at No. 17, right behind St. John’s and right ahead of Michigan State.

Kentucky’s most efficient players

Speaking of Evan Miya, he took a look at Kentucky’s lineups (there have been 70 different five-man combinations this season to choose from!) from an efficiency standpoint. His biggest takeaways? Kentucky is at its best with Denzel Aberdeen on the floor, Collin Chandler helps offensively but hurts defensively, and the Cats struggle when Otega Oweh, Jasper Johnson, and Andrija Jelavic are on the floor. Clearly, things would be going better if Oweh, presumed to be this team’s star, would start playing like the Preseason SEC Player of the Year.

Mark Pope loves data, so it’ll be interesting to see how he experiments over the next two games before North Carolina comes to town. That work starts tonight vs. Loyola Maryland.

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