New preseason poll has Kentucky MBB ranked top 5 (plus an updated Bracketology!)

We’re almost there, folks — the college basketball season is closer than we think.

Mark Pope‘s Kentucky Wildcats will unofficially tip off the 2025-26 season with Big Blue Madness next month. The program’s annual preseason event at Rupp Arena is set for Saturday, Oct. 11 — that’s less than three weeks away! Between now and then, we’ll start to see more preseason polls, projections, All-American teams, and so on. In fact, the ball is already rolling on the front.

Isaac Trotter of CBS Sports dropped his preseason top 25 on Wednesday morning. And where did he have the ‘Cats slotted? Just inside the top five and No. 4 overall. Trotter is high on Kentucky, which he believes is the deepest team in all of college hoops, being more athletic, more talented, and more defensive-focused than Pope’s first team last season. Otega Oweh is his pick for SEC Preseason Player of the Year. But Trotter says the Wildcats’ ceiling comes down to two positions.

“Point guard and center will determine if Kentucky is good or great,” Trotter wrote. “(Jaland) Lowe, a transfer from Pitt, is a tantalizing pick-and-roll maestro who can collapse defenses in a flash. There will be nights when Lowe is the best player on the floor. Can he keep the train on the tracks? Can Kentucky find a trustworthy big man who can make reads from the top of the key, similar to Amari Williams?”

The early returns on Lowe throughout summer practice have been very promising. But the center spot is absolutely the most interesting position on this team going into the regular season. Brandon Garrison will soak up most of the minutes early on as Jayden Quaintance continues to rehab his torn ACL. Freshman center Malachi Moreno could push for day one minutes, too.

But regardless of all that, a top-five preseason ranking (ahead of the likes of Louisville and Florida) is something the Big Blue Nation will happily accept.

Unloading my preseason top 25 ballot. Depth charts and some strengths or weaknesses for each team

1. Purdue
2. UConn (I'm all-in on a major bounceback)
3. Houston
4. Kentucky
5. Florida
6. Texas Tech
7. Louisville
8. Duke
9. Michigan
10. BYUhttps://t.co/huIj3ilm6p

— Isaac Trotter (@Isaac__Trotter) September 24, 2025

A fresh Bracketology update from Lunardi

Trotter isn’t the only one jonesing for some basketball, either. ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi dropped an updated look at his Bracketology on Tuesday. Not much changed for Kentucky compared to last month’s update, though. Lunardi still has the ‘Cats as a three-seed in the West Region with a first-round matchup against 14-seed Furman.

But the difference is that a win for UK would pit them against the winner of 6-seed Michigan State and 11-seed Memphis in the Round of 32. BYU, Pope’s former team, could end up being the Sweet 16 opponent if the bracket goes chalk. Purdue remains the 1-seed in this region. After a record-breaking 14 SEC teams made the NCAA Tournament field last season, Lunardi has the conference doing the same this season.

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