20. Kentucky Wildcats
Record: 10-2 (0-0 SEC)
Last Week: No. 24
Kentucky is back. Okay, maybe I’m jumping the gun a bit early after two strong performances, but the Wildcats look like an entirely different team right now compared to the one we saw a month ago. Head coach John Calipari clearly has his team playing at a high level right now following victories over North Carolina and Louisville. UK is now up to 13th in the KenPom rankings and that is thanks to how the entire roster has developed over the past month.
Most notably, though, Tyler Herro and Ashton Hagans are starting to realize their potential with the program. Herro, who entered the program as an elite shooter, is finally dropping shots at a high rate. Over the last three games, Herro is averaging 18.7 points per game on 54.8% from the floor and 45.0% from three. Hagans’ play, on the other hand, is not evident in statistics as his impact has been seen on the defensive end of the floor. This has, though, been recognized by Coach Cal as the young guard is averaging 27.2 minutes per game over the last five contests (16.9 in the seven games prior), starting the last four.
Kentucky is seemingly hitting its stride on both ends of the floor at this moment and the potential is still off the charts for this team to return to the top-10 fairly soon. With that said, though, the SEC is going to be a gauntlet this year and the team still has plenty to prove before I move them up a bunch in these rankings.