NCAA Basketball: Top 25 preseason power rankings for 2021-22 season

After winning just nine games total last season, John Calipari and Kentucky Basketball have completely revamped their roster for the upcoming campaign. They lost a lot of production but an underrated offseason move was the return of Davion Mintz, who quietly led the team in scoring and passing last season while making 38% of his three-point attempts (6 a game).

Mintz will be joined by five-star point guard prospect and former Creighton commit TyTy Washington, an explosive 6’2 playmaker that should be an instant impact contributor. The likely starting point guard will be Georgia transfer Sahvir Wheeler, who led the entire SEC in assists last season (7.4 apg), despite not having a great supporting cast.

Wheeler isn’t a great shooter by Iowa sharpshooting transfer CJ Fredrick, a 6’3 off-guard that made 47% of his three-point attempts in two years. And rounding out the group is grad transfer Kellan Grady, a four-year starter at Davidson that averaged at least 17.0 ppg every year and has been as consistent a scorer in NCAA Basketball as it comes.

Another key returning forward for Kentucky is Keion Brooks Jr., who averaged 10.3 ppg and 6.8 rpg in 16 games played, mostly coming off the bench. Injuries limited him to just SEC games but Brooks had some big performances, including 23 points and 11 rebounds against Tennessee. If he can shoot the ball and allow some spacing at the power forward position, don’t be surprised to see him be a breakout star for the team.

And while it technically wasn’t an offseason acquisition, West Virginia center Oscar Tshiebwe will give Kentucky a true defensive anchor inside and a rebounding presence, without not needing the ball on offense. There’s also top-20 freshman Daimion Collins, who’ll provide frontcourt depth and could potentially start if he shows early promise.

There’s a lot of new pieces that will have to fit together and the potential lineups all have pros and cons to them. But Kentucky isn’t the type to have back-to-back bad seasons, so expect a bounceback campaign. The question will be how high the bounce back up.