8. Kentucky (10-2)
We’ve seen Kentucky doing great things for a team that was thrown together in the offseason for a new coach. That’s obviously a dramatization, as Mark Pope eagerly pieced together this lineup with fantastic talent from across the nation. They look and play really good, already boasting impactful wins over Duke and Gonzaga on the season, though the Wildcats showed this week that they are far from immortal.
Kentucky was at Madison Square Garden for the CBS Sports Classic and had their biggest disappointment of the young season, falling 85-65 in a rough performance against Ohio State. Otega Oweh was sharp with 21 points while Andrew Carr added 13, but the Wildcats shot just under 30% from the field and 18% from outside the arc.
A team that has seen things go right time after time this season had their edition of a bad day, but it’s not the end of the world. The Wildcats are a talented unit with fantastic results and they’ll likely shake off this effort, pushing forward into SEC play. Plenty of challenges await as league play opens up, though they do have one more easy outing against Brown right before the New Year.