02. Kentucky Wildcats
2024-25 Record: 24-12 (10-8 SEC)
Mark Pope has done a great job this offseason building out his roster during his time in Lexington. Pope took over at Kentucky last season and brought in a ton of transfers just to get a roster put together that could compete in the SEC. And in the end, he was successful, even if the Wildcats hit some rough stretches throughout the season - most due to incredibly poor defense.
This season should be different for Kentucky. Pope, knowing that his offense was in good hands with Otega Oweh (16.2 ppg) returning, set his sights on transfer players with defensive upsides - namely Jayden Quaintence, who averaged 2.6 blocks per game as a freshman at Arizona State. And while he’s much more known for his scoring ability, Jaland Lowe has defensive upside. Last season at Pittsburgh, Lowe averaged nearly two steals per game. Florida transfer Denzel Aberdeen (7.7 ppg) and Mouhamed Dioubate (7.2 ppg, 5.9 rpg) from Alabama are both uber athletic, even if their defensive skills don’t always show up in the box score and come from programs that have done nothing but win over the past couple of seasons.
Three-point shooting should be there for the Wildcats since that is always the focus of a Pope-coached team. Though this season should be a little less stressful for Kentucky fans, since there should be much more solid defense played. Kentucky won two games in the NCAA Tournament with one of the worst defenses in the nation, so it's easy to get excited about this team now that there is more than just one or two defensive-minded players on the roster.
Kentucky and Florida are the clear two best teams in the conference. Kentucky is a spot lower simply because they are starting from a position with a little more unknown than the Gators. But if everything works out how Pope has envisioned it, Kentucky could be the best team in the SEC and quite possibly the country.