AP Preseason Poll Out

[Snarks]

Borderline top 25 and #6 in conference. Sounds about like a Mark Pope team.

 

[MegaBlue05]

We were No. 1 in 2013. The 9-16 team was 10th. Florida’s last title team was unranked in 2024-25.

Point being preseason polls are about as useful as wet TP. Getting worked up over then - either way - is a fool’s errand.

 

[Jeff Hoyt]

I see the cope with Pope has set in already this year.

Yeah, why can everyone not see this season will be terrible. Waiting for the season to start is just stupid.

 

[Resignmarkpope]

I'm glad we are on there somewhere. Hopefully Pope can keep UK relevant despite evidence to the contrary.

Don’t hold your breath! It’s about to be a disaster! I’m wondering if the fans will boo mark pope during the 20 blowout to pat Kelsey in December.

 

[Resignmarkpope]

If we lose to Kansas this board is going to meltdown bad

How about a blowout loss to pat Kelsey? Will fans boo pope during the game?

 

[Resignmarkpope]

I don’t care what media members opinions are. They don’t play the games or decide them. Had us top 10 last year. That turned out great. Had Florida 21 the year they won the title. I’ll wait to see how we look after non con

Btw in year 3 of Coach cal, Kentucky won the championship and was preseason 2. Year 2 ended in a final four run. One day Kentucky fans will realize mark pope is a complete fraud! Burn it down pope! Kentucky Hoosiers

 

[FLBBNFAN]

If we lose to Kansas this board is going to meltdown bad

Man I dont even want to think about the trash talking that will come our way if Stokes kills it against us. I really hope we throttle them.

 

[Resignmarkpope]

if we spend 10,11, 12 weeks unranked over the course of the season.....i wonder what the "polls are meaningless" crowd would say

Mark pope is burning Kentucky basketball program to the ground! Sad thing is nobody cares.

 

[BookofMormon]

Yea huff and Diop will be good for them. Wiggins is absolutely awful. Hartwell from Houston is the interesting one for me. 5 star kid that just couldn’t get it going for Houston.

They're legit. I think they can actually be sneaky really good and one of the teams with signficant upside. Isaiah Hardwell as a high 5*. Diop is a great add.

The teams I like to climb the rankings are Miami, Texas Tech and Gonzaga. Kansas now that they're average age other than Stokes is 35 could make moves, but it's all being slapped together last minute so hard to know.

 

[TheBlueMist]

Disappointing given our program's prestige, but not surprising if you watched the exhibition without blue-tinted glasses on.

That said, pre-season polls are meaningless and are often mockable weeks into the season.

 

[katwest]

The Tennessee thing gets me, while they are top twenty I think, they are definitely not top ten that’s funny. The pollsters must like orange, they have been ranked higher than us the last three preseasons and we have dominated them. They got beat the other night, not sure what they are so high on Tennessee every year for. The APs sportswriters look kind of stupid already in football and basketball.

 

[FitchandMurray29]

Not a reflection of my opinion on Pope and the program, but these are meaningless.
I actually think preseason rankings used to have much more importance and correlation. Teams had obvious holes in their rosters, only a couple of teams relied on unknowns(freshmen), etc.

Now the top 40 or so have all bought players in an effort to fill those holes that would’ve been there on paper 10 years ago. There is a complete mess of 5th years that no one has any clue on. There’s an increasing euro presence that’s next to impossible to have a knowledgeable opinion about relative to college basketball until games are played.

 

[Bigbluegoo]

"Sad" that anyone cares. Zero games have been played. This, and all other polls are meaningless.

It’ll be worse once the games are played unfortunately.

 

[BigBluefoot]

'The AP are just Pope Bashers, y'all!'

Am I doing it right?

Kentucky has always received the benefit of the doubt in preseason polling because our name and history carried so much weight. So, either that has gone by the wayside, or this poll IS giving us the benefit of the doubt for being Kentucky, which is a scary thought.

Pardon my negativity. Just weary of the not only acceptance of mediocrity on here, but the constant defense of it.

 

[Hunting9]

We have average players, a below average coach, and teams still want to beat UK because of our success in the PAST. I hope we’re better than advertised but we have to get a new coach and rebuild this mess.

 

[ScWildcat3]

Not a reflection of my opinion on Pope and the program, but these are meaningless.
I actually think preseason rankings used to have much more importance and correlation. Teams had obvious holes in their rosters, only a couple of teams relied on unknowns(freshmen), etc.

Now the top 40 or so have all bought players in an effort to fill those holes that would’ve been there on paper 10 years ago. There is a complete mess of 5th years that no one has any clue on. There’s an increasing euro presence that’s next to impossible to have a knowledgeable opinion about relative to college basketball until games are played.

Louisville is another team I don’t get the love fest for. Iowa state and few others. A lot of teams have a lot of questions. Won’t know anything past the top 4 until December

 

[BookofMormon]

If you want to see how much coaching matters, I'd argue UK has a better roster than Houston. Pope deviates UK back about 8 spots, deviates Sampson up about the same. I see no where on the roster where they are better man for man other than maybe PG.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

How about a blowout loss to pat Kelsey? Will fans boo pope during the game?

He was boo’ed off the court at halftime in Bridgestone last season. Then again in Rupp against IU.

What few UK fans were at Vandy boo’ed him there.

It doesn’t faze Pope. He’s collecting checks.

I had never heard UK fans boo a UK team before Bridgestone last year.

 

[Smeegs]

We have average players, a below average coach, and teams still want to beat UK because of our success in the PAST. I hope we’re better than advertised but we have to get a new coach and rebuild this mess.

I doubt many of today’s players really care about this. If they even know about our “past.” It ain’t like they’re old enough to actually remember our past glories.

It’s a different breed of player today. They’re motivated by the money, not that other stuff that fans consider important.

 

[BlueSince92]

That’s about right. This wasn’t the season for us to cross the finish line with a really mostly pretty okay and even pretty good “considering” recruiting haul. Here’s hoping we make the best of it, and maybe even witness a Shai-level breakout or two.

I’ll say this. Questions of economic sanity aside, NIL sure hasn’t hurt college basketball one bit.

 

[Catastic5]

'The AP are just Pope Bashers, y'all!'

Am I doing it right?

Kentucky has always received the benefit of the doubt in preseason polling because our name and history carried so much weight. So, either that has gone by the wayside, or this poll IS giving us the benefit of the doubt for being Kentucky, which is a scary thought.

Pardon my negativity. Just weary of the not only acceptance of mediocrity on here, but the constant defense of it.

I’m sure if pollsters watched our exhibition game, we wouldn’t be in the top 25.

 

[HeismanWinner]

I stopped caring years ago.

Football is fun at least.

 

[Drogon]

The last Division I men's college basketball team to win the national title without ever being ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll during the regular season (before conference tournaments began) was UConn in 2014

 

[ftp000]

It’ll be worse once the games are played unfortunately.

 

[ScWildcat3]

With the portal it shouldn’t be allowed to even rank teams until end of November.

 

[Catastic5]

Louisville is another team I don’t get the love fest for. Iowa state and few others. A lot of teams have a lot of questions. Won’t know anything past the top 4 until December

The media and fellow coaches seem to respect Kelsey for some reason. I don’t get it but if anyone has heard how the media or coaches react to Pope, they aren’t buying whatever he is selling.

And with these preseason rankings, perception is everything. If Pope had this same team at BYU, it probably wouldn’t even be ranked. The Kentucky name still means something. Maybe not much, but it’s something.

 

[Goingfor9]

Meh. Means nothing right now.

With so much mass roster turnover in this new era, and not yet having seen anyone play, I don’t how you could even begin to rank teams beyond the first three or four.

They’re basically blindly throwing darts and just guessing.

I believe it means a lot because this is a starting point based on the starting point our new A.D. needs to start compiling list of potential coaches to replace pope. That’s one positive thing about sucking early is you don’t have to wait until the very end. We have a decent interim coach that Pope hired. Could be the kiss of death for him midseason if we’re really stinking. Come January if we’re unranked some bad losses I mean that’s the best time to pull the plug because you get several months to gage interest plus a guy like Billy Donovan’s not even working right now.. but the way I see it is like this if you move pope early then that will send a clear signal that Kentucky’s clean house. Kentucky is looking for a coach so all the coaches that want to stay where they are they’ll re-up with big contracts little costs university‘s big and then the ones that don’t that’s where our pool will be. And I think we will have a coach in place. Or we will have three or four we want to see how they do in the tournament. There are a lot of benefits to unloading Pope early.. makes it easier to keep players we might want to keep. Like I said, it gives us time to look for a coach instead of having to find a coach in a week. And then fill out a roster a lot of pressure and not much time. You know when that job comes open, nate oats he’ll know what he wants in life. Hurley he’ll know what he wants in life. Donovan etc. And this guy Batt he can’t hide forever. And with him being first year, A.D. the more time he has the better chance he’ll hire a good fit.

 

[ThreeDogNight2]

If you know anything about basketball (which most of the commenters above seem to not) then just do your own research and remove your bias and look roster to roster and actually ask yourself if the AP got it right.

Zoom is a better pg than Lowe ever was.
Wilkins is a better sg than chandler
Milan is better
N’diaye maybe better cant tell yet
And Malachi is better than last year

I think this team matches up a lot better against top 15 ranked teams than we did last year so by that logic we will play better And be ranked higher especially with such a “cupcake” schedule

 

[BookofMormon]

The Tennessee thing gets me, while they are top twenty I think, they are definitely not top ten that’s funny. The pollsters must like orange, they have been ranked higher than us the last three preseasons and we have dominated them. They got beat the other night, not sure what they are so high on Tennessee every year for. The APs sportswriters look kind of stupid already in football and basketball.

They've been to 3 straight Elite 8's, so it would seem the pollsters know what they're doing. These exhibition games don't matter all that much. And orange is in this year, Tennessee, Texas, Illinois, Virginia, Miami bringing a lot of it.

All said, I'm not that high on this Tenn team either. I don't think Barnes is built for an all transfer team.

 

[ThreeDogNight2]

They've been to 3 straight Elite 8's, so it would seem the pollsters know what they're doing. These exhibition games don't matter all that much. And orange is in this year, Tennessee, Texas, Illinois, Virginia, Miami bringing a lot of it.

All said, I'm not that high on this Tenn team either. I don't think Barnes is built for an all transfer team.

It’s not even the all transfer I just don’t know if this team matches the typical Barnes team, not very psychical and not the best rebounding but if he wins kudos

 

[Cleatortoises]

We are about to find out where exactly this team stands when they play TX Tech Friday. Yes, it's an exhibition game but you can gather a lot from this type of contest.

If so, how does unranked Baylors victory over Fla not carry more weight?
Asking for a friend.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

I think they are being generous. But I do prefer being in there vs not.

 

[MegaBlue05]

I doubt many of today’s players really care about this. If they even know about our “past.” It ain’t like they’re old enough to actually remember our past glories.

It’s a different breed of player today. They’re motivated by the money, not that other stuff that fans consider important.

Today’s college freshmen were 4 when we won our last title.

 

[MegaBlue05]

They've been to 3 straight Elite 8's, so it would seem the pollsters know what they're doing. These exhibition games don't matter all that much. And orange is in this year, Tennessee, Texas, Illinois, Virginia, Miami bringing a lot of it.

All said, I'm not that high on this Tenn team either. I don't think Barnes is built for an all transfer team.

Preseason polls are just a reflection of what happened last year + a look at a paper roster.

Which is why a team with a backcourt of Ryan Harrow and Archie Goodwin was preseason No. 1 in 2013 despite losing something like 90% of rebounding and scoring from the year before. That was the year I learned to stop putting any credence in those polls.

I would prefer the first poll to come out around Christmas when everyone has a month of season under their belts. Those rankings would be closer to accurate. Preseason is just talking points based on paper.

 

[Resignmarkpope]

If you know anything about basketball (which most of the commenters above seem to not) then just do your own research and remove your bias and look roster to roster and actually ask yourself if the AP got it right.

Zoom is a better pg than Lowe ever was.
Wilkins is a better sg than chandler
Milan is better
N’diaye maybe better cant tell yet
And Malachi is better than last year

I think this team matches up a lot better against top 15 ranked teams than we did last year so by that logic we will play better And be ranked higher especially with such a “cupcake” schedule

Sounds like the Kentucky Hoosiers! I got 500 biguns says Rupp Arena boos pope during the Louisville game!burn it down mark poope

 

[Luca Brasi]

I think we are overrated

 

[Wildcat_in_DC]

that ku game will be huge.

 

[Catastic5]

Preseason polls are just a reflection of what happened last year + a look at a paper roster.

Which is why a team with a backcourt of Ryan Harrow and Archie Goodwin was preseason No. 1 in 2013 despite losing something like 90% of rebounding and scoring from the year before. That was the year I learned to stop putting any credence in those polls.

I would prefer the first poll to come out around Christmas when everyone has a month of season under their belts. Those rankings would be closer to accurate. Preseason is just talking points based on paper.

My problem is it shows the media no longer respects us. I know we’re all seeing things through blue-tinted glasses, but I do want to know what the neutrals think of us. And it’s not great.

 

[Johnny_Jeepers]

My problem is it shows the media no longer respects us. I know we’re all seeing things through blue-tinted glasses, but I do want to know what the neutrals think of us. And it’s not great.

Most astute fans, here and outside of the UK universe, realize Pope is a phony and way too in over his head. We've got enough money to throw around that it will help keep the program somewhat propped up to not be an abject failure, but that can only do so much. He is not and will never be a legit coach that gets players to the next level or is a good enough coach to take his teams to the level UK fans expect and demand. If NIL didn't exist our program would be in the absolute gutter with Pope. Like Billy G bad, or worse.

The sooner he's gone the better.

 

[BookofMormon]

Preseason polls are just a reflection of what happened last year + a look at a paper roster.

Which is why a team with a backcourt of Ryan Harrow and Archie Goodwin was preseason No. 1 in 2013 despite losing something like 90% of rebounding and scoring from the year before. That was the year I learned to stop putting any credence in those polls.

I would prefer the first poll to come out around Christmas when everyone has a month of season under their belts. Those rankings would be closer to accurate. Preseason is just talking points based on paper.

Not gonna happen - tv/networks need this stuff to market matchups. It's all for the fans.

I tend to think that the current poll is being driven by retention at the top of the poll. Every top 6-7 teams having a number of returners.

It's hard to assess teams like Tennessee and Louisville.