AP Preseason Poll Out

[Bluegrass79]

Now for a bunch of people that are supposedly capable of seeing a good basketball team y'all are pretty blind to the makeup of this team.

We'll see where she ends up by the end of the year.

This team does not lose more than nine games imo unless of course Pope gave us hope and I'm a dope.



Probably sooooo but my eyes say the team has a little bit of everything...

Let's see how these next two exhibitions go.
I say they win well and shut people up.

 

[kyjeff1]

Proof that exhibitions mean absolutely nothing. How Tennessee could be top 10 after the beating they took from Xavier shows that. Also iowa state lost. St. John’s needed 4 overtime’s to beat Rutgers.

Jeez, if exhibitions don't matter, why the hell did they play 4 overtimes to decide a winner?

 

[ThePrinceIsKing]

We jumped to the top 10 after a win against Duke in year one after beginning at 23.

Point is, these are meaningless with no games played

Thank you. Why does everybody, even in the mid season polls, act like the champion is being crowned by the AP? Teams can still move up and down in the polls. Hell some teams even fall all the way out of the polls sometimes

 

[KyCPA2000]

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.

Exhibitions don't really tell you anything. I am not even paying attention to them anymore.

 

[Wildcat_in_DC]

Exhibitions don't really tell you anything. I am not even paying attention to them anymore.

if wilkins goes 4-12, 2-8 on threes again....
if moreno doesn't do anything than put backs again...
if diallo struggles to do anything again....
if we shoot 58% from the FT line again...

its going to tell me something

 

[UKCowboys]

If UK loses to KU on the 10th, UK will be unranked come Nov 14th. if that were to happen, UK would then need to string together wins vs Indiana, Wichita State, and Virginia to get back into the rankings. lose any of those games and its likely UK is unranked going into conference play.

If we beat KU we will be Top 10. See how that works?

 

[Wildcat_in_DC]

If we beat KU we will be Top 10. See how that works?

KU is ranked 17th so i dont see how beating them makes us top 10.....please explain how you got there

 

[Catastic5]

KU is ranked 17th so i dont see how beating them makes us top 10.....please explain how you got there

Probably move up to like top 20, maybe top 15 depending on who loses ahead of us. I guess if we blew out Kansas or something, sure. Still have my doubts about that game.

 

[megablue]

Hopefully, this ranking is as wrong as their pre-season football ranking was ... !!!

 

[theKybluedude]

Lot of pretty good pieces. Just depends on how they mesh. We need our three injured back for added depth and we do have depth at every spot.

Careless turnovers need to be eliminated and offensive rebounding added. Will be bumpy starting out but there’s talent and the team is big. Defense was impressive. Will keep us in games until they get the offense going. Need to post the ball more often and quit going sideways. I know it’s modern basketball. Let’s make free throws and find a good inbound passer.

I didn’t see anyone who doesn’t understand the game. All of them are ball players with multiple skills. Time and games will really help this group. I’m pretty excited about the potential. Big year for Coach Pope and he knows it.

 

[TheDude73]

How is Iowa ranked above us when they lost their starting pg and starting pf

Because Pope.

 

[megablue]

Hopefully, we will finish better than 7th in the conference.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/college/SEC/2026/10/12/all-sec-preseason-basketball-team-thomas-haugh-tyler-tanner/92170948007/

 

[JASUN74]

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

But we do care. Even if we shouldn’t, Kentucky fans want to win and be first at everything. It’s what make us us. . True it doesn’t win or lose any games but I still want a team that everyone believes we can win. I believe this team is going to surprise the country and make a run this year so it’ll work itself out.

 

[UKCowboys]

KU is ranked 17th so i dont see how beating them makes us top 10.....please explain how you got there

Just using your over the top blabber...."If we lose every game we won't be ranked blah blah blah Fire Pope"

 

[ScWildcat3]

Jeez, if exhibitions don't matter, why the hell did they play 4 overtimes to decide a winner?

Yea that made zero sense to me too. And pitino played some guys 50+ mins.

 

[UKortho]

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

This is the year he turns into Hurley! We will be top 5 by the end of the year!

 

[UKortho]

KU is ranked 17th so i dont see how beating them makes us top 10.....please explain how you got there

He has Pope Infatuation Syndrome (PIS).

 

[VC99]

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

Still not true no matter how many times you say it. Pre-season polls are an entire off-seasons evaluation of roster building/accumulation of talent, coaching success and is based off of MANY different models.

Kentucky, spending top 5 money, should not be putting together underdog rosters that can't compete with the best for a title. Pre-season rankings aren't 100% accurate and there are exceptions but they absolutely matter, especially at a place like Kentucky.

The off-season could be thought of as it's own season and Kentucky finished 23rd.

 

[TFCat11]

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

If? Stokes will go for 35+, and TKR will make Moreno think twice about ever wanting to play in the NBA again until after yr. 5!

This post will trigger the usual suspects, but that game is a few weeks from now, and let’s see who was off on their predictions. I’ll happily eat crow if proven otherwise!

 

[BookofMormon]

If Rupp Rafters is a representation of the wider fan base, it would seem 75% of the overall has already given up on him and wants him out the door. Dead Man Walking.

 

[BookofMormon]

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.

The masses, like the media, are giving UK just enough respect for the good players on the roster, the money and UK, no one in or outside UK believes in Pope.

He's got to effectively show something this year. Meanwhile, have to do some kind of dabbling in the coaching market to see who will consider the job. The last thing you want to happen is to frustrate punt Pope and then settle for another second rate coach.

It Oats doesn't want it, maybe a McCasland doesn't want it, then have to then have to figure out whether a guy like Lucas is ready to move.

 

[ZMCats]

These rankings probably don't mean much in regards to how good this team can be, but I don't understand how we spend so much NIL money (relative to most other teams) in recent years but we don't have an obviously good roster. Just frustrating having to hope for "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts" type team.

That’s what I want to know. Where is this top NIL dollars going too?

 

[Beatle Bum]

We jumped to the top 10 after a win against Duke in year one after beginning at 23.

Point is, these are meaningless with no games played

Season	Preseason AP Rank	Final AP Rank	Difference
2026–27	No. 23	In Progress	—
2025–26	No. 9	Unranked	Down (Dropped out)
2024–25	No. 23	No. 12	Up 11
2023–24	No. 4	No. 20	Down 16
2022–23	No. 10	Unranked	Down (Dropped out)
2021–22	No. 10	No. 7	Up 3
2020–21	No. 2	Unranked	Down (Dropped out)
1920–20	No. 2	No. 8	Down 6
2018–19	No. 5	No. 7	Down 2
2017–18	No. 2	No. 18	Down 16

 

[MidseasonTweak]

Season	Preseason AP Rank	Final AP Rank	Difference
2026–27	No. 23	In Progress	—
2025–26	No. 9	Unranked	Down (Dropped out)
2024–25	No. 23	No. 12	Up 11
2023–24	No. 4	No. 20	Down 16
2022–23	No. 10	Unranked	Down (Dropped out)
2021–22	No. 10	No. 7	Up 3
2020–21	No. 2	Unranked	Down (Dropped out)
1920–20	No. 2	No. 8	Down 6
2018–19	No. 5	No. 7	Down 2
2017–18	No. 2	No. 18	Down 16

Yep. Apart from a few seasons being decently even throughout, the early polls are just that, hype machines that vary greatly by year's end.

 

[Farsight Clone]

This is the year he turns into Hurley! We will be top 5 by the end of the year!

A dash of sarcasm there and another smidge of sarcasm over there