The ‘bible’ of college basketball is high on Kentucky’s chances this season
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- Blue Ribbon ranks Kentucky No. 8 in its 2025-26 preseason Top 25 rankings.
- Pope’s backcourt, with Oweh, Lowe and Aberdeen, is rated No. 1 in the SEC.
How to explain Kentucky’s preseason standing in the nation’s biggest college basketball preview magazine?
“Well, it starts with the guy at the front of the bench. I’m a really, really huge fan of Mark Pope,” said Chris Dortch, the longtime editor of Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook.
The latest edition of Blue Ribbon — known within the sport as the “bible” of college basketball — is coming out soon, and Kentucky will be mentioned plenty.
Pope’s Wildcats are listed at No. 8 in the yearbook’s preseason Top 25 rankings.
“If you look up and down this current roster, I think he’s got guys that’ll be able to do what they did last year, probably even at a higher level, provided they stay healthy,” Dortch said.
In Pope’s first year in charge of the program, the Wildcats entered the NCAA Tournament as a 3 seed and made it to the Sweet 16 before being knocked off there by Tennessee, a team UK defeated twice during the regular season.
That ending came with an asterisk, however, as Dortch pointed out several times while discussing the 2025-26 Wildcats and their chances to accomplish something special in Pope’s second season on the job.
“If they had been even decently healthy all year long — I mean, who knows, but they could’ve been a Final Four team,” Dortch said. “If they were healthy, they would have had a chance to win it all last year. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.”
That Dortch, a USBWA Hall of Fame writer who has been running the Blue Ribbon operation for nearly three decades, thinks this UK team could be even better than that one is no small statement.
Blue Ribbon was a little higher than most on the Wildcats going into last season, too, ranking Kentucky at No. 19 in the yearbook, four spots better than their ultimate placement in the Associated Press preseason Top 25.
Twenty of the 60 AP voters left UK off their preseason Top 25 ballots altogether last year. Pope’s Cats quickly vaulted into the top five before injuries started mounting. By tournament time, Jaxson Robinson and Kerr Kriisa were out for the season, Lamont Butler was limited with a shoulder injury and other key players were playing hurt.
Still, Pope led UK past the first week of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
Dortch called that “a heck of a coaching job” under the circumstances, praising Pope for his ability to connect with players, implement a fun style on the court and build rosters in an ever-changing college basketball landscape.
The one he’s built for the 2025-26 campaign could be special.
Blue Ribbon ranks Kentucky’s backcourt at No. 1 in the SEC, which is once again expected to be the premier league in the country after putting a record 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament last season. Ranking No. 1 in the SEC in any category is quite a feat these days, and Dortch noted the importance of backcourt success, especially when March Madness rolls around.
“In recent times, it’s become a game that’s dominated by guard play,” he said.
Dortch especially liked the addition of Pittsburgh transfer Jaland Lowe — the projected starting point guard for the Cats — as well as Florida transfer Denzel Aberdeen, who Gators coaches were upset to lose off last season’s national championship team.
He said Lowe should fit well in Pope’s system and with all of the scoring weapons that have been assembled around him. With Aberdeen, the Gators’ loss was UK’s gain.
“Kentucky thinks he can shoot it at a higher level, with more opportunities and more reps,” Dortch said.
Aberdeen shot 35.0% on 103 3-point attempts last season but is expected to get more looks at Kentucky. He shot 41.4% on 29 long-range attempts in five SEC starts for the Gators a season ago, more than doubling his average number of 3-point shots per game when given a bigger opportunity.
Blue Ribbon projects Aberdeen to start for the Wildcats this season.
“We haven’t even talked about Oweh yet,” Dortch said. “And he’s a badass.”
Yes, Kentucky’s leading scorer from last season is back, and Otega Oweh will enter his final year of college ball in the SEC player of the year discussion. Blue Ribbon has him on its preseason All-American second team.
“With those three guards, they’re going to be problematic for people,” Dortch said. “I mean, you’d be hard pressed to find a better triumvirate of guards than what Kentucky will put on the floor. You really would.”
He also liked the upside of sophomore Collin Chandler and freshman Jasper Johnson, adding he wouldn’t be surprised if the latter worked his way into Pope’s starting five and said both should provide high-level shooting potential.
“And Kam Williams can shoot it,” Dortch added of the 6-foot-8 transfer from Tulane who shot 41.2% from 3-point range as a freshman, with 63 makes from deep, more than any current Kentucky player last season.
Between Pope, that potential 3-point firepower, “excellent guard play” and a good mix of size and athleticism, the backcourt should be dynamic.
“So, right there, you have a chance in every game you play,” Dortch said.
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UK basketball’s biggest concern?
Kentucky’s frontcourt doesn’t rank in the top three in the SEC, according to the Blue Ribbon projections — Florida, Auburn and Tennessee secured those spots — but there’s plenty of talent there, too.
Dortch said he loves the fit of Alabama transfer Mouhamed Dioubate, who plays even bigger than his 6-7, 220-pound listing and could be sitting on a breakout season after coming off a highly efficient sophomore year for the Crimson Tide.
“There’s a guy that — if he’s your 4 man — he’s a threat to get an offensive rebound, putback dunk. He’s a threat to make a 3. And if you go out to guard him, he’s also a threat to get to the rim,” Dortch said.
Jayden Quaintance is still recovering from ACL surgery and will likely be unavailable to start the season. But the 6-10, 255-pound center is projected as an NBA lottery pick and should be a game-changing addition to the lineup by December or January.
“He’s a bad boy when he’s ready,” Dortch said.
In the meantime — and perhaps even after Quaintance returns — UK is likely to start Brandon Garrison at the 5 spot. Garrison is a former McDonald’s All-American who showed flashes of NBA-type upside at times last season.
Pope will also have McDonald’s All-American freshman Malachi Moreno, intriguing international forward Andrija Jelavic and Lexington native Reece Potter — listed at 7-feet, 6-11 and 7-1, respectively — at his disposal in the frontcourt. All three are comfortable playing on the perimeter.
There’s also Trent Noah, who hit some big shots as a freshman and has been called the best shooter on this team by multiple teammates, as well as high-upside forward Braydon Hawthorne, who’s viewed as more of a long-term talent for the Wildcats’ roster.
Might Pope’s biggest “problem” be too much talent?
“When you’ve got a lot of depth, the concern is keeping everybody’s head in the game,” Dortch said. “So Coach Pope’s problem, if you could call it a problem — I mean, it’s probably what I would call a delightful dilemma — is making sure that everybody realizes they’re going to get their turn.”
The Blue Ribbon editor recalled countless conversations he’s had with coaches over the years who said the issue with similarly deep rosters is keeping everyone happy. Such setups often lead to little-used players asking for one-on-one talks with the head coach during the season. “What do I have to do to get on the floor more?” those conversations begin.
The NCAA recently raised the basketball scholarship limit to 15 players, but Dortch said several high-level coaches have told him they don’t plan to use that allotment moving forward. Keeping that many players happy is no easy task.
At the same time, coaches around the country are stressing the importance of roster retention. Trying to juggle the ability to win in the short term while building a roster capable of returning key players for future seasons is perhaps the No. 1 challenge in the current landscape.
So, a roster like Pope’s — with 14 “scholarship-level” players and Oweh and Aberdeen the only two seniors among them — might need a little extra care as the season progresses.
“Retention is hugely important,” Dortch said. “Mark is going to be wary of retention while he’s trying to win basketball games. Any smart coach would. You don’t want to have to go get nine or 10 guys every year. It’s difficult. No matter who you are. Even if you’re Kentucky, even if you’re Tennessee, even if you’re Alabama, even if you’re Duke. …
“And so he’s going to have one eye on retention, even as he’s trying to win basketball games.”
Dortch has several of those rivals ahead of UK in the rankings.
Florida, which won the 2025 national championship, is No. 1 in the Blue Ribbon preseason Top 25, narrowly edging out Purdue for the top spot. Houston, Duke and UConn round out the top five, with St. John’s at No. 6 and Tennessee at No. 7, followed by Kentucky, Michigan and Louisville in the top 10.
The 400-page preview magazine, which has detailed write-ups on all 365 Division I teams and incredibly in-depth looks at those in the Top 25, is available for preorder at blueribbonyearbook.com, with the digital edition already downloadable. (Hard copies of the yearbook are expected to ship in early October.)
With the transfer portal shaking up rosters all over the country on an annual basis, it’s a valuable resource for college basketball fans. And Dortch clearly expects the Cats to be mainstays at the top of his preseason rankings for years to come.
“It’s just a different world,” he said. “And Mark is equipped to handle it. Mark Pope is equipped to handle college basketball in the year 2025. That is my quote.”
This story was originally published September 16, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
