Mark Pope has set a goal for this Kentucky team. It could equal a national title
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Mark Pope targets a top-10 KenPom defense to transform Kentucky’s season.
- Ten new players and four returnees force defensive chemistry and growth.
- Historic KenPom data links top-10 offense and defense to deep NCAA runs.
Mark Pope doesn’t just want his Kentucky Wildcats to be better defensively this season.
He wants them to be elite.
“We’d like to be top 10,” Pope said before the college basketball season began of UK’s desired spot in the national efficiency ratings. “And that’s a yeoman’s task. We’d like to be number one, but if we can slide into that top-10 space, it’s going to serve us really well. But that’s going to be an every second of every day pursuit.”
It is. Especially for a roster that is still trying to get a feel for itself.
Last season’s team — the first of the Pope era at Kentucky — consisted entirely of players who had never played with each other. Every teammate was new. And while the Cats were one of the nation’s best offensive teams — No. 10 in the country in the final KenPom efficiency ratings — they struggled defensively, and it often showed itself in a lack of connectivity on the court.
The 2025-26 roster features four returnees from that squad — Otega Oweh, who started every game last season, plus role players Brandon Garrison, Collin Chandler and Trent Noah — but 10 of Pope’s current players are new to the program, including a few starters and some others who will play prominent roles.
Oweh lived through the brand-newness of it all last season, when the Wildcats finished the season at No. 51 in the KenPom defensive efficiency ratings (and needed a late surge to even make it that high). UK’s top returning player talked about that team’s connectivity issues on defense over the course of last season — as did other teammates — and Oweh once again lamented the Cats’ ball-screen defense after last week’s exhibition loss to Georgetown.
The reasoning sounded familiar.
“I think it’s just being connected,” he said. “And on top of that, just talking, paying attention to the little details. We didn’t do a good job of that, but we’re gonna work on that. And we still have so much to improve on. It’s a new squad, but we’re gonna get better every single day.”
One of those new players, Alabama transfer Mouhamed Dioubate, saw Kentucky’s defense up close last season. His Crimson Tide played — and defeated — the Cats three times. In each of those games, Bama abused UK’s defense, averaging 99.0 points over those three contests.
Before the season started, however, Dioubate — one of the key players in Pope’s drive to make this a better defensive team — was bullish on what these Wildcats can be capable of.
“I think we could be a top-five team — a top-five defensive team in the country,” he said. “We have all the tools to do it. We got all the players. I think we’re going to have the drive this year to do it even more. Last year, they didn’t have the same kind of players, personnel, when it came to the defensive side. But I feel like this year we have it.”
UK’s exhibition win over No. 1-ranked Purdue spoke to Dioubate’s point. In that one, the simple visual of Kentucky’s players on the defense had to delight those who want these Wildcats to play more of it this season. Compared to last year’s group, these Cats were clearly more active, physical and athletic.
Pope talked all offseason about playing a more aggressive defensive style to suit his new personnel, which includes lengthy guards like Oweh, Denzel Aberdeen and Kam Williams, as well as disruptive frontcourt players who like to initiate contact, such as Dioubate, Garrison, freshman center Malachi Moreno, and — when he returns from injury — Jayden Quaintance.
Teams led by Pope — now in his 11th season as a head coach — have never been known for their defense. But UK assistant Cody Fueger — a Pope staff member for each of the past 11 seasons — said that they’ve never had a roster built to play defense like this one.
“I do think we have some toughness and some fight,” Pope said of achieving that top-10 standard after the Georgetown loss, noting that it was largely missing on that night. “... There’s so much to learn, so much to grow.”
Dioubate also reiterated his expectation of being a top-10 defense on the night of the loss to the Hoyas. It’s just not going to happen overnight.
“We have the intangibles of a defensive team — a top defensive team,” he said. “You got the size. We got the length, the athleticism. It’s just a matter of us coming together and being together … talking, communicating and being on the same page.”
Kentucky in the KenPom ratings
If these Wildcats can get on the same page? Watch out.
Before moving on to the importance of the figure, it’s worth noting that becoming a top-10 defensive team is no Pope pipedream. The numbers back up the coach’s hopes.
When the KenPom preseason ratings were released last month, Kentucky came in at No. 9 in offensive efficiency and No. 4 in defensive efficiency. Only Houston, Iowa State and Tennessee — the three teams that have finished No. 1 nationally in the stat over the past three seasons — were rated higher than the Wildcats.
And only Houston and Florida — the two teams that played for the national title in 2025 — joined Kentucky with a top-10 ranking on both sides of the ball. Pope doesn’t need to say out loud that he expects these Wildcats to finish top 10 nationally in offensive efficiency. That’ll likely be a given for as long as he’s coaching.
If they can manage to be a top-10 team on both sides? That could mean a banner year for Kentucky basketball.
Over the past 10 college seasons, a total of 19 teams have finished with a top-10 KenPom ranking in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Nine of those teams went to the Final Four, and five won national titles. Another — Kansas in 2020 — didn’t get to play in the NCAA Tournament, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Jayhawks would have been a No. 1 seed in March Madness that year. And six additional teams from that group made it to the Elite Eight.
That’s 15 of 18 March Madness teams that made deep NCAA Tournament runs. Here’s the recent rundown:
- Last season, three teams finished top 10 in both categories — Auburn, Duke and Florida — and they all made the Final Four, with Duke losing to Houston (12th in offensive efficiency; first in defense) in the national semifinals and the Gators beating Auburn in the Final Four and then the Cougars in the NCAA title game.
- In 2024, UConn (the national champs) and Auburn — upset in the first round — did it.
- UConn also won the national title in 2023, when the Huskies were the only team to finish top 10 in both KenPom efficiency stats. So, the past three NCAA champions have accomplished the goal Pope has set for his squad.
- Virginia (2019) and Villanova (2016) also won national titles while finishing top 10 in both KenPom stats. In 2018, Nova was crowned NCAA champion while ending up first in offensive efficiency and 11th in defensive efficiency. North Carolina, the 2017 champion, was ninth in offense and 11th defensively.
And, for the curious, Kentucky has managed this feat a total of five times since the KenPom ratings began with the 1996-97 season. Those five UK teams: the 2015 Final Four squad that finished 38-1, the 2012 national champions, the 2003 Elite Eight team that entered March Madness with the No. 1 ranking, the 1998 NCAA champs and the 1997 national runner-up team.
Bottom line: if these Cats can live up to Pope’s standard, there’s a good chance they’ll go into the NCAA Tournament with a realistic shot at the 2026 national championship. The numbers say they can do it. But there’s a lot of growth that will need to happen first.
