John Clay: Kentucky basketball looks good for 2025-26, but the key will be the mesh

John Clay, Lexington Herald-Leader on May 15, 2025

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — I don’t know how good Kentucky basketball will be next season. Neither do you. Neither do the so-called experts churning out their way-too-early Top 25 rankings for the 2025-26 campaign, which doesn’t officially begin for another six months.

ESPN has Kentucky at No. 10 in its latest rankings. “Kentucky is absolutely loaded on the perimeter next season,” Jeff Borzello writes.

The Cats are 11th in the top 40 posted by CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. Fox Sports’ John Fanta has Mark Pope’s team at No. 8 in his way-too-early rankings.

Maybe the Cats will fare much better than those early gazes into the crystal basketball, maybe they won’t. Remember that Kansas was ranked No. 1 in both the AP and coaches’ preseason polls for last season. The Jayhawks finished the year 21-13 after being knocked out of the first round of the NCAA Tournament by John Calipari and Arkansas. The Jayhawks were a final rankings no-show.

As far as Kentucky in 2025-26 is concerned, here’s the only thing we have to go on: the job Pope did last season putting together a roster.

You remember. Pope was officially named as Calipari’s replacement on April 14. There were no holdovers from the Cats’ previous roster. None. So less than a month after coaching BYU to the Big Dance, Pope had to assemble a roster from scratch.

He did so in fine fashion. The Cats finished 24-12 overall and 10-8 in the SEC, which proved to be the nation’s toughest conference. By far. For the first time since 2019, Kentucky advanced beyond the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Tennessee in a Midwest Region semifinal.

Pope’s first team fit nicely. It played as if it had been playing together for some time. During the regular season, it beat Duke, Gonzaga, Louisville, eventual national champ Florida, Texas A&M, Missouri and Tennessee (twice). Had it not been for a rash of injuries — don’t forget that Jaxson Robinson missed March Madness — the Cats might have made a deeper run.

On paper, at least, Pope’s second team appears to be more talented than his first. Hoops HQ has Kentucky’s transfer portal haul ranked No. 1. “Kentucky’s portal group is a nice mix of proven players with a high upside,” the website said.

Ex-Pittsburgh point guard Jaland Lowe averaged 16.8 points and 5.5 assists per game. Ex-Florida guard Denzel Aberdeen was a key reserve for the national champs. Ex-Tulane forward Kam Willliams shot 39.7% from 3-point range as a freshman. Ex-Alabama forward Mouhamed Dioubate adds a physical presence and can rebound.

Then there’s ex-Arizona State freshman Jayden Quaintance, who is recovering from ACL surgery. Add Croatian center Andrija Jelavic along with freshmen Jasper Johnson — whom Pope called a “superstar” at his Tuesday press conference — and 7-footer Malachi Moreno.

“The guys who have chosen to be here are starving to test themselves every day in practice,” Pope said on Tuesday “It’s going to be a special group.”

I asked Pope if he looked for anything different in this year’s transfer portal compared to last year.

“No big swings,” he said. “Maybe more fine-tuned differences.”

Pope did say this: “We have a lot more data points this year. … Our staff is going to be 100 times better than it was last year.”

Perhaps UK’s biggest question involves a player from last year’s portal. Otega Oweh, the 2024-25 team’s leading scorer after transferring from Oklahoma, is at the NBA Combine in 2025. Oweh has another year of college eligibility, if he chooses, or he can remain in the draft.

“We talk to all our guys that go through the process,” Pope said.

Oweh’s return might move the Cats up a spot or two among those early charts. It would mean more on the floor than it would on paper.

Still, next season’s success depends on the mesh. How will players adapt to their roles? How will players handle the pressure of playing at Kentucky? How will players bond while living, eating, practicing, traveling and competing together?

It all worked quite well in Year 1 for Mark Pope. Based on that, you have to believe it can work even better in Year 2.

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