LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky Wildcats will hit the court for their first “real” preseason practice Monday.

Mark Pope’s basketball team spent eight weeks together over the summer, with some clear progress being made during those sessions; so say those who were in the gym.

And the Wildcats have been back in the Joe Craft Center since returning to campus late last month, taking part in less formal workouts in anticipation of the 2025-26 season.

But when Pope’s Cats walk into the building Monday, it’ll signal the true start of their preseason. No more lengthy breaks or extended trips back home until the 2025-26 campaign is finished.

And this group has a legitimate chance to extend that season into April, the ultimate goal of ending things at the Final Four in Indianapolis at the top of UK’s to-do list.

On paper, this team seems fully capable of such a journey. But it’ll have to iron out some wrinkles along the way, and — as talented as this roster appears to be — there are certainly major questions that will need to be answered when the real games begin.

With six weeks of practice ahead of the regular-season opener against Nicholls on Nov. 4, some of those concerns could clear up in the short term. Others will take longer to get a true fix on.

These are five major questions for the Wildcats, who might very well turn out to be national title contenders if the answers can be found.

Kentucky’s 3-point shooting

Just to get this out of the way at the top: Ask around at the Craft Center, and 3-point shooting isn’t much of a concern going into the 2025-26 season. The players themselves are incredibly confident in their collective ability to knock down long-range shots. The coaches — and other recent practice observers — have been impressed with the 3-point shooting so far.

But the hype doesn’t match up with the demonstrated results, and these Wildcats will have to prove it on game days before fans should breathe a sigh of relief.

Pope’s first UK team was built to let it fly, the new head coach coming to town with the goal of putting up 35 3-pointers per game. Last season’s Cats didn’t manage that (only 25.3 attempts per game) but they did break the school record with 341 made 3-pointers.

That roster had four players who had averaged at least 6.0 long-range attempts per game the previous season. All four of those players — Koby Brea, Ansley Almonor, Kerr Kriisa and Jaxson Robinson — made at least 2.5 3s per game the previous season, too.

Pope’s 2025-26 roster features zero players who attempted more than 5.0 3-pointers per game last season. Jaland Lowe, the team’s presumed starting point guard, averaged exactly that many, but he made only 26.6% as a sophomore at Pitt.

And Tulane transfer Kam Williams is the leading Cat, by a wide margin, as far as made 3-pointers last season. He hit 1.9 per game, with 63 total makes. Lowe is second at 41, with Denzel Aberdeen next at 36 and Otega Oweh after that with 27 3-pointers in 2024-25.

So, these Cats lack a proven, high-volume 3-point shooter going into the season.

Williams seems the best bet to put up big numbers from beyond the arc. Aberdeen — a 35% shooter in each of the past two years at Florida — is expected to get more looks than he did in Gainesville. Lowe was a 35.2% shooter from deep as a freshman, with more weapons around him and less offensive weight on his shoulders than in his sophomore season.

Oweh — a 35.5% shooter last season — has talked about refining that aspect of his game, with the intent of taking more 3s this time around. Collin Chandler closed the season on a tear from long range — 12 for 23 over the final seven games — and could be in for a breakout season.

Mouhamed Dioubate, who’s expected to start at the 4, actually shot 46.2% from deep last season at Alabama, but he attempted only 26 3s. His shot volume should rise.

Trent Noah might be the best 3-point shooter on the team — that’s what Lowe said over the summer — and Reece Potter is a 7-footer who hit 36.7% from deep on 60 attempts last season at Miami (Ohio), but just how much either of those players will play remains a mystery.

Five-star guard Jasper Johnson and international forward Andrija Jelavic bring immense long-range upside to the roster, but neither has attempted an NCAA 3-pointer yet.

Pope has plenty of potential firepower from deep on this team. Potential being the key word, for now. Until some of these Cats prove they can hit college 3s with consistency and volume, the question of whether this group can live up to Pope’s plans to let it fly once again will remain unanswered.

Who backs up Jaland Lowe?

The biggest reason that the Wildcats didn’t make it further in the NCAA Tournament last season might have been something beyond their control.

Injury. Specifically, injury at a key position.

By the time the postseason rolled around, starting point guard Lamont Butler was limited, playing with a shoulder ailment that clearly impacted his performance. Pope’s second and third options at the point — Kriisa and Robinson — were already ruled out for the season with injuries. Next up was Travis Perry, who had valiantly filled in amid the absences but was clearly not ready to make a major, consistent impact against top competition. All together, it wasn’t a great situation.

Pope talked this offseason about having more options at his disposal in year two, but will he?

Lowe is the clear PG1 on this roster, and his skill set, especially offensively, appears to line up well with Pope’s approach. Beyond that? Question marks.

Over the summer, Pope pinpointed four other Cats — Aberdeen, Johnson, Chandler and Oweh — who could play minutes at the 1, though none of those players is considered a primary point guard.

Aberdeen makes the most sense as a true backup, but he’s also a top candidate to start alongside Lowe and Oweh, so Pope might have to get creative with early subs and rotations to have a fresh playmaker on the floor after the game’s opening minutes. Aberdeen started five times in 83 career appearances at Florida, averaging 1.4 assists in 19.7 minutes last season.

Johnson is certainly crafty with the ball in his hands, but he’s known as more of a microwave scorer at this stage in his career. He’s also acknowledged that putting on weight — and gaining strength — will be key to getting where he wants to go with the ball at the high-major level.

Chandler could be an interesting play here. He often looked lost or overwhelmed with the ball in his hands last season — 21 assists and 26 turnovers in 30 games — but he hadn’t played the sport for two years while on a church mission. Ball-handling, decision-making and doing both while playing at a much faster speed than he was used to were surely areas where that rust showed the most.

Oweh was always a danger to create a shot for himself last season, but he’s said that growing as a playmaker for others — while making better decisions on the move — will be a key focus moving forward. He averaged 1.7 assists and 1.5 turnovers per game as a junior, logging a plus assist-to-turnover ratio for the first time in his career.

Lowe played 35 minutes per game last season and should be on the court for about three-quarters of the time this season, so Pope really just needs one of these options to pan out as a consistent playmaker. But he’ll also need Lowe — and whoever backs him up — to stay healthy. Last season proved that’s not a given.

Quaintance? Garrison? Moreno?

Speaking of positional question marks, the 5 spot is filled with them.

A strange thing to say about the position group that boasts three McDonald’s All-Americans.

Quaintance is the highest-rated NBA prospect on the team — ESPN projects him at No. 6 for the 2026 draft — but the 6-foot-10, 255-pound teenager underwent surgery for a torn ACL in March and is unlikely to be ready for the season opener. Even when he does make his UK debut — which might not happen until December (or later) — it will surely take some time for him to get up to full strength and stamina.

Brandon Garrison is presumed to be the Cats’ starting 5 while Quaintance recovers — and maybe even after he debuts — but the 6-10, 245-pound junior was inconsistent as Amari Williams’ backup last season, often just a little off on his timing and execution at a position that requires a high level of both attributes in Pope’s system.

Malachi Moreno — at 7-feet tall and 250 pounds — is a player with tremendous long-term upside. (Like, first-round NBA draft pick upside.) But he’s just a freshman. He received praise over the summer for his sponge-like approach to learning Pope’s style and flashes of occasional brilliance on the court, but it was also acknowledged that he’ll need much more growth before he can be counted upon as a consistent contributor.

And don’t forget about Potter, who averaged 6.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 0.7 blocks as a sophomore at Miami (Ohio) last season. He’s 7-1 and 230 pounds, with a 39.8% career 3-point shooting rate and a high level of comfort playing on the perimeter. He’s likely to have a difficult path to meaningful minutes in this group, however.

It’s possible that Pope goes with Dioubate as an occasional small-ball 5 — especially in the early going — but two of the aforementioned centers will have to pan out for this team to make a run.

UK’s best-case scenario is that Quaintance is fully ramped up by March — which also means staying healthy between now and then — and Garrison takes a step forward from last season’s uneven performance. Neither scenario is guaranteed, and it’ll probably be months before Pope knows exactly what he has at the 5 spot.

UK’s defensive outlook

Pope rarely showed displeasure with his own team last season — publicly, at least — almost always looking for the positives amid potential issues of concern. A couple of exceptions: team defense and rebounding, two areas that go hand in hand and will need improvement in year two.

Both were common topics of consternation in Pope’s first year.

The team defense was bad for much of the season, even with high-level individual defenders Butler, Oweh and Amari Williams in the starting lineup. The Cats were outside the national top 100 in defensive efficiency late in the season before a strong finish landed them at No. 51 in the final KenPom ratings. That was still only good enough for 11th in the SEC.

Pope often lambasted UK’s offensive rebounding, which is a key component of his overall scoring approach. (More offensive boards, obviously, mean more possessions.) The Cats were 229th nationally (and 13th in the SEC) in offensive rebounding rate.

Both numbers need to get better if Kentucky is going to compete for a national title.

Pope knows that, and it’s a big part of the reason why he brought in longer, more athletic — and, in some cases, stronger — players like Dioubate, Quaintance and Kam Williams to bolster this roster.

Balancing the skill and shooting ability with the need to get more physical and disruptive on both sides of the ball was a priority in the construction of this roster. It certainly looks like Pope has found the right pieces to complete that puzzle, but last season’s team featured one of the best defenders in the sport (Butler) and others capable of getting stops, yet Kentucky often struggled to execute, even when everyone was healthy.

Finishing outside the top 50 in defensive efficiency won’t cut it if these Cats want to go far in March. They’ll need to be better defensively, both individually and as a unit.

Can these Cats jell on the court?

The trouble with making preseason predictions in college basketball these days is that nearly every roster in the country has a high level of turnover. This Kentucky team has 10 new players, and almost all of them will be expected to make some kind of meaningful impact this season.

For that to happen, the Cats have to be on the same page.

Every player on last season’s roster was completely new to UK basketball, and that presented a major challenge. Those Wildcats spoke early and often about how well they jelled from the get-go, and the chemistry seemed pretty clear from an offensive standpoint as soon as they hit the court.

Pope’s approach to scoring is predicated on trust, timing and decision-making — knowing where your teammates and opponents are going to be and executing the right play quickly, before the brief window for success closes — and that appeared to click with last season’s Cats pretty quickly.

Defensively, it took longer for those Cats to come together, something the players readily acknowledged through struggles that lasted for most of the season. Trying to project whether or not this bunch will quickly coalesce — on both sides of the ball — is a fool’s errand.

It’s unknowable until the games are actually played.

So far, the Cats are saying the right things. But nearly every preseason on every college campus is filled with tales of off-court bonding and the building of on-court chemistry. The real thing can’t be predicted via anecdotal evidence or a deeper look at past numbers.

The objective for this team will be replicating a similar level of offensive efficiency while doing better as a collective defensive unit — at a much earlier stage of the season than last year — and that means getting five players to play as one on both sides of the court.

It won’t be easy, as last season’s struggles with a veteran-packed roster proved, but it will be necessary to make a deep run. And the next several weeks on the practice court will likely be a major determining factor in whether these Wildcats can get the job done.

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