With the 2025-26 college basketball season just five weeks away, advanced statistician Evan Miyakawa released his preseason top 25 on Monday and Kentucky checks in at No. 10.
Houston was No. 1, followed by Purdue, Duke, and defending national champion Florida with Michigan rounding out the top five. UConn is No. 6, followed by Arizona, BYU, and Illinois with UK rounding out the top 10.
Miyakawa has seven SEC teams ranked in the top 25: 4) Florida, 10) Kentucky, 15) Tennessee, 16) Alabama, 20) Arkansas, 24) Vanderbilt and 25) Auburn. The league set a new NCAA Tournament record with 14 postseason bids a year ago.
The Wildcats are rated as the ninth-best defensive team and No. 16 in terms of offensive efficiency. Miyakawa has Kentucky’s incoming transfer class ranked No. 2 nationally.
UK returns its leading scorer and starting shooting guard in Otega Oweh as well as reserves Brandon Garrison, Collin Chandler, and Trent Noah.
For the second straight offseason, head coach Mark Pope signed a top-5 transfer portal class, which includes five of the top 65 prospects in the portal according to 247Sports, with some estimating Kentucky’s roster at or around $20 million in NIL.
According to 247Sports final transfer rankings, Pope has the No. 5 class nationally behind only St. John’s, Michigan, Louisville and Kansas State with five transfers ranked among the top 65 prospects in the portal, including 12) Arizona State center Jayden Quaintance, 38) Pittsburgh point guard Jaland Lowe, 44) Tulane forward Kam Williams, 56) Florida combo guard Denzel Aberdeen, and 63) Alabama forward Mouhamed Dioubate in addition to 335) Miami (Ohio) center and Lexington native Reece Potter.
In addition to his top-5 transfer portal class, Pope also inked a top-15 high school class, which features 4-star combo guard Jasper Johnson (No. 24 overall), 4-star center and McDonald’s All-American Malachi Moreno (No. 28) and 4-star wing Braydon Hawthorne (No. 33).
Kentucky also signed coveted Croatian power forward Andrija Jelavic, who is not rated by 247Sports, but is widely projected to be among the biggest international additions in college basketball next season.
When combining the transfer portal and high school classes, Pope’s 2025 roster haul ranks No. 4 overall according to 247Sports behind only Duke, Houston and BYU.
“Competitive, deep, skilled,” Pope said this offseason. “I think the guys that have chosen to be here are guys that are just starving to come test themselves every day in practice to come get better. I’ve got hungry, hungry, hungry guys. I’ve got guys that have unique, distinguishable skill sets that fit us really well. I’m excited about this group. This is going to be a really special group.”
Following exhibition games vs. Purdue and Georgetown at Rupp Arena, the Wildcats officially open the 2025-26 season by hosting Nicholls in the BBN United Tip Off Classic on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Kentucky’s non-conference schedule also includes marquee matchups vs. Louisville (Nov. 11), Michigan State in the Champions Classic (Nov. 18), North Carolina in the ACC/SEC Challenge (Dec. 2), Gonzaga in Nashville (Dec. 5), Indiana (Dec. 13) and St. John’s in the CBS Sports Classic (Dec. 20).