Kentucky Opens Mark Pope's Third Season at No. 23 in the Preseason AP Poll

The first AP Top 25 of the 2026-27 season is out, and Kentucky starts at No. 23.

The poll is built on what voters saw over the offseason. For the Cats that means Malachi Moreno coming back after testing the NBA Draft process and Milan Momcilovic arriving from the transfer portal to give Mark Pope a deep frontcourt around his new guards. Florida is No. 1. SEC rivals Texas (No. 7), Tennessee (No. 8), Arkansas (No. 12), Alabama (No. 20) and Vanderbilt (No. 24) are also ranked, and Louisville sits 12 spots ahead of Kentucky at No. 11.

Our Take: No. 23 is a show-me number, and that's fine. This roster's question is who takes the big shot late in games, and nobody answers that in a preseason poll. There are chances to move up fast, starting with the Texas Tech exhibition this week and the Nov. 3 opener against Manhattan at Rupp.

Per KSR's post on X.

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Sources: On3 (preseason AP poll), KSR, Yahoo Sports, KSR on X