Kentucky is preparing to begin its 2026-2027 campaign, but with so many new faces joining the squad and more than a few uncertainties following the preseason, fans are debating how far the team can go this March.

Let’s break down what the analytics are saying…

Evanmiya.com ran 10,000 simulations of the college basketball season to determine each team’s floor and ceiling this year.

After the simulations, Kentucky was ranked fifth in the SEC, with a national preseason rank of No. 19. The average finish for the Wildcats in the simulations was 26th in the country, with their ceiling being 6th and their floor being 68th.

Again, these are just simulations, so take it with a grain of salt.

Looking back on Mark Pope’s squad and their exhibition games, this roster seems to have talent and depth, with Mason Williams being one of the unexpected standouts early on. Braydon Hawthorne, Malachi Moreno and Milan Momcilovic have all turned heads as well.

Williams was the second-highest scorer in the Wildcats’ last exhibition game against UCF, where he tallied 18 points on the night and led UK to an overtime win at Rupp Arena.

With Momcilovic being named to the Preseason All-SEC Second Team and Moreno being named to the Preseason All-SEC Third Team, it’s evident that the coaches, fans and media admit this roster has the talent necessary to make a deep run.

Both have commented multiples times this offseason on how important chemistry has been when the team was meshing over the offseason, which should give fans hope that the two main stars on this team will lead Kentucky with everything they have.

A 10-8 record for Pope and company in SEC play last year won’t play, so it’s all hands on deck for the search of improvement this season. So BBN, can this squad put the blue and white back on top of the college basketball world?

We will find out soon enough, with Kentucky starting its regular season on Tuesday, Nov. 3 and hosting Manhattan. The game is scheduled to tip off at 7:00 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on the SEC Network.

Kentucky Men’s Basketball has produced plenty of elite shooters over the years, but Milan Momcilovic has the potential to be the best the Big Blue Nation has ever seen.

Momcilovic transferred to Kentucky following his junior year at Iowa State, where he shot 48.7% from three-point range and connected on 136 of them, leading the nation in both regards. Now, he joins a Mark Pope offense that relies heavily on shooting from beyond the arc, giving him an opportunity to put up similar numbers as a Wildcat, if not better.

The current record for threes made in a single season is held by Jodie Meeks, with 117 made during the 2008-09 season. In theory, if Momcilovic were to repeat his numbers from last year, he would surpass the current record by 19.

However, breaking the school’s single-season three-point percentage record could be a tougher task. Cameron Mills currently holds that record, shooting 53.2% from beyond the arc during the 1996-97 season. While Momcilovic’s 48.7% mark from last season was insanely impressive, he would need to be even more efficient this year to surpass Mills.

While it will be a tough task for Momcilovic to break either of these records, he has already proven that he can shoot at an elite level, averaging 16.6 points per game on 45% percent from deep in the team’s three exhibition matchups.

With Pope wanting his team to get up at least 30 threes a game, this will give Momcilovic plenty of opportunity to show off his range. Only time will tell if he can become the best shooter BBN has ever seen, but he will certainly be one of them ones.

As a student here at the University of Kentucky, this semester has so far been the most memorable and exciting, even before the greatest tradition in the history of college basketball. 

Kentucky Football has had a coach-debuting season for the ages, Kentucky Volleyball has played like a top-five team in the country all year and Kenny Brooks has provided multiple reasons for fans to be excited for the upcoming women’s basketball season.

I’m starting this report with this note because this has put even more pressure on Mark Pope, who’s frankly in hot-seat mode after two seasons in the head coach role.

Friday night would serve as a massive talking point in terms of what we could expect in a ranked basketball game this year, as No. 23 Kentucky would take on No. 19 Texas Tech in the Cats’ second exhibition game. These preseason matches should be taken with a grain of salt at the end of the day, but how did the they actually perform in their first major matchup?

First Half

The first half started fairly pitiful for the Wildcats. Washington transfer Zoom Diallo and international prospect Ousmane N’Diaye would score the first points for Big Blue, but some boneheaded turnovers in the first stint of the game led to the Red Raiders taking an early lead. 

Couple that with a lack of shooting from range, and it looked worrying for both Pope and the crowd, who were looking to give Rupp Arena its iconic home court advantage.

In the first 12 minutes of play, Diallo would rack up three of the first seven turnovers and bring the deficit to near double digits early on.

Kentucky’s defense kept the game in check, however. Pope’s teams are typically prioritizing range-shooting and complex pass plays, but a steady chain of steals and door-closing coverage would more than help with keeping the Cats’ deficit close.

The momentum this game switched completely was around the six-minute mark, where Kentucky would rattle off a 17-3 run to wrap up the first half and take a four-point lead before the break.

For a team that Pope bragged about for being a lights-out squad from range, it would actually be the hustle and defensive efforts that would help the blue and white into the locker room with a convincing lead over one of the top contenders in the Big 12.

Second Half

Kentucky would actually keep this momentum going in the second half, with N’Diaye and freshman Mason Williams rattling off a block and a deep three respectively to start things with a 10-2 run. Texas Tech would redeem itself with a quick 6-0 run to survive going into the first TV timeout, but that red-hot start played a crucial part in energizing the fans at Rupp Arena.

When talking about some of the player performances during the game, N’Diaye may be one of the most intruguing X-Factors that the Cats have coming into the season. The international prospect from Senegal plays as a versatile glass protector that can confidently shoot the ball when needed most. It’ll sure be exciting to see how he contributes against teams like Kansas and Louisville in the next 45 days.

I had originally wrote down a rant talking about how Alex Wilkins had been my most underwhelming player of the night, but as basketball is a game of massive swings, he more than proved me wrong when the Cats were desparate for a dagger.

Wilkins was known by the Big Blue Nation as someone needing development as a playmaker, especially in his turnover margins. Luckily, he redeemed himself with massive threes in the last half of the game to help Kentucky breathe. Suddenly the game was tied at 54, but the Cats were never behind during the second half.

The Red Raiders hung on for as long as they could, but the Wildcats cleaned up their act from the first half and responded with a captivating 76-65 victory for their second exhibition win.

Pope’s lineup of Milan Momcilovic, Malachi Moreno, Wilkins, Williams and N’Diaye combined for 67 of those 76 points on a 7/24 shooting clip from deep.

Postgame

It’s always very important to note that you shouldn’t overreact to any result of an exhibition, but after Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland nodded to the “our length is our strength” tagline that Pope has been pitching, it’s safe to say that we may have a fun team brewing in Lexington. McCasland also praised Momcilovic’s respectable performance, coming from a coach who had to plan against the Wisconsin native for three years straight.

“I’ve seen it a million times: Momcilovic made us pay from three,” he said. “Kentucky’s got a really good team.”

The biggest takeaway the Raiders’ head coach mentioned was that he uses these exhibitions to measure “togetherness” both on and off the court. While these games don’t count towards any head-to-head records, he wanted to better understand who really wants to be on the court, looking to see who’s cheering for their teammates or who’s keeping the sideline in check during times where momentum does not swing in their favor.

With First-Team All American JT Toppin resting after an ACL tear towards the end of last season, it’s especially important to understand the roles of everybody on the team.

Pope started his press conference with similar nods to togetherness, this time referencing a Rupp Arena crowd during an exhibition on fall break weekend.

“I will never take [Rupp Arena] for granted. 20,000 people finding their way into this arena for an exhibition game is just amazing,” Pope said. “Big Blue Nation is incredible.”

While he acknowledged his team’s clunkiness in the first half of the game, he was very impressed with the responses and runs the Cats created against a physical power-conference foe. Again, he continues to highlight and praise Williams, who has played 48 minutes and committed just one turnover in his two showings. Moreno had similar marks of respect.

“[Mason Williams] makes us a lot better. He’s a spark off the bench and he’s proving a lot of people wrong,” Pope said. “He’s a hard worker in the gym all day long, doing what he needs to do.”

What’s Next?

Kentucky has some nice momentum coming out of Pope’s first (unofficial) win vs. McCasland! Perhaps they can use that when they look to face another Big 12 opponent in UCF on Wednesday, Oct. 28.

There are a LOT of notes you can take from this ranked win as they roll into Wednesday. Could Pope shift the starting lineup in his final exhibition after an eye-popping performance from Williams? In the last game of the season that doesn’t count for anything, perhaps that could be a viable option.

How will Diallo respond after a below-par showing? Is N’Diaye better than we could have better hoped? You can find out the answers to all of my questions in just five days when Kentucky returns to Rupp Arena at 6:00 p.m. ET (5:00 p.m. CT) on SEC Network.

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