All eyes were on college football this past weekend as teams across the country kicked off the 2026 season, but college basketball season is quickly approaching as well.

With less than two months remaining until college basketball tips off and Big Blue Madness less than a month away, legendary ESPN commentator Dick Vitale recently highlighted his “Dazzling Dozen” storylines for the 2026-27 season, and Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats are once again among them.

“Kentucky is back to answer the bell,” Vitale wrote.

“Big Blue Nation isn’t interested in moral victories. After an underwhelming season, Mark Pope landed Iowa State transfer Milan Momcilovic and now pairs him with talented youngster Malachi Moreno. Kentucky looks deeper, tougher and better suited for the SEC grind this coming campaign.”

On paper, this could be the most talented roster Pope has had in his three seasons at Kentucky, if not his career. That talent also brings increased pressure to deliver results, meanwhile Big Blue Nation has grown increasingly impatient as Kentucky is going on more than five seasons since a regular-season SEC title (2020) or Elite Eight appearance (2019).

The NCAA Tournament has an element of randomness to it, but the SEC regular-season title is the culmination of 18 games, and Kentucky needs to be among the programs at the top of the standings, despite the increased competition in recent seasons.

“The SEC is a monster,” Vitale wrote. “The conference retained 10 of its top 30 scorers and imported 11 more top-30 scorers from other major conferences.”

That makes the 2026-27 season a critical one for Kentucky basketball and Mark Pope.

The Wildcats have the talent to compete, but simply being competitive isn’t satisfactory. For Pope and the Wildcats, this is a high-pressure season and the message from Big Blue Nation is clear: “Kentucky has to contend, not just compete.”

There is a common debate about which Kentucky basketball team is the best in since the turn of the century; is it the 2011-2012 team that went 38-2 and dominated their way to a National Championship, or is it the 2014-2015 team that arguably had the most depth ever seen on a college basketball roster?

A survey was sent out by CBS Sports to college basketball head coaches around the country, asking them who they believed was “The best college basketball team of the 21st century.”

The teams receiving the majority of the votes include: 2023-24 UConn (17%), 2000-01 Duke (14%), 2025-26 Michigan (14%), 2017-18 Villanova (12%), 2006-07 Florida (11%), 2011-12 Kentucky (10%), 2014-15 Kentucky (7%).

Some of these teams showed dominance throughout the entire season, like UConn, who lost just three games in the regular season and cruised their way to the National Championship while winning by an average of 23.3 ppg in March Madness; others scrapped their way through the regular season, finding a way to win games all year long.

Each fanbase of their respective team has their own reasons as to why their team is the greatest, and that’s the fun that sparks the argument: Who is the greatest college basketball team of all time?

Let’s take a dive into the UK teams that are mentioned on this elite list of teams.

2011-2012 Kentucky

“They had only two losses, right? One was at the buzzer [at Indiana]. They had the first and second picks in that draft. You look at their tournament run, their championship game — they dominated another really good team,” one coach said.

This Calipari squad crushed their way through the regular season, with just one loss coming in a non-conference game against Indiana thanks to the infamous last-second shot by IU forward Christian Watford. The Wildcats then didn’t lose again until the SEC Tournament, where they got upset by Vanderbilt by a score of 71-64.

After the loss to the Commodores, the Cats went on a tear through the Madness by getting revenge on the Hoosiers in the Sweet 16, then beating their arch rival: the Louisville Cardinals, in the Final Four to book their ticket to the National Championship.

Calipari’s squad then had a date against another blue blood team in the Kansas Jayhawks, where UK landed the last punch and won their 8th National Championship by a score of 67-59.

This UK squad had a total of SEVEN guys making their way to the NBA after their time with Kentucky. Some of the notable names from this team include: Anthony Davis, who is a 10-time NBA All-Star; Doron Lamb, who averaged 13.7 points for the Cats, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who at the time was one of, if not the best, freshmen in the NCAA. Other players from this team that made the league include Terrence Jones, Marquis Teague, Darius Miller, and Kyle Wiltjer.

This Wildcat team had some notable wins in the regular season that include Kansas at a neutral site (Champions Classic), North Carolina at home, Louisville at home, then making it through a gauntlet of SEC play undefeated before the SEC tournament.

That squad stands out above the majority of other UK teams, but do they stand above the 2014-2015 NBA Wildcats?

2014-2015 Kentucky

“2014-15 Kentucky to me was the most dominant team of the last 25 years. As we know, they didn’t win the national championship, but they were incredible all year!”

“I think it’s 2015 Kentucky. I don’t think it’s close. Two wins away from immortality. They had KAT. I mean, look at the guys that didn’t start. Look at Devin Booker; he didn’t even start on that team. That was Cal’s best team.”

It is hard to fathom that UK had NINE future NBA players on the 2014-2015 roster: Aaron Harrison, Karl-Anthony Towns, Devin Booker, Andrew Harrison, Willie Cauley-Stein, Trey Lyles, Dakari Johnson, Tyler Ulis, Marcus Lee, and Alex Poythress

This squad was incredibly balanced, with not one player averaging more than 11 PPG, while eight players averaged over five points. And one of the craziest facts is that NBA All-Star Devin Booker didn’t even start on this team.

Coach Cal’s Ten-man rotation was named the “Platoon” system, thanks to his ability he had to sub players in and out in a mass rotation.

After seeing the talent this team had, they surely won the National Championship, right?

Wrong.

They didn’t even make it to the championship game after getting their hearts ripped out by the Wisconsin Badgers led by Frank “The Tank” Kaminsky in the Final Four.

Even though Cal’s squad fell short, their season remains one of the most statistically dominant in college basketball history, including a record-breaking +20.1 average scoring margin over the course of the season.

Most college hoops lovers can agree that if this team had made it all the way and won the National Championship, they would be among the greatest college basketball teams of all time, and the first team to go undefeated since the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers.

Both UK teams had their high points and low points.

The 2011-12 team got upset while ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation, but redeemed themselves by winning a National Championship.

The 2014-15 team had nine future NBA players and went through the regular season and SEC tournament undefeated, but failed to win the National Championship.

UK fans can pick their poison as to who they believe the greatest Kentucky team since 2000 is…

Does the 2014-2015 team not cut it due to the fact that they came up short of the ultimate goal of a National Championship?

Or does the 2011-2012 team take the edge thanks to their relentlessness and grit, leading to an 8th banner?

This week has not been kind to the Kentucky Basketball program.

As the team returns to practice and conditioning less than a month from Big Blue Madness, transfer Mark Mitchell decommitted from the program on Monday to return to Missouri amid eligibility battles with the NCAA and SEC. On Friday morning, it was reported that Milan Momcilovic has injured the index finger of his shooting hand.

Fortunately, Momcilovic suffered this injury still two months away from the start of the season and is expected to return within 10 days.

The injury bug has hindered the Wildcats severely in Mark Pope’s first two seasons at Kentucky. In year one, the Wildcats had to battle injuries to Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robinson, and Andrew Carr, and in year two, injuries to Jaland Lowe, Jayden Quaintance, and Kam Williams.

Going into a high-pressure year three, the injury bug has made an early impact, but let’s hope it remains minor.