UK MBB Tabbed Preseason No. 4 in USA Today Coaches Poll
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Despite losing nearly 93 percent of its scoring and almost 77 percent of its rebounding from a season ago, the panel for the USA Today Coaches Poll once again believes the Kentucky men’s basketball team will be among the top teams competing for a national title in 2017-18.
The Wildcats are ranked fourth in the preseason Coaches Poll that was released Thursday. Duke will begin the season at No. 1, followed by Michigan State, Kansas, UK and Arizona.
Full preseason rankings are available at USAToday.com.
It’s the ninth consecutive season under head coach John Calipari that Kentucky will begin the season ranked among the top 25 teams in the country, as voted on by a panel of Division I head coaches in consultation with the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
As a matter of fact, the Wildcats have been ranked preseason top five in the USA Today Coaches Poll in eight of Calipari’s nine seasons, including seven straight. Every team under Calipari has been voted a preseason top-10 team.
The members of the poll represent each of the 32 Division I conferences that receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Each coaches submits a top 25 with a first-place vote worth 25 points, second place 24, and so on down to one point for 25th.
Kentucky will start the season among the early title contenders despite losing eight players from last season’s roster, including three first-round draft picks. Calipari, as he does so every season, has reloaded with a talent-rich recruiting class.
The Recruiting Services Consensus Index, which tallies major recruiting rankings and plugs them into a formula to calculate a consensus ranking, measured this group as the best ever. The highly touted signing class joins returners Wenyen Gabriel, Sacha Killeya-Jones and Hamidou Diallo, among others. Diallo was named to the preseason All-Southeastern Conference First Team on Wednesday while freshman forward Kevin Knox was tabbed to the second team.
Six Kentucky opponents enter the 2017-18 season ranked, including three top-10 opponents in No. 3 Kansas (Nov. 14), No. 7 Florida (Jan. 20, March 3) and No. 10 West Virginia (Jan. 27). UK will also face No. 16 Louisville (Dec. 29), No. 18 UCLA (Dec. 23) and No. 25 Alabama (Feb. 17).
Showcasing the league’s strength, fellow SEC members Texas A&M (Jan. 9, Feb. 10), Missouri (Feb. 3, Feb. 24), Georgia (Dec. 31), Arkansas (Feb. 20) and South Carolina (Jan. 16) received votes in the poll. Virginia Tech, who UK hosts at Rupp Arena on Dec. 16, also received votes.
Kentucky was picked by the media to win its 49th SEC regular-season crown. UK tips off its season with the Blue-White Game on Friday at 7 p.m. on the SEC Network. Kentucky’s regular season opens on Nov. 12 with a 7 p.m. tilt against Vermont in Rupp Arena.
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s basketball team, follow @KentuckyMBB on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, and on the web at UKathletics.com.
