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Kentucky is on the rise.
After a rocky start to the offseason, the Wildcats made an impressive addition recently by landing West Virginia transfer forward Tre Mitchell. The result is that Kentucky has now moved into the top 25 of ESPN’s way-too-early rankings for the 2023-24 season.
Kentucky sits at No. 17 in the country after being unranked in the previous edition.
Here’s some analysis from ESPN’s Jeff Borzello:
While questions remain over the experience and youth of this season’s squad, there are no doubts about the talent level in Lexington. In ESPN’s 2024 mock draft, released late last month, the Wildcats have two of the four highest-ranked college players (Justin Edwards, D.J. Wagner) and five players (Edwards, Wagner, Ugonna Onyenso, Aaron Bradshaw, Robert Dillingham) ranked inside the top 40 overall. If the newcomers can get on the same page, Calipari is spoiled for options.
Borzello also projected Kentucky’s starting 5 for this upcoming season. The group includes Mitchell, returning guard Antonio Reeves and a pair of 5-star freshmen:
D.J. Wagner (No. 4 in ESPN 100)
Antonio Reeves (14.4 PPG)
Justin Edwards (No. 3 in ESPN 100)
Tre Mitchell (11.7 PPG at West Virginia)
Ugonna Onyenso (2.5 PPG)
Kentucky is the third highest-ranked SEC team behind only No. 6 Tennessee and No. 14 Arkansas.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
