Kentucky Basketball: John Calipari's team picked to finish sixth in SEC by The Almanac

The Almanac's 2023-24 college basketball season preview was released on Wednesday, including projections for the standings of every conference in the country.

Texas A&M was picked to win the SEC, which isn't much of a surprise, but the Kentucky Wildcats were projected to finish all the way down at sixth - which would be the second worst finish in coach John Calipari's 14 years in Lexington, only behind the disastrous 9-16 campaign in 2020-21.

Kentucky was picked behind A&M, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi State, with Florida, Auburn, Missouri, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, LSU, Georgia, and South Carolina rounding out the rankings.

There's no doubt Kentucky's age will lead to some growing pains during the season, and yes, the 2023 class is considered weak relative to both previous and upcoming classes, but it's hard to imagine this team finishing outside the top five - even in what is a very strong group of teams in the SEC.

Plus, while the team is laden with freshmen and inexperienced sophomores, they do have key veteran pieces in Antonio Reeves - who Almanac writers project to make the SEC Second Team - as well as Tre Mitchell, a fifth-year senior who averaged 11.7 points per game last year in the Big 12 with West Virginia.

Health for key frontcourt pieces Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso is, of course, a big factor, as well as the status of Croatian big man Zvonomir Ivisic, but if the trio is all healthy and active for the majority of the season, they'll be a tough matchup for every team they face - regardless of age discrepancy.

Kentucky was well represented elsewhere in the SEC preview, with Justin Edwards joining Reeves as Wildcats projected to make the SEC Second Team, while Edwards was also picked as Freshman of the Year and labeled the best pro prospect in the conference in an anonymous poll of coaches.

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