Breaking down Kentucky basketball's opponents by AP Poll and KenPom ranking

It is finally almost college basketball season, and a ton of different rankings are coming out, and they all love the Kentucky Wildcats. The AP Poll came out and has the Wildcats at number nine, and KenPom has the Wildcats fourth overall.

The KenPom rankings seem to really like the Kentucky Wildcats, as they have Pope's team ranked with the fourth-best defense and eighth-best offense in the nation. Last season, the best teams in college had their rankings inside the top ten in both of these categories, so the Wildcats are a part of that elite category this season.

Let's take a look at Kentucky's opponents in the top 25 of the AP Poll and where each opponent on the schedule ranks in KenPom.

Top 25 AP Poll Opponents

#1 Purdue (exhibition)
#3 Florida x2
#5 St John's
#11 Louisville
#14 Arkansas
#15 Alabama
#18 Tennessee x2
#20 Auburn
#21 Gonzaga
#22 Michigan State
#25 North Carolina

Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope being introduced at the 2025 Big Blue Madness at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. | Matt Stone/The Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Opponents' Rankings in KenPom

#225 Nicholls
#283 Valparaiso
#14 Louisville
#334 Eastern Illinois
#25 Michigan State
#294 Loyola Maryland
#343 Tennessee Tech
#33 North Carolina
#8 Gonzaga
#328 North Carolina Central
#40 Indiana
#16 St. John's
#310 Bellarmine
#23 Alabama
#28 Missouri
#26 Mississippi State
#56 LSU
#9 Tennessee x2
#39 Texas
#24 Ole Miss
#19 Vanderbilt x2
#29 Arkansas
#58 Oklahoma
#2 Florida x2
#44 Georgia
#31 Auburn
#86 South Carolina
#35 Texas A&M

The Wildcats play 12 ranked teams this season, 13 if you count the exhibition against the Purdue Boilermakers, who start the season ranked #1. Kentucky will also play 20 games against top 50 teams in KenPom and five games against teams ranked in the top ten of the KenPom rankings.

The point is this is one of the toughest schedules in all of college basketball, which is a good thing. Teams want to play a tough schedule because it will take six straight tough wins to win the NCAA Tournament. This schedule will have the Wildcats ready for postseason play.

Coach Pope has also said countless times that he loves playing these difficult games. These types of games are great for the team and the fan base. Coach Pope has proven he is excellent at winning the big game, and he will have a lot of different chances to do that this season.

The analytics love the Kentucky Wildcats, so hopefully, Coach Pope's team puts up a lot of wins with this demanding schedule.