Kentucky basketball is climbing the preseason rankings all the way into the top five

Will Kentucky be a top five team to start the 2025-26 season?

Kentucky Head Coach Mark Pope is seen during the first half of their first round NCAA men’ s basketball tournament game against Troy on Friday March 21, 2025 at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis. | Jovanny Hernandez / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Kentucky fans can rejoice as basketball season is right around the corner, and Mark Pope has a special team. This is a Kentucky basketball team that fans believe is capable of winning a National Championship, thanks to the deepest roster in college basketball.

Isaac Trotter of 247Sports put out an article this morning where he updated his top 25 teams ahead of the 2025-26 college basketball season, and the Wildcats took a big jump.

Kentucky hopped into the top five at the number four spot, so Trotter has a lot of belief in this basketball team.

Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope walks onto the court Thursday, March 27, 2025, during practice ahead of the Sweet 16 March Madness tournament game against the Tennessee Volunteers at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.00000000000000000000000000 | Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Here is why Trotter has Kentucky climbing up his top 25 rankings: "The sell with Kentucky this year is simple: this roster is far more athletic, has way more NBA talent, and should have oodles more defensive bite. With point-of-attack defenders like Aberdeen and Oweh, a big-wing stopper like Dioubate, and switchable 5-men like Garrison, Quaintance, or even Moreno, Kentucky should have far more answers to the test at all three levels defensively. Will the best defenders play together enough to make Kentucky a top-10 defense? That's still up in the air for the deepest roster in college basketball, but Mark Pope has real-deal options, and you know UK is going to score. Oweh enters as the SEC Player of the Year frontrunner, but there are loads of individual creators and shot-makers on this roster."

The Wildcats struggled a lot on defense last season, which really spoiled an elite offense. Based on the work Coach Pope did in the portal and all offseason long, he won't let that be a problem again thanks to the elite defensive talent on this roster.

Bringing in players like Jayden Quaintance, Mo Dioubate, and Kam Williams is really going to help the defense of this basketball team. Stats prove that to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, a team has to be balanced on both sides of the floor, and that will be the case for this Kentucky team.

Mar 21, 2025; Cleveland, OH, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide forward Mouhamed Dioubate (10) reacts in the first half against the Robert Morris Colonials during the NCAA Tournament First Round at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

There is no doubt in the minds of Big Blue Nation that this team is top five in college hoops, and fans are very excited to see the Wildcats be able to prove it here in a few weeks.

Coach Pope is one of the best X's and O's coaches in college basketball, and now he has an elite roster to go with his coaching. The Kentucky Wildcats are going to make a deep run in March this year.