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2024-25 Kentucky Wildcats Basketball Predictions And Odds To Win The National Championship

The Kentucky Wildcats fell way short of their goal last season after a first-round exit in March. After finishing the regular season 23-9 with big time wins over Tennessee, Alabama, and Auburn down the stretch Kentucky was a huge let down when it came down to tournament play. They were eliminated by Texas A&M in their first game of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. With that loss, they entered the big dance as the 3-Seed in the South Region with a first-round matchup against 14-Seed Oakland. The Wildcats would go on to drop their first-round matchup 80-76 as the Golden Grizzlies pulled off an incredible upset. Upsets were a bit of a theme for the Wildcats last season, as they lost to Oakland and Texas A&M in the tournaments, but they also lost to Texas A&M, UNC Wilmington and LSU during the regular season.

Despite the disappointing results, the Wildcats were still a solid team. They finished second in the conference in scoring, as they averaged 89 PPG. That mark ranked second nationally as well, while they led the nation in 3P%, shooting 40.9% from beyond the arc. Their 49.5% FG% was sixth in the nation, and their 17.5 APG were second in the conference. On defense, it was a different story. Kentucky ranked 12th in the conference, allowing 79.7 PPG, ranking 345th nationally. They allowed over 12 offensive RPG, which was the third worst mark in the conference, but they did lead the conference in BPG, averaging over six blocks per contest. Antonio Reeves led the team in scoring, averaging 20.2 PPG while shooting 44.7% from deep. Rob Dillingham was a great compliment to Reeves, as he averaged 15.2 PPG. Reed Sheppard and Tre Mitchell were the other two Wildcats to average double-digit PPG, with Sheppard leading the team with a 52.1% 3P%.

Doc's Sports offers college basketball expert picks for every game on our NCAA basketball predictions page.

Kentucky Wildcats Key Additions/Losses

Reeves, Dillingham, and Sheppard are all in the NBA, while Mitchell graduated, but the biggest loss of the offseason for the Kentucky Wildcats was John Calipari, as the longtime Wildcat jumped ship and took over as the head coach for the Arkansas Razorbacks. Leaving with Calipari was Zvonimir Ivisic, D.J. Wagner (9.9 PPG), and Adou Thiero (7.2 PPG). Depth pieces Ugonna Onyenso (Kansas State), Jordan Burks (Georgetown), and Joey Hart (Ball State) all found new homes.

To replace Calipari, Kentucky brought in former BYU coach and Kentucky Wildcat forward Mark Pope. Pope did his job in the transfer portal, bringing nine new players, giving Kentucky the fifth best transfer class as they reshape the roster. Their highest rated transfer is Jaxson Robinson, who will be suiting up for his fourth different team. Robinson is following Pope from BYU, where he averaged 14.2 PPG and shot over 90% from the free-throw line. Joining Robinson on this new look Kentucky team is center Amari Williams who averaged 12.2 PPG and 7.8 RPG at Drexel, forwards Ansley Almonor (16.4 PPG with FDU), Brandon Garrison (7.5 PPG with Oklahoma State), and Andrew Carr (13.5 PPG and 6.8 RPG with Wake Forest), as well as guards Kerr Kriisa (11 PPG with WVU), Lamont Butler (9.3 PPG with SDSU), Otega Oweh (11.4 PPG with Oklahoma), and Koby Brea (11.1 PPG with Dayton).

Kentucky Wildcats X-Factors

The New Regime- The Kentucky Wildcats have not won a National Championship since 2012 and have not reached the Final Four since 2015. Mark Pope is returning to Lexington with high hopes of bringing Kentucky back to relevance in this new Transfer Portal Era of college sports. He did more than enough this offseason replacing and rebuilding this roster. Robinson and Carr will be quite the scoring duo for Kentucky, while Butler is one of the best defensive guards in the nation. Mark Pope doesn't appear to need any time. He went out and got a lot of talent and has Kentucky in a spot to compete a tough conference.

Kentucky Wildcats Notable Games

Home- #21 Florida, #13 Texas A&M, #2 Alabama, #16 Arkansas, #12 Tennessee, #11 Auburn

Away/Neutral- #7 Duke, #6 Gonzaga, #12 Tennessee, #24 Ole Miss, #19 Texas, #2 Alabama

Kentucky Wildcats Key Odds:

NCAA Champion: +4000

Final Four: +950

Conference Winner: +2700

Wooden Award: Jaxson Robinson- +8000

Wooden Award: Andrew Carr- +18000

AP Top 25- 23rd

Andy Katz's Power 37- 14th

KenPom- 42nd

Kentucky Wildcats Basketball Predictions

Despite all the offseason additions, there is too much change for me to believe in this Wildcats team. Pope did what he could this offseason, but the Southeastern Conference is too tough, and I don't see Kentucky having the tools to make a run in March. It also doesn't help that a good chunk of the transfers brought in will only have a year in Lexington as graduate transfers. They have big games early in the season against Duke and Gonzaga that should be telling at what the potential of this team is, but I think this will be a down year for Pope and the Wildcats as they are a middle of the pack team in the Southeastern Conference. I would stay away from any and all team futures for this squad as you will be highly disappointed.

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SEC Women's Basketball Gets Tougher With Oklahoma, Texas

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — South Carolina and LSU have two major new challengers for Southeastern Conference supremacy in women's basketball.

The programs that have combined for the past three NCAA tournament titles are joined by two other league members among the top 10 in the preseason AP Top 25 that was revealed earlier this week, with No. 4 Texas and No. 10 Oklahoma preparing for their first go-around in the SEC after moving over from the Big 12 this year.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley's Gamecocks are No. 1 but must make up for losing dominant center Kamilla Cardoso as they pursue a third national title in four years after romping through a 38-0 season in 2023-24, while coach Kim Mulkey's fourth LSU team is ranked seventh but must replace standout forward Angel Reese. Both of those players were among the top seven picks in April's WNBA draft and recently completed their rookie seasons with the Chicago Sky.

Without those stars and with Oklahoma and Texas in the fold, the competition just got even tougher.

"It's pretty much upgraded what I think is the best conference in the country," Staley said Wednesday at the SEC's media day for women's basketball. "They've upgraded us to another level. We're fortunate enough that we get to play Texas twice and then we get to play Oklahoma as well.

"Women's college basketball is at an all-time high."

Staley, who also coached the Gamecocks to the program's first national championship at the 2017 NCAA tourney, gave a little wince at the part about "getting" to play the Longhorns twice, with the Feb. 9 trip to Austin following a Jan. 12 date in Columbia. In facing the Sooners, the Gamecocks at least avoid the trip to Norman.

Mulkey, herself a former Big 12 coach at Baylor, said the Longhorns and Sooners don't need to be told anything about their new league.

"All they need to know is they have outstanding teams and they're as good as anybody in the SEC and as good as anybody in the country," Mulkey said. "We welcome them because it brings more popularity to the SEC, better games to the SEC.

"Me personally, leaving the Big 12, I thought I'd never have to go to Austin, Texas, or Norman, Oklahoma, again."

The potential battles at the top were emphasized by a three-way tie for preseason player of the year among LSU guards Flau'Jae Johnson and Aneesah Morrow and Texas forward Madison Booker.

Longhorns coach Vic Schaefer has a long history in the SEC, including as the head coach at Mississippi State from 2012-20 before leaving Starkville for Austin. After four seasons in the Big 12, Texas changing conferences takes him back to some familiar territory.

"All I did was jump out of the frying pan and into the grease," he said. "It's a monster, and you've got to prepare for that."

Schaefer was also an assistant at Arkansas from 1997 to 2003, so he remembers an SEC that was often dominated by the late Pat Summitt's Tennessee Lady Volunteers.

"The parity that we have in our league right now is really incredible," Schaefer said. "Back then, you had some really dominant teams, then you had some teams that couldn't beat those top teams.

"In our league right now, on any given night, if you're not ready to play, you won't get beat, you'll get embarrassed."

Other ranked SEC teams entering the season are No. 20 Ole Miss, No. 22 Kentucky and No. 24 Alabama.

Kentucky is led by new coach Kenny Brooks, who guided Virginia Tech to the NCAA Final Four in 2023 and the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title last season.

The two new SEC schools — known more for their football pedigrees, which no doubt drove the conference decision that was made in summer 2021 — figure to also provide the league with an immediate boost in women's basketball.

The Longhorns made their first Elite Eight appearance in four years last season, going 33-5 for the program's most wins since 1986. And that happened with star point guard Rori Harmon playing in only 12 games before a season-ending knee injury.

Booker helped fill in at that role playing out of position and wound up becoming the first freshman to earn Big 12 player of the year (she shared the honor with Oklahoma's Skylar Vann). She was also an AP All-America second-team selection.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma exited the Big 12 on the strength of back-to-back league championships and returns all five starters from last season. That includes not only Vann but Big 12 newcomer of the year honoree Payton Verhulst. In addition, Raegan Beers joins the mix after transferring from Oregon State, where she averaged a double-double per game last season (17.5 points, 10.3 rebounds) while receiving AP All-America third-team recognition.

Sooners coach Jennie Baranczyk's roster includes five fifth-year seniors.

"We've obviously known that we're coming to the SEC, and we know that the conference is absolutely incredible. But I'm just really excited that our culture is continuing to grow on a foundational level," Baranczyk said.

South Carolina beat LSU in last year's SEC tournament final, and now both teams are loaded again despite losing some notable talent.

LSU's Johnson is predicting a different style for this year's Tigers, though.

"Last year, I felt like we didn't push the ball as much as we could," she said. "This year, we're going to be moving and we're going to be moving fast."

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