Kentucky in top 5 of preseason KenPom rankings

Now that Big Blue Madness — what a night that was inside Rupp Arena — is in the books, it’s time to turn our attention to preseason rankings, even though they really don’t mean anything.

The preseason top 25 comes out this Monday. However, KenPom has now released its preseason rankings, with the Wildcats checking in at No. 4.

KenPom gave Kentucky an offensive rating of 120.1, which ranks eighth best in the country. However, the Pomeroy analytics system particularly likes the Cats defensively. They

gave Kentucky a defensive rating of 91.2, which ranks fourth in the country, behind only Houston, Iowa State, and Tennessee.

Kentucky plays nine out of the other 24 ranked teams, and 10 if you include the preseason game against Purdue, which is just 12 short days away.

KenPom Top 25 College Basketball Rankings

1. Houston
2. Florida
3. Purdue
4. Kentucky
5. UConn
6. Illinois
7. Duke
8. Gonzaga
9. Tennessee
10. UCLA
11. Michigan
12. Texas Tech
13. Iowa State
14. Louisville
15. Arizona
16. St. John’s
17. Baylor
18. BYU
19. Vanderbilt
20. Wisconsin
21. Kansas
22. USC
23. Alabama
24. Ole Miss
25. Mississippi State