Lexington – in countless programs across the country, the season Kentucky basketball If in 2024-25 would be considered an exceptional effort.
Over 20 wins. Eight victories against the opponents ranked among the first 15 in the Associated Press survey at the time of the game. Browing the series at home against the greatest rival of your conference. And a place in Sweet 16.
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Everyone knows, of course, the Wild cats are not just any program. They are The most winning school in the history of university basketball. There are national titles and dry championships in Gogo.
However, before even embarking on your first season as a British coach, Mark Pope recognized the disproportionate expectations of the fans base.
“Well, if we win every match, then we will be there near the standard,” Pope said to the Courier Journal last year. “If we can win all the matches, we almost reach the norm that makes Kentucky so beautiful, right?”
Obviously, the Wildcats did not remain undefeated. (For the record, they lost 12 times in 36 competitions.) But the chief among the achievements of the first year of the Pope helped Kentucky reach the second weekend of NCAA tournament for the first time in six years.
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However, a gentle appearance of 16 will not cut it for the United Kingdom this season. Not with the list that the Wildcats have assembled, which should be among the best in the league – and by extension, the country.
Kentucky’s last trip in the Final Four was 2015.
Since the Inception de Big Dance in 1939The longest drought in the Final Four in the United Kingdom was 13 years (1998 with Tubby Smith2011 with John Calipari). The Wildcats are hungry to return to the largest scene in sport.
Here are three questions to which they must answer during the 2025-26 season Point their tickets for the Final Four for the 18th time::
Will Kentucky Basketball improve defensively?
Chaz Lanier du Tennessee (2) with the 3-point attempt when she was guarded by Collin Chandler of Kentucky (5) in a NCAA university basketball match on Tuesday January 28, 2025, in Knoxville, Tenn.
“Defense wins the championships” is more commonly allocated to football. Also shot, it is proven that it is true in university basketball for more than 20 years.
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Returning until 2002, Just a national champion Finished outside the top 20 at the national level in adjusted defensive efficiency. The lonely exception was Baylor in 2021. And bears barely missed the brand, as they 21st This season.
National reigning champion Florida completed the 2024-25 campaign Sixth in adjusted defensive efficiency.
Where was Kentucky, do you ask?
Tied at the 51st.
Which was much better than the United Kingdom classified for a large part of last season. Over the season, Kentucky has improved defensively, little by little. Still not enough to make reservations for the Final Four. Much less the national championship.
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If the Wildcats do not show the progress marked defensively this season, they will not win the national title.
Two decades of data testify to this.
Do Wildcats block more effectively in attack?
The Kentucky Wildcats striker Brandon Garrison (10) catches the rebound during the Kentucky Blue-Blancy pre-season event on Friday October 18, 2024 at the Memorial Coliseum.
A main objective for Kentucky last season, one said by Pope, was to record a percentage of offensive rebounds north of 30.
The United Kingdom did not do this quite often in 2024-25.
By kenpomThe Wildcats played 12 games in which they had an offensive rebound rate greater than 30%. They had two other games where they finished 30% on the point. This means that the United Kingdom has had 22 efforts less than 30%.
It is therefore not surprising that Kentucky is well outside the Top 200 in this category. Only three SEC teams (Arkansas, Oklahoma and Ole Miss) have succeeded worse.
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The accent put by Pope on the fact of crashing on the offensive boards is not complicated. For a coach and a staff, who aim to hoist at least 30 3 points per match – he was on average 25.3 attempts per release last season – the collection of offensive rebounds is crucial. The more offensive a team has bounded, the more it has shooting opportunities at its disposal.
If the Wildcats are getting closer to the threshold of 30% offensive rebound that the Pope is looking for, he will probably be rewarded when he saw his team reach his 30 triple objective every evening.
How will the British guard Otega Oweh play with Target on the back?
The gestures of Kentucky Wildcats Otega Oweh (00) during the second half against the Troy Troy at Fiserv Forum.
Otega Oweh was relatively unknown before last season.
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Everyone knows their name now.
This is what happens when you become the most reliable scorer of Kentucky Basketball Night in and Night Out. (Take a pair of winning shots against his former team, Oklahoma, did not injure his profile either.) Because he is the most notable repatriated for the Wildcats this season, Oweh will be a marked man.
There is a difference between flying under the radar (as he did at the start of the 2024-25 campaign) and being the opposing player in the teams focus on their defensive game plan. To be the player at the top of the screening report for each enemy.
It is a quasi-certainty, Oweh will be a selection of the first pre-season team. It can even be the choice of the pre-season player of the year of the league.
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Aside from the attention he will attract from adversaries, however, there are also expectations that must be up to the program.
Last season, Oweh was a junior in a team with seven seniors. Now Oweh is one of the two Says of Stock Exchange (with his colleague Guard Denzel Aberdeen). But Aberdeen is a transfer. Given all the Owehs made last season and entering his second year under Pope, he is the one that all the teammates will turn to the field. And off. To show the example. And, if necessary, with his voice.
Pressure? Of course. This is why he registered when he joined Kentucky.
Just as he did during the two narrow breaks with or, however, it is a good bet that the fact will rise on occasion.
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Reach the backball and male football journalist from Kentucky, Ryan Black, at [email protected] and follow him on X at @ryanablack.
This article originally appeared in the Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky basketball, Mark Pope must answer these questions in 2025-26
