If it\u2019s not Bracketology, it\u2019s the Top 25 rankings. Either way, the worldwide leader in sports continues to express pessimism for next season\u2019s Kentucky men\u2019s basketball team. <\/p>\n
Last week, ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi moved the Wildcats down to a projected seven-seed<\/a> in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Lunardi initially had Kentucky as a one-seed in mid-March but bumped them down to a five-seed in his debut 2024 Bracketology, to a six-seed in the following update, and most recently to the seven-seed. <\/p>\n His coworker, basketball recruiting insider Jeff Borzello, is also souring on the Wildcats\u2019 potential for the 2023-24 season. <\/p>\n On Monday morning, Borzello updated his \u201cWay-Too-Early\u201d Preseason Top 25 rankings<\/a>. Like Lunardi, he was high on the \u2018Cats early on, initially slotting Kentucky at No. 4 before then moving them down to No. 9 in his second update from a couple of weeks ago<\/a>. This time around, Borzello again dropped UK, although it was just two spots to No. 11. <\/strong><\/p>\n Here\u2019s what he had to say about Kentucky. <\/p>\n A slew of Wildcats entered the NBA draft, but only\u00a0Cason Wallace\u00a0and\u00a0Jacob Toppin\u00a0are doing so while forgoing college eligibility. Could\u00a0Oscar Tshiebwe,\u00a0Chris Livingston\u00a0and\u00a0Antonio Reeves\u00a0all return to Lexington? The most intriguing is obviously Tshiebwe, the consensus National Player of the Year in 2022. John Calipari is also bringing in the nation\u2019s No. 1-ranked recruiting class, with dynamic perimeter scorers Justin Edwards, D.J. Wagner and Robert Dillingham all likely to make early impacts.<\/p>\n via ESPN, Jeff Borzello<\/p>\n Additionally, Borzello noted his projected starting lineups for all of the teams in his Top 25. I wouldn\u2019t look too much into it, but it\u2019s at least worth noting who he sees ending up staying\/going for next season\u2019s \u2018Cats. He projects that all four of the Wildcats\u2019 incoming five-star freshmen \u2014 DJ Wagner<\/a><\/strong>, Robert Dillingham<\/a><\/strong>, Justin Edwards<\/a><\/strong>, and Aaron Bradshaw<\/a><\/strong> \u2014 will start, as will Chris Livingston<\/a><\/strong>, who is still weighing his decision to return for a sophomore college season or to turn pro. <\/p>\n Notably absent from Borzello\u2019s projected starting five for Kentucky is two-time All-American Oscar Tshiebwe<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n Luckily for Kentucky and head coach John Calipari, there is still plenty of time to fill out the roster. Snatching up Michigan transfer Hunter Dickinson<\/a><\/strong> would certainly move the needle, as would bringing back the likes of Antonio Reeves<\/a><\/strong> and\/or Livingston. Kentucky isn\u2019t done yet making offseason moves. <\/p>\n DukeMarquetteMichigan StateUConnHouston (+1)Kansas (+4)Tennessee (+10)Gonzaga (+12)Florida Atlantic (-2)Arkansas (-8)Kentucky (-2)<\/strong>Alabama (-1)Saint Mary\u2019s (-1)Creighton (-9)Baylor (+1)Purdue (-2)Texas A&M (+1)Miami [FL] (-3)North Carolina (+4)Colorado (-1)Southern California (-8)Wisconsin (-1)Maryland (-1)ArizonaSan Diego State<\/p>\n The post Kentucky MBB slips in ESPN\u2019s updated \u201cWay-Too-Early\u201d Top 25<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If it\u2019s not Bracketology, it\u2019s the Top 25 rankings. Either way, the worldwide leader in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4057\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}ESPN\u2019s \u201cWay-Too-Early\u201d Preseason Top 25<\/h2>\n