Where Kentucky MBB stands in ESPN’s updated “Way-Too-Early” Top 25

A handful of Kentucky men’s basketball players have until May 31 to decide if they will remain in the NBA Draft or return for another season of college hoops. Oscar Tshiebwe, Chris Livingston, and Antonio Reeves continue to contemplate those decisions, which leaves the state of the roster for 2023-24 still very much up in the air. As things stand now, head coach John Calipari has just eight scholarship players in the fold for next season — five incoming freshmen, two returning sophomores, and one bench piece.

While not quite in panic mode just yet, the clock is ticking on Calipari to make some offseason moves. But as things stand right now, Kentucky is still projected to enter next season as one of the country’s top teams.

Over at ESPN, basketball recruiting insider Jeff Borzello updated his “Way-Too-Early” Top 25 rankings earlier this week. This was his most recent update to the preseason projections, the last one coming on May 1. Plenty has happened in the college basketball world since then thanks to the transfer portal, although Kentucky has remained mostly stagnant.

With that in mind, Borzello elected to keep the Wildcats at No. 11 in his offseason rankings, which is where he had them over two weeks ago. Most notably, he projected the ’23-24 starting lineup, which included four freshmen in Robert Dillingham, DJ Wagner, Justin Edwards, and Aaron Bradshaw, plus the return of Livingston for a sophomore season. Borzello does not project Tshiebwe to be a part of the UK starting lineup.

However, he does provide guidelines that state “all seniors are projected as departures” unless they say otherwise and that players outside of the top 60 draft prospects will be considered returnees. Tshiebwe is a senior and Livingston is No. 66 in ESPN’s player draft rankings.

A slew of Wildcats entered the NBA draft, but only Cason Wallace and Jacob Toppin are doing so while forgoing college eligibility. Could Oscar Tshiebwe, Chris Livingston and Antonio Reeves all 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’s No. 1-ranked recruiting class, with dynamic perimeter scorers Justin Edwards, D.J. Wagner and Robert Dillingham all likely to make early impacts.

Jeff Borzello, ESPN

Also from the folks over at ESPN, Joe Lunardi provided another Bracketology update earlier this week, projecting Kentucky as a five-seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament with a first-round matchup against 12-seeded Yale in Brooklyn, NY.

ESPN “Way-Too-Early” Top 25

1. Duke
2. Kansas
3. Marquette
4. Michigan State
5. UConn
6. Houston
7. Tennessee
8. Gonzaga
9. Florida Atlantic
10. Arkansas
11. Kentucky
12. Alabama
13. Saint Mary’s
14. Southern California
15. Miami (FL) +4
16. Creighton -1
17. Baylor +1
18. Purdue -1
19. Texas A&M -1
20. North Carolina
21. Colorado
22. Wisconsin
23. Arizona +1
24. Maryland -1
25. San Diego State