At countless programs across the country, the season Kentucky basketball had in 2024-25 would be considered an outstanding effort.
More than 20 wins. Eight victories versus opponents ranked in the top 15 of The Associated Press poll at the time of the game. Sweeping the home-and-home series against the biggest rival in your conference. And a spot in the Sweet 16.
Everyone knows, of course, the Wildcats aren’t just any program. They’re the winningest school in college basketball history. There are national titles and SEC championships galore.
Yet even before he embarked on his first season as UK’s coach, Mark Pope acknowledged the outsized expectations of the fan base
Well, if we win every game, then we’ll be right there close to the standard,” Pope told The Courier Journal last year. “If we can win every game, we would almost reach the standard that makes Kentucky so beautiful, right?”
Obviously, the Wildcats didn’t go undefeated. (For the record, they lost 12 times in 36 contests.) But chief among Pope’s first-year accomplishments was helping Kentucky reach the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years.
A Sweet 16 appearance won’t cut it for UK this season, though. Not with the roster the Wildcats assembled, which should be among the best in the league — and by extension, the country.
