Bart Torvik does not believe in the Kentucky Wildcats in 2026-27 -- not yet, at least

It is May 2, 2026, not even four weeks removed from the national championship game, and we already have post-portal/preseason projections for 2026-27. Those projections don’t necessarily love how Mark Pope‘s Kentucky Wildcats look at this stage — still with a few pieces to go, but the core group mostly established.

Bart Torvik wasn’t high on last year’s group and, unfortunately, wound up being right. What does he think of the next bunch? The Cats currently sit at No. 45 in the country and No. 12 in the SEC.

Arkansas (No. 5), Florida (No. 6), Texas (No. 12), Alabama (No. 18), Tennessee (No. 22), Vanderbilt (No. 23), Georgia (No. 29), Missouri (No. 37), Auburn (No. 39), Oklahoma (No. 40) and Texas A&M (No. 41) all rank ahead of the Wildcats in the way-too-early projections.

For now, Zoom Diallo is Kentucky’s top projected contributor, followed by Malachi Moreno and Alex Wilkins to round out a top three that shouldn’t surprise anybody. That’s where things get interesting, Jerone Morton jumping the rest of the pack for fourth, followed by Kam Williams, Justin McBride, Braydon Hawthorne, Mason Williams and Trent Noah. Ousmane N’Diaye is not currently in the system, so that certainly plays into some of the pessimism as a potential starting forward — but unlikely to make a serious dent in the projections.

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Point being, Torvik just doesn’t see it for the Cats quite yet, grading them No. 44 nationally in offense and No. 50 in defense. It would take a significant influx of talent in the three remaining roster spots to push this group up the rankings.

Take a look at the top 50 and see how the rest of the college basketball world shakes out:

For reference, Kentucky finished ranked No. 29 overall in 2025-26, coming in at No. 42 offensively and No. 32 defensively. It certainly fits for a team that got knocked out of the NCAA Tournament in the Round of 32.

Elsewhere, Michigan finished ranked No. 1 as the national champion, followed by Arizona at No. 2, Duke at No. 3, Florida at No. 4, Houston at No. 5, Illinois at No. 6, Iowa State at No. 7, Purdue at No. 8, UConn at No. 9 and St. John’s at No. 10.

Guess we just have to prove the projections wrong, then, huh?