What do analytics have to say about Kentucky after the win over Duke?

Right before the 2024-25 college basketball season started, the analytics websites didn’t seem to have a ton of confidence in Mark Pope’s Kentucky Wildcats. This was a bit of a surprise, knowing how good of an X’s and O’s coach the Wildcats have. Big Blue Nation believed it wouldn’t take long for the analytics to see what they saw.

That was exactly the case after the win over the Duke Blue Devils, as the Wildcats are moving up the Evan Miya rankings. Kentucky currently sits 13th in these rankings with their offense ranked 16th and the defense ranked 12th. It is a bit surprising that the analytics show that Kentucky’s defense ranks higher than the offense. Not because Kentucky’s defense hasn’t been great because it has. The surprise has more to do with how great the offensive scheme is for Coach Pope.

The reason the defense being better than the offense in these analytics should excite Kentucky fans is because Kentucky fans know how good the offense is going to be. It will be in the top 20 in college basketball, without question. This means that if the defense is better, this Kentucky team is a top ten team in college basketball.

The analytics are starting to back the Wildcats, and if they are top 20 in both offense and defense all season long, this team is going to be a three-seed or better in the NCAA Tournament. Coach Pope has done something special early into his tenure as the Wildcats head coach.