ESPN analyst implies Kentucky basketball has peaked three games into the season

Even after the win over Duke the college basketball world is still sleeping on Kentucky.
Nov 12, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Kentucky Wildcats players react after defeating the Duke Blue Devils at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
Nov 12, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Kentucky Wildcats players react after defeating the Duke Blue Devils at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
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Kentucky has started the Mark Pope era off with a bang as they are 3-0 with a massive win over the Duke Blue Devils. Kentucky proved in the win over Duke that they can hang around with every team in college basketball.

Kentucky, in this win, proved that they are a resilient bunch as they were down nine points at the half but were able to come back and get the win with a tremendous second half. Some didn't have a ton of confidence in this Kentucky team knowing the Wildcats don't have any five-star freshman lottery pick type talent. Kentucky fans didn't care about this and believe in Coach Pope's ability to coach up this veteran roster, and it is working out so far.

After Kentucky's win over Duke, Shae Peppler of Sports Center had this to say about the Wildcats, " It's only like their third games of the season though, and I want to stay with Mark Pope and Kentucky because you talk about how he totally rebuilt this roster from scratch and did it in such a short time. So now, where does Kentucky go from here? They already peaked, it feels like, and were only in November."

Jay Williams went on to disagree with Peppler, saying that the Wildcats aren't peaking, and he is correct. The reason Kentucky is playing such good ball right now is because this team is full of veterans. As this team continues to learn more about one another and gets their feet wet in Coach Pope's system even more, they have a chance to be one of the best teams in college basketball.

The Kentucky Wildcats are nowhere close to peaking, and the sky is the limit for Coach Pope's first team in Lexington.


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