ESPN drops Kentucky's chances to win the National Championship after the Ohio State loss

Will Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats bounce back from the Ohio State loss.

Dec 14, 2024; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope and forward Andrew Carr (7) celebrate with forward Brandon Garrison (10) during the second half against the Louisville Cardinals at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images / Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats went to Madison Square Garden to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes and suffered their worst loss of the season, 85-65. Bad losses are a part of college basketball, and Kentucky fans learned that when this team does not shoot the ball well, they are going to drop some games.

At some points this season, the shooting has let the team down, but the defense has kept them around, but that was not the case in this matchup.

After this loss, the Kentucky Wildcats dropped all the way down to tenth in the AP Poll, and their chances of winning the National Championship dropped from two percent to 0.9% according to ESPN.

The scary part of this for Kentucky fans is that Ohio State would be a bottom-half team in the SEC. This means the Wildcats are going to be facing teams much better than this on a nightly basis in conference play.

Coach Mark Pope and his team need to get back in the lab after the holiday and fix some of the shooting and defensive issues so the Wildcats can figure things out before SEC play rolls around.

Coach Pope is one of the best X's and O's coaches in all of the college hoops, so Big Blue Nation can rest assured knowing this staff is capable of fixing the issues.

Every team has an ugly loss here and there, and this was that loss for the Wildcats. Kentucky does have a lot to work on before SEC play gets here, and it is quickly approaching as the Wildcats play #6 Florida on January 4th.