John Calipari's Kentucky Wildcats to open college basketball season ranked No. 10 in AP Top 25

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Published Oct 18, 2021

Calipari's Cats to open season ranked No. 10

Jeff Drummond • CatsIllustrated

Managing Editor

@JDrumUK

Kentucky will begin the college basketball season in familiar territory.

The Wildcats have been ranked No. 10 in the initial AP Top 25 poll, marking the 12th time in 13 seasons under head coach John Calipari that UK has begun a season in the top 10.

Gonzaga opens the season at No. 1, followed by UCLA, Kansas, Villanova and Texas. Rounding out the top 10 are Michigan, Purdue, Baylor, and Duke.

The Cats will open the season against the No. 9 Blue Devils on Nov. 9 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

That's one of seven opponents on the 2021-22 schedule that will begin the season ranked in the Top 25, including Kansas (3), Duke (9), Ohio State (17) and four other SEC programs: Alabama (14), Arkansas (16), Tennessee (18), and Auburn (22).

Kentucky opponents Notre Dame, Louisville, LSU, and Mississippi State also received votes in the poll.

Calipari will have one of his deepest rosters during his time in Lexington. The Cats feature a sixth-year graduate, a fifth-year graduate, two redshirt juniors, a redshirt sophomore, two sophomores, and three highly regarded freshmen.

Only two Calipari-coached Kentucky teams that returned more minutes and more points (in terms of percentages) than the 2021-22 team is slated to return were the 2011-12 national championship squad and the 2014-15 Final Four team that started the season 38-0.