Roundtable: Should Kentucky be in the preseason Top 25?

When the Amway Coaches Poll released its preseason Top 25 this week the Wildcats checked in at No. 29 in the others receiving votes category.

But should Mark Stoops' team have been a few spots higher?

The Cats Illustrated team offers takes here.

Jeff Drummond: I think Kentucky probably should have merited a spot in the coaches' preseason Top 25 poll, given how much talent they have back from last year's squad, especially in the trenches. I can also see reason for restraint, though, until we know more about the Cats at the quarterback position. This could all work in UK's favor, though. Since his program turned the corner four years ago, Mark Stoops has consistently used lack of respect as a motivating tool for the Cats. As Phil Steele has pointed out in his preseason yearbook the last few years, UK is a program that consistently over-performs versus the expectations. Kentucky will have some of that working for it this season as the regional and national media appear to be sleeping on Big Blue once again. One caveat to all of this: With the SEC moving to a league-only, 10-game slate, it may be harder to reach and remain in the Top 25. If it was an ordinary 12-game season, I would feel a lot more confident in that bet.

Travis Graf: Kentucky came in at 29th in the preseason Coaches Poll that was released this week. I think they hit the nail on the head with this Wildcats team. While they’re probably better than a couple of the teams in the top 25, Kentucky still has some questions to answer before they deserve that ranking. How does Terry Wilson return from injury? How do they replace Chris Oats? Do they have anyone with Benny Snell or Lynn Bowden star potential on offense? The talent is there and Kentucky’s the equivalent of a top 25 team, but it’s splitting hairs at this point, this early. The question marks at a couple of key positions make this initial ranking a fair one.

Justin Rowland: What I have said is that I could see a case for Kentucky being in the Top 25 or a case that they are fine right outside it. Neither outcome should have really raised an eyebrow. The most common objections have been North Carolina and Virginia Tech. If Kentucky played either of those teams I think it would basically be a coin flip. If I could single out a team as being a dubious choice for the Top 25 it would be Cincinnati. They did beat UCF last year but lost twice to Memphis and were blanked 42-0 by Ohio State. I think in the 11-25 range of the rankings there is a tendency for these pollsters to feel compelled to throw in a few of the best Group of Five schools when those teams probably wouldn't actually hold up as well against a full Power Five schedule as the ranking would suggest. Kentucky should have a top 15-20 defense nationally. Pair that with a strong running game and that's an outstanding core. As Jeff said the problem for UK and the rankings this year is the 10-game SEC schedule. They could have a really impressive year and finish 6-4 which won't help much. But at the very least I believe Kentucky is rightly in the conversation for the Top 25. I would expect a lot of Kentucky fans to feel like they are getting the shaft. It's true, Kentucky hasn't gotten the annual hype bump that South Carolina and Missouri have seemed to in recent history. Some of that is because a lot of people are still a little slow to come around on a program that hasn't yet won the East. Some is because more pass-happy explosive offenses are a little sexier.