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College basketball rankings: Kentucky adds West Virginia transfer Tre Mitchell, makes jump in Top 25 And 1 – CBS Sports
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Kentucky coach John Calipari has long had the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class — one that includes four five-star prospects, most notably projected one-and-done lottery picks Justin Edwards and DJ Wagner. But as recently as last week, the Naismith Memorial Hall of Famer was light on experienced pieces to pair with the heralded freshmen, which is among the reasons the Wildcats were removed from Version 17.0 of the 2023-24 CBS Sports preseason Top 25 And 1 college basketball rankings back on June 12.
They’re comfortably back in now, though.
That’s because, on Monday, former West Virginia standout Tre Mitchell publicly announced his commitment to Kentucky. When combined with last week’s announcement that Antonio Reeves is returning to UK, it’s enough to push the Wildcats up to No. 17 in Version 19.0 of the Top 25 And 1.
A possible UK starting lineup now looks like this:
That’s a lineup with three five-star freshmen and two experienced pieces who have already averaged double-digits in points at the high-major level. Reeves averaged 14.4 points and 2.1 rebounds in 27.9 minutes per game last season at Kentucky. Mitchell averaged 11.7 points and 5.5 rebounds in 30.0 minutes per game last season at West Virginia.
The only other development that impacted Version 19.0 of the Top 25 And 1 is Jahvon Quinerly‘s announcement late Sunday that he’s transferring from Alabama, meaning Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats will now be without five of the top six scorers from last season’s team that won the SEC regular-season title and SEC Tournament before securing the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. Consequently, Alabama was removed from Version 19.0 of the Top 25 And 1 and replaced by St. John’s,which was simply bumped up from what amounted to No. 27.
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