Kentucky No. 9 in Jon Rothstein's Preseason SEC Rankings

With college football just under a month away, that doesn't stop the preseason basketball rankings from comning out. On Monday, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports and College Hoops Today released his new preseason rankings for the SEC . Most notably, the Wildcats come in at 9th overall.

The Wildcats coming in at No. 9 in the rankings puts them in the middle of the conference. The SEC is going to be absolutely loaded once again, and Mark Pope has a lot of pressure on him in his first season as the new head coach of Kentucky. Whether it's fair or not, it's true. Kentucky fans are starving for mostly post-season success after only one NCAA tournament win in the last four seasons. Regardless of that, fans are very excited about how the roster has shaped up, bringing in the best players in the state for the incoming freshman class, as well as adding experienced transfers. Rothstein deemed Kerr Kriisa, Jaxson Robinson, Koby Brea, Andrew Carr, and Amari Williams as some of the top impacts transfers for next season.

Ahead of Kentucky, Rothstein has Ole Miss (8), Texas (7), Tennessee (6), Florida (5), Texas A&M (4), Auburn (3), Arkansas (2), and Alabama holding the top spot. He explained his reasoning as to why the has the Wildcats ranked in the middle of the SEC at the moment on the College Hoops Today podcast , noting that many of the players on Kentucky's roster will be taking a big jump in the level of programs from where they were at before. "People automatically think that just because a team wears Kentucky across its chest, it’s going to be really, really good," Rothstein said. "I want to remind people this: there are major, major jumps at hand for many of Kentucky’s players who have transferred to Lexington."

The Wildcats will be tested in the SEC next season, and it will be a big part in determining their success as a team.