Basketball season is right around the corner. Kentucky's Big Blue Madness was over a week ago and its annual Pro Day event was last Tuesday. Ahead of the first exhibition game, we have SEC Media Days this week down in Birmingham, where Mark Pope will speak at the podium and select players will be available to interview.
Before we get things rolling, the SEC has released its preseason rankings and All-SEC teams. Where does Kentucky rank in the projected order of finish? This season, the Wildcats are projected to finish 7th in the SEC behind Vandy, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, and then Florida holding the top spot. Behind them is Missouri, Texas A&M, Auburn, Georgia, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, LSU, Mississippi State, and South Carolina. The conference also released it's preseason all-conference teams and two Wildcats were included.
Milan Momcilovic made an appearance as an SEC All-Second Team selection, while Malachi Moreno was on the third team. For the incoming Momcilovic, he talked at Kentucky basketball Media Day about Mark Pope's comments over the summer about wanting him to shoot the ball even more than he did last season and therefore expecting his percentage to go down.
"I think that just shows confidence in me, and he wants me to shoot a lot more. He doesn't want my percentage to be so high just because I'm shooting tough shots, shooting any time I can get open. So hopefully it's the same the percentage, but it's tough to match."
For Malachi Moreno, Mark Pope raved about the progression he has made over the summer ahead of a crucial season if he wants to make the jump in NBA Draft boards. Here was his comment at Kentucky's Media Day a few weeks ago.
"Malachi Moreno -- we had a scrimmage on on Saturday -- he had three assists in the first four minutes. The jump he's made has been has been really exciting for us to see. ...Malachi's made huge strides," Pope said. "I'll be really honest with this, and Malachi knows this -- the first four weeks of the summer, I was really frustrated with Malachi. I felt like we were stuck in molasses. There was a little bit of stubbornness, and we were kind of fighting, but that happens over the course of a tenure when you're pushing, pushing, pushing. Then, what he's done since then is almost unrecognizable with some of the skill sets that he's brought to the game. His interior scoring has improved dramatically. His use of quicks has improved dramatically. His rim protection is a place we're really pushing him to be really aggressive. Our two-point at-rim field-goal percentage is a hugely important number for us, and he's had a huge impact there. He's taken on a leadership role where our guys see him as a leader and a veteran on this team."
Kentucky will get their first of three exhibition games started on Friday against Little Rock.
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