You know who else the SEC isn’t doing any favors? It’s Mark Pope
Auburn (at Arkansas, at Florida and at Tennessee) and Tennessee (at Arkansas, at Florida, at Kentucky) will both play three such games.
John Calipari and Arkansas will face only two (at Auburn, at Florida) of the SEC’s other top five teams on the road.
As Florida guns for an NCAA title repeat, Todd Golden’s Gators will play only one game on the road against another of the SEC’s projected top five teams — and that, of course, will be at Rupp Arena.
Circumstances, not an anti-Big Blue conspiracy in the SEC office, are the main reason Kentucky’s league road slate looks so daunting for 2025-26.That matters because part of Pope’s assignment in attempting to restore the luster to UK basketball is to get the Cats back to winning Southeastern Conference championships.
As UK backers are all too aware, Kentucky has not won an SEC regular season crown since 2019-20.
The Wildcats have not cut down the nets after claiming victory in an SEC Tournament since 2017-18.
For a program that has won or shared in 49 previous SEC regular season championships and claimed the SEC Tournament title 32 times, those championship droughts feel of biblical proportions.As we know, the SEC alternates home-and-away sites in back-to-back years for teams that do not face each other twice in a given season. So UK road trips to Arkansas and Auburn in the coming season are return dates for games that were played in Lexington in 2024-25.
Under the SEC scheduling format in effect since Oklahoma and Texas joined the league in 2024, Kentucky annually plays home-and-home with Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
Only UK’s double-dip with Florida this season is discretionary scheduling. One can surmise that ESPN, the SEC’s media rights holder, was beyond keen at the idea of telecasting two games pitting the reigning national champion and the Southeastern Conference’s traditional men’s hoops kingpin.
We’ll see if the teams projected by the national basketball gurus to be the five best in the SEC right now turn out to be so next winter. As viewed presently, however, Kentucky’s path to an SEC regular season title in 2025-26 looks far more arduous than those faced by the teams that figure to be the Wildcats’ toughest challengers.If the men’s college hoops analysts are correct, the SEC overall will not be as formidable in 2025-26 as it was during 2024-25’s historic season for the league.
Last year, as you well know, the SEC put a record 14 teams into the NCAA Tournament, filled seven of the slots in the Sweet 16, had half of the Elite Eight, two of the Final Four and produced the national champion.
This year, CBSSports.com projects “only” seven SEC teams in its Top 25; ESPN.com and On3.com each have six; SI.com has a mere five.
Nevertheless, given how many of the SEC’s other projected top teams Kentucky must play on the road in 2025-26, this is a certainty for Pope’s second season on the UK bench:
More News: BREAKING: Five-Star Quarterback Sends Shockwaves Through College Football by Rejecting $7.5M NIL Deal, Decommitting from East Carolina, and Flipping to Texas Longhorns Over Powerhouses Notre Dame and Georgia, Triggering Nationwide Recruiting Firestorm In a jaw-dropping move that has set the college football world ablaze, five-star quarterback phenom Jalen Ryland has decommitted from East Carolina University and officially flipped his commitment to the University of Texas, spurning elite programs Notre Dame and Georgia in the process. Even more shocking, Ryland reportedly turned down a staggering $7.5 million Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) offer—an unprecedented act in today’s high-stakes recruiting environment. Ryland, ranked as the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the 2025 class, had stunned analysts months earlier by pledging to East Carolina, a program with limited national prestige in the Power Five era. Speculation swirled that a massive NIL package was behind his decision, but few anticipated what would follow: the unraveling of that commitment and an even more headline-grabbing flip to the Texas Longhorns. Sources close to the situation say Ryland was “drawn to Texas not by money, but by legacy, development, and the chance to compete for a national title.” Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian reportedly made Ryland a top priority, personally visiting him on multiple occasions and selling the vision of Texas football in the SEC. “He could’ve gone anywhere,” said 247Sports analyst Marcus Holloway. “Georgia and Notre Dame rolled out the red carpet, but Texas offered something intangible—he wants to build something iconic, not just cash a check.” The decision has ignited a recruiting frenzy, with programs now re-evaluating their quarterback boards, boosters reassessing their NIL strategies, and fans across the country debating what Ryland’s move says about the future of college football. For East Carolina, the loss is a major blow. The Pirates were poised to make Ryland the face of their program—a transformative figure both on and off the field. Now, they return to the drawing board just months before signing day. On the flip side, Texas is riding high. The Longhorns, already boasting a top-five recruiting class, now add a generational talent to their arsenal as they continue their transition into the SEC. Ryland's mobility, arm strength, and leadership have drawn comparisons to NFL stars like Lamar Jackson and Caleb Williams. This move also sparks a larger debate within the sport. With NIL deals reaching astronomical heights, Ryland’s decision to prioritize fit and legacy over financial incentives may mark a turning point—or at least provide a rare counterpoint in the increasingly commercial landscape of college athletics. Whether this is a one-off or the beginning of a cultural shift, one thing is clear: Jalen Ryland just became the most talked-about player in the country—not for the millions he could have made, but for the statement he just made. The Longhorns just got their star, and college football just got a whole lot more interesting.
