Oct 14, 2025; Birmingham, AL, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope talks with the media during SEC Media Days at Grand Bohemian Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

Does Mark Pope's Kentucky team have too much depth?

Originally posted on Kentucky Wildcats on SI
By Andrew Stefaniak | Last updated Oct 30, 2025 3:03 PM ET

The big narrative surrounding the Kentucky Wildcats this season is how deep Mark Pope's team is. Part of this is thanks to the 22 million dollars the staff had to put this roster together, but at the end of the day, Kentucky has the deepest team in college basketball.

For some reason, this offseason has revolved around something that makes less than zero sense. Some have argued that Kentucky could perhaps have too much depth on this team. There is no world where depth can be a bad thing.

Last season, the Wildcats lost Kerr Kriisa and Jaxson Robinson for the season. Lamont Butler and Andrew Carr were both in and out of the lineup at times, but the Wildcats still found a way to be successful. Kentucky didn't have a ton of depth, and it hurt this basketball team.

Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

That is not the case for Pope's team this season, as it is like Noah's Ark with two of everything. A great example of this is the game against Purdue last Friday. The Wildcats welcome the preseason #1 team without Jayden Quaintance and Jaland Lowe and still won this game handily.

The reason the Wildcats won this game is because of the elite depth and backup players being able to step up and play well. The depth also helps knowing Purdue seemed much more gassed at the end of the game than the Wildcats.

The only problem that so much elite depth could cause for this team is having to shorten the bench a bit when everyone is healthy, but this is a good issue to have. Kentucky has proven that a few injuries are no issue for this basketball team as they were shorthanded and beat the preseason #1 team on Friday.

Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Kentucky's depth is also going to be evident at the end of the season when these players aren't fully gassed from the long season. A lot of teams play their star players over 30 minutes per game, but for the most part, Kentucky's starters will average about 26-28 minutes per game this season.

Not only is Kentucky one of the best teams in college basketball, but the Wildcats will be one of the freshest when the NCAA Tournament rolls around in March. Some might complain about how deep Kentucky is and how much was spent on the roster, but if every coach in the nation was able to do it, they would.

This article first appeared on Kentucky Wildcats on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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