Olivier Sarr is eligible-Where Kentucky is at in the rankings

Overtime Heroics Editorial

954 days ago

Back in August some of the people here at Overtime Heroics put together a preseason top 25 rankings here on the site. The one team that really got under our skin in the rankings was the Kentucky Wildcats. We had them sitting at the 15th spot in the country for one reason, and one reason only. Was Olivier Sarr going to be eligible for the 2020-21 season?

Impact of Olivier Sarr

The seven-footer averaged 14 points and 9 rebounds in his junior campaign, which was second on the Demon Deacons. Sarr was one of the best, if not the best transfer to come out last spring, and now he is immediately eligible for the Wildcats.

Olivier Sarr being eligible for Kentucky and also Jacob Toppin, who is a transfer from Rhode Island, changes where the cats are positioned in the rankings. Some may think this is a really big jump for a team that is going to be playing its first 40 minutes together for the first time ever, but because the level of talent and expectations I put them here. Here are my new predicted top 15 teams in the country:

Baylor Bears
Gonzaga Bulldogs
Villanova Wildcats
Virginia Cavaliers
Kentucky Wildcats
Iowa Hawkeyes
Kansas Jayhawks
Illinois Fighting Illini
Wisconsin Badgers
Duke Blue Devils
Creighton Bluejays
Tennessee Volunteers
Michigan State Spartans
Houston Cougars
West Virginia Mountaineers

Kentucky was really the only major change to my preseason rankings, but I do think it was a necessary change. Olivier Sarr was the one piece that Kentucky needed for this upcoming year to push them to be a top-five team in the country. They are right there in championship contention with a handful of other teams. We are just under one month until the tip-off of the 2020-21 college basketball season.

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