Why Kentucky Vs Louisville Is The Best Rivalry In College Basketball  

Kentucky vs Louisville basketball is the best rivalry in the sport. It’s better than North Carolina vs Duke, because North Carolina isn’t going to be a good year in and out with Hubert Davis. Duke will win most of the time and the rivalry is going to die down to the fact Duke is going to own the rivalry. Kentucky and Louisville are both going into the 2025-2026 season as some of the highest ranked teams in the country. Both teams had first year head coaches last year and both coaches exceeded expectations in year 1. 

Why both coaches will be made up of the best coaches in the sport, in coming years. 

First of all let's start with Mark Pope, who put together a sweet sixteen roster in about a month's worth of time in late April after the portal had been open since March. He also beat one of the best teams in the Kenpom era in Duke and beat the national champions. With a team battered with injuries, he still managed to finish 6th in the greatest conference of all time. He has one of the best offensive minds in the sport, and the defensive will be better this year with more athletic players coming in. Pope said he wanted to focus on getting better athletes and having a better defense for this upcoming season. Pat Kelsey inherited nothing when he came into Louisville, he took over after Kenny Payne who won like 12 games in two years. Kelsey, like Pope, had to focus on recruiting portal kids in his first year. He was able to get some stars from the portal like Chucky Hepburn and Terrance Edwards. Kelsey made it to the ACC championship in his first year. He plays at a fast pace with a modern offensive. He was able to do this after inheriting Kenny Payne who basically shot the program into the ground. 

Why both teams will be preseason national championship contenders. 

So first of all Mark Pope constructed an insane roster. They have the number 6th overall class coming in. They brought back Otega Oweh who will most likely be preseason SEC player of the year, Brandon Garrison who took huge strides towards the end of the year, Collin Chandler who took a huge leap at the end of the year, and Trent Noah who is the best pure shooter on the team. He was able to land Jaland Lowe, Jayden Quaintace, Kam Williams, Mhoumad Dioubate, Andrija Jelavic, and Reece Potter. With Jayden Quaintance being projected as a high first round pick in next year's NBA draft along with Kam Williams who has major upside. Jaland Lowe looks to be one of the best PG’s in the country this upcoming season, he led an awful Pitt Team last year, and with better players around him he looks to have a breakout season. Kentucky is also bringing in freshman Jasper Johnson who is one of the best combo guards in his class, Malachi Moreno who could be a big piece in later seasons, and Braydon Hawthrone who might have the most upside on the team. I believe the best teams are made up of a couple big time players returning, combined with proven transfers and filling pieces, and a couple freshman with upside. This is exactly what Kentucky's roster is. 

Louisville also has an insane roster coming in. They brought in the best freshman point guard in the country, in Mikel Brown jr. Their transfer class is insane. Including top ten transfer Adrian Wooley, who was wanted by every program in the country. They also brought in Ryan Conwell from Xavier who averaged 16 points on 42 percent from three last year. Finally they brought in Liam Mcneely who is viewed as one of the best shooters in college for this upcoming year. They definitely are excited about Mikel Brown who has a chance to be one of the best players in the country regardless of class. With Mikel coming in I think he is taking up most of the shine, even though their transfer class is arguably the best in the country. Here are some of the returners, J’vonne Hadley who averaged 12 and 7 last year for the Cards and played a very important role. They also got Khani Rooths to return and Kasean Pryor who only appeared in a limited amount of games last year due to a season ending ACL tear. Once again this team has some key returning pieces, a stud transfer portal class and one of the best freshmen in the country coming in. Teams that are built like this in my opinion are the ones that have the most success. 

Both of these teams are loaded with talent, and have hopes for a national Championship. This rivalry will be better than North Carolina vs Duke due to the fact North Carolina is falling off a slippery slope. Kentucky and Louisville year in and year out will be two of the best teams in the country.