Jon Rothstein is a popular basketball analyst with CBS, and he is never shy about giving his opinion. Over the summer, he consistently had the Cats ranked lower than most, and yesterday, he was spouting off on CBS Sports Network when Kentucky was down at the half.
He said, "The team that is on the floor right now is not the team that was projected to be on the floor. But with that said, there is a slew of new players in Lexington. And all of a sudden, because people put up a graphic because they committed out of the Transfer Portal, this team is supposed to be really, really good? I was never buying stock in Kentucky as a top 10 team."
Then the second half happened.
Kentucky has a long way to go, but they're closer to being the team people envisioned
Now, was the game perfect? No. The Cats are still falling behind by way too much in the first halves of games. They need to be better in the opening 20 minutes. But the team looked together, they were moving the ball, and they were talking. It wasn't always perfect, but it was effective enough to walk away with a win.
Rothstein continued his rant, saying, "I look at which teams had the highest percentage of returning personnel, and those teams go to the top."
"I was never buying stock in Kentucky as a Top 10 team to start the season!"@JonRothstein says roster continuity is more important than transfers. pic.twitter.com/2IqKuXoa0Z
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) January 17, 2026
He went on to praise Arkansas because it returned a lot of players to the conference. Well, Arkansas just got the doors blown off by Georgia by 14. Kentucky, meanwhile, came all the way back to knock off Top 25 Tennessee on the road. Not that Arkansas isn't a good team, but sometimes returners aren't the answer.
It wasn't like Kentucky returned zero, either. They had the Preseason SEC Player of the Year, they had a former McDonald's All-American, and a Top 40 player in the class of 2022. They had Trent Noah, who played big minutes for the Cats. Were they stars? Not all of them, but it wasn't like Kentucky had 15 brand new faces.
And to top it off, after Kentucky knocked off Purdue earlier this year, Rothstein had them at Number 12 in his "Rothstein 45." So, that is a heck of a lot closer to "Top 10" than he was letting on during his halftime rant.
Even so, someone needs to warm up the crow pie for Jon. He's going to need a big slice.