National analyst rips Kentucky as most overpaid and overrated team in college basketball

When national media goes in on Kentucky, fans usually roll their eyes. It has happened plenty of times before, and it will happen again. This time, a lot of them quietly nodded along.

Matt Norlander calls Kentucky overpaid overrated and disappointing

After Kentucky was blown out 94–59 by Gonzaga in Nashville, CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander went straight to X and fired off a brutal assessment:

That alone would have been enough to spark a wildfire. But Norlander didn’t stop there. He joined the postgame show with Ryan Lemond and Billy Rutledge and doubled down.

“Well the actual answer to that can only be brought forth by the coaching staff and players,” Norlander said when asked what was wrong with the Cats. “This Kentucky team sits at 5–4 and does not have a win over a team higher than 195th at KenPom. The best loss of the group happened earlier this week at home to UNC.”

Then he circled back to the scoreboard.

“It’s 94–59, completely unacceptable,” Norlander said. “I tweeted it because I meant it… They lack real aggressiveness, they lack real heart… They don’t have a collective identity.”

Norlander pointed out that he was at Madison Square Garden when Kentucky lost to Michigan State and that Pope himself had framed the following two weeks as season-defining.

“I don’t know where we go from here,” he admitted. “When I talked to Pope amid that New York trip, he said the next two weeks would determine what kind of team they would be this season… epic no show here… Pope will own it… that can only last you so long.”

Then came the NIL discussion. When asked what he thought of Kentucky’s money-built roster and whether something felt broken, Norlander didn’t sugarcoat it.

“The entire roster is proving to be overpaid at this point… vastly.”

But it wasn’t all doom.

“Does Pope have the ability as a coach? I do think he does,” Norlander said. “He has got such a devotion to this job… knowing Pope the way I know him… they are not going to rest.”

He even said he still believes Pope can coach this group into an NCAA Tournament team. That might be the sharpest sting of all. For Kentucky, simply sneaking into the bracket has never been the standard nor the hype that had people ready for a national title this year.

From “most overpaid and overrated” to “massive mess” and “no identity,” Norlander essentially said what a lot of Kentucky fans are already thinking. The difference now is that it’s loud, national, and attached to a 35-point loss everyone just watched together.