When Ohio State football won the national championship in 2024, all anybody could talk about was the Buckeyes’ $20 million roster. It was almost presented as an unreasonably expensive team, when, in reality, $20 million for a national championship is a bargain. In no time, the bar for contention in football has risen to $40 or even $50 million.
While it came with far less success, Kentucky’s $22 million spending spree last offseason garnered a similar reception. And once again, that astronomical expense is now viewed as par for the course.
Joining The Field of 68 on Monday, Sean Miller told Rob Dauster and Jeff Goodman that there are probably 20-25 programs spending over $20 million on their roster for the upcoming season.
How many 20+ million dollar rosters are there in college basketball this offseason? Sean Miller's perspective:
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) May 4, 2026
"Educated guess? Sometimes you don't have all the information... I would say 20-25." 👀
🎥: https://t.co/kRYnhn5fpC pic.twitter.com/nG8CMfoVOg
While, if true, that doesn’t completely absolve Kentucky’s lack of success last season, eeking out just one NCAA Tournament win with the most expensive roster in the country, it lets Pope off the hook a bit.
Increased spending will help Pope’s reputation but not his job security
Obviously, it takes more than just spending the most to win a title. Often, it’s more about a program’s evaluation of talent than it is about the valuation of those players. Still, there’s a certain level of expectation that comes with the most costly roster in the country, and Kentucky didn’t meet it.
There are plenty of reasons for that, injuries chief among them, and Pope’s roster never made sense for his preferred style of play. He may be running into a similar problem this year with a ball-dominant backcourt pair of Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins. Compounding those mistakes will be a bigger problem for his job security than the sticker shock of last year’s team.
Still, the fact that so many programs have caught up to that $20 million investment will inevitably add to the growing list of teams that spent big, but didn’t win big. Ultimately, Kentucky will be remembered among that group, especially if spending continues to rise (and why wouldn’t it?).
That’s good news for Pope’s reputation, but it could be bad news for Kentucky because if Pope couldn’t reach the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament while outspending the rest of college basketball, what will happen when everybody else catches up in the arms race? Pope may not like the answer.
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