Preseason has shown that rankings mean practically nothing. No.1 Purdue suffered a deflating 78-65 defeat to Mark Pope’s Kentucky. It’s just yanked everyone who went all-in on Purdue right back to reality. And Robe Dauster of ‘The Field Of 68’ podcast was one of those who had to rein in his expectations.

“If you would have asked me nine days ago, I would have said no doubt, hands down, they’re winning the national championship. We could just end the season right now. Stop having these conversations,” Rob said.

The Boilers have evolved into one of the best teams in the country over the last few years. Even their last season, their 24-11 record and Sweet 16 appearance would be more than acceptable for most programs, but for Purdue, it was considered a disappointment. This sustained presence, coupled with the return of an All-American-caliber point guard in Braden Smith and an elite frontcourt headlined by Trey Kaufman-Renn, plus proven size via Oscar Cluff and 7‑4 Daniel Jacobsen, easily gives them the ‘favorites’ tag. However, their performance against Kentucky has Dauster doubting their caliber.

“Then they they they got smacked by Kentucky in that exhibition, man. They kind of got their asses kicked a little bit, and they looked small and they looked unathletic and they looked like all of the concerns that we’ve had about Purdue. And now I’m rethinking everything that I thought I knew in my life,” Dauster said. 

Kentucky’s domination was felt across the board. They won in second-chance points (14-4), paint scoring (36-26), bench production (34-18), fastbreaks (15-5), and rebounds (42-30). Mark Pope completely outplayed Matt Painter despite being the underdog coming into the game. “I thought our staff was really good on the bench communicating. We are going to need that,” Pope said after the game. Something that Purdue seemingly lacked, that they had only 12 field goals via assists as opposed to 17 from Kentucky.  

Painter recognized their flaws after the game and is not taking that ranking for granted. “I don’t care where we’re ranked. We have real problems,” Painter said. However, he outlined a silver lining from this loss, something he and the program have incorporated in their preseason strategy. Their difficult non-conference schedule gives them reality checks like these to go back and work on. 

Purdue is keeping itself on their toes to avoid getting sucked into that favorites tag. Mark Pope’s side, on the other hand, has upped its stock after the win, because it came without point guard Jaland Lowe and freshman phenom Jayden Quaintance. The side will need to contend with their absence for a little more time after Mark Pope announced updates regarding their injury. 

Mark Pope’s Wildcats Ready To Compete Without Key Stars

Key frontcourt piece Jayden Quaintance and lead guard Jaland Lowe are still in the wings for Kentucky. That is a scary prospect for their competitors. Jayden Quaintance, who is recovering from an ACL injury, is not yet ready for team activities. Lowe, who injured his shoulder during the Blue-White Scrimmage, is back on the court but in a limited capacity as the staff takes a cautious approach. Despite their returns still out of sight, Mark Pope remains confident. 

“I haven’t coached a team this deep before,” Pope said. “It’s one of the challenges that we’re really excited about this year. I mean, it’s a rich person’s problem, right? We’re really blessed in the sense of having such an incredibly deep team and trying to fit these guys together.”

Like we discussed earlier, it wasn’t just the stars showing out against Purdue. Malachi Moreno Jasper Johnson, and balled out from the bench, which really shows off the team’s depth. Johnson led the team in scoring with 15 points, and Moreno chipped in 8 points on 4-5 shooting, including 4 rebounds and an assist. 

The depth is something that would be key as the season drags on. Any of their players can turn up on a given day to get Kentucky the W, which makes planning against them even more difficult. The only possible issue that Pope might have is the problem of plenty. He will need to balance the minutes to each of their stars. Pope will need to maintain a balanced locker room where a player who would have been the torchbearer in another program is playing from the bench.