The Kentucky Wildcats have not yet kicked off football season, but there’s already talk starting up about UK basketball and the upcoming 2025-26 season among Kentucky sportsbook apps customers and other fans.
Actually, who are we kidding? It’s always basketball season for Big Blue Nation, no matter how the football team (or any other team on campus) is expected to fare during the season.
On Aug. 6, the school released its men’s basketball schedule for this season after the Southeastern Conference announced when teams in the megaconference will play each other. BetKentucky.com, as part of our Kentucky sports betting coverage, decided to dive into the Wildcats SEC slate to find out which five-game stretch will be their hardest in 2026.
We’re not going to delve into the nonconference games – at least not yet – as the program is still looking to add up to three more games. There are already several challenging contests in that portion of the calendar – a road game at Louisville, meetups with Michigan State, St. John’s (and former UK coach Rick Pitino) and Gonzaga on neutral courts, and home matchups against North Carolina and Indiana.
Once the non-conference slate is finalized, we’ll look at those to identify the toughest stretch in those contests.
BetKentucky created a simple point system based on how teams performed last season, how far they advanced in the NCAA Tournament and where the 2025-26 game is being played. Here’s a breakdown of that system.
Points for record and the NCAA tournament do not aggregate, so Tennessee’s 30-8 record nets the Volunteers five points and reaching the Elite Eight gets them four.
When adding up the points, we got a tie between two overlapping segments.
| Date | Opponent | Points (Running Total) |
| Jan. 27 (or 28) | At Vanderbilt | 9 (9) |
| Jan. 31 | At Arkansas | 10 (19) |
| Feb. 3 | Oklahoma | 5 (24) |
| Feb. 7 | Tennessee | 9 (33) |
| Feb. 14 | At Florida | 14 (47) |
| Date | Opponent | Points (Running Total) |
| Feb. 3 | Oklahoma | 5 (5) |
| Feb. 7 | Tennessee | 9 (14) |
| Feb. 14 | At Florida | 14 (28) |
| Feb. 17 (or 18) | Georgia | 5 (33) |
| Feb. 21 | At Auburn | 14 (47) |
This research is exclusive to BetKentucky.com, where you’ll find the best Kentucky sportsbook promo codes as the season approaches.
In looking at Kentucky’s SEC slate, the conference in general did a decent job of not stacking too many big games together. That’s quite an accomplishment considering 14 conference teams made the NCAA Tournament last season. Yes, playing Tennessee, Florida and Auburn all within a four-game stretch will be daunting, especially with two on the road. However, you can make a similar case for the top segment – and that was without us adding any special points for playing John Calipari, who enters his second season as coach at Arkansas.
As Wildcats coach Mark Pope enters his second season at his alma mater, the Wildcats will be loaded once again. Kentucky lost five players from last season’s squad, but Pope picked up six in the transfer portal – a class 247 Sports ranked as the fifth best in the nation.
Because of that, UK should again be in the thick of a competitive SEC race. Oddsmakers at bet365 Kentucky Sportsbook have the Cats as their second choice to win the regular-season conference title with +325 odds. Florida, the defending national champion, is the favorite at +260 odds. Arkansas and Auburn are next on the board at +750 odds to capture the SEC title.
Regarding the Wildcats’ national title hopes, oddsmakers at BetMGM Kentucky Sportsbook price the team at +1800. Those are the ninth-shortest odds on that operator’s board. Florida is the third choice at +1200, behind Purdue (+900) and Houston (+1000) as of Aug. 11.
BetKentucky is your source for the latest analysis on the Kentucky Wildcats as they go for their ninth NCAA title. We’re also the home of the latest reviews and promo codes for the online sports betting apps licensed in the commonwealth.
USA Today Network photo by Grace Smith/IndyStar
Author
Steve is an accomplished, award-winning reporter with more than 20 years of experience covering gaming, sports, politics and business. He has written for the Associated Press, Reuters, The Louisville Courier Journal, The Center Square and numerous other publications. Based in Louisville, Ky., Steve has covered the expansion of sports betting in the U.S. and other gaming matters.
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