Mark Pope says Otega Oweh would be SEC Player of the Year favorite if he returns to Kentucky

Just how high Kentucky’s ceiling for the 2025-26 season can reach depends in large part on Otega Oweh‘s NBA Draft decision. If he returns to the Wildcats for another run — as is still expected, although not a lock — the Big Blue Nation can truly begin to dream about what the future might hold this fall.

After an All-SEC season as a junior at Kentucky in 2024-25, Oweh is testing the professional waters. Although he’s not currently projected as one of the 59 picks in next month’s draft, the 6-foot-5 guard impressed at the NBA Draft Combine scrimmages earlier this week in Chicago. Will it be enough to boost his stock and earn the first-round guarantee he’s looking for? That’s yet to be seen.

Oweh still has a handful of post-Combine workouts scheduled with NBA teams beginning next week. He has until May 28 to either stay in the draft or pull his name from the pool of prospects. That’s potentially another 10 days of waiting for the BBN.

But if Oweh ultimately does return, he’s going to receive plenty of love as a preseason All-American candidate. The former Oklahoma Sooner was excellent in his first season at Kentucky, leading the Wildcats in scoring at 16.2 points per outing while chipping in 4.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.6 steals for good measure. He shot 49.2 percent from the field and 35.5 percent from deep on his way to making an All-SEC Second Team.

There is some improvement needed within his game, but you won’t find many better college basketball players in 2025-26 than Oweh.

“We’ll see what happens with Otega,” Kentucky head coach Mark Pope recently said on The Sideline with Andy Katz. “He is knocking on the door of this draft, and so we’re cheering for him like crazy. And if he decides to come back, clearly he’d probably come back and be the presumptive SEC Player of the Year.“

After a historically good run last season, the Southeastern Conference as a whole is expected to take a step back in 2025-26. There will still be plenty of deep and talented rosters, but likely not enough to see another 14 schools crack the NCAA Tournament. That opens up a larger window of opportunity for someone like Oweh, who would immediately be considered one of the best players in the SEC — and the country — if/when he announces his return to Lexington.

Led by a likely Preseason SEC Player of the Year candidate in Oweh, Kentucky would be among the best teams in the nation in 2025-26 if Pope can get his star back for one more run.