The team played its home games in Lexington, Kentucky for the 41st consecutive season at Rupp Arena, with a capacity of 20,500.

The team, led by John Calipari in his eighth season as head coach, was a member of the Southeastern Conference.

Edrice Adebayo, nicknamed "Bam" and originally from Pinetown, North Carolina, was a consensus top 15 player in his class.

[3] De'Aaron Fox, originally from Katy, Texas, was the second highest rated point guard that Calipari had signed at Kentucky.

[3] Sacha Killeya-Jones, originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was the second commitment in the Kentucky class.

[7] He chose Kentucky over Arkansas where his brother, Marcus Monk, played college basketball and football.

[19] On August 9, reserve guard E. J. Floréal announced that he would leave the UK basketball program to compete full-time for the school in track.

[20] USA Today announced its initial coaches poll on October 15 with Kentucky ranked as No.

[25] Nick Richards, a native of Kingston, Jamaica living in Queens, New York, was the first commitment in the Kentucky class.

P. J. Washington, a Dallas native attending school in Las Vegas, Nevada, was the second commitment in the Kentucky class.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, originally from Hamilton, Ontario and attending school in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was the third commitment in the Kentucky class.

[29] Jemarl Baker, a native of Eastvale, California, was the seventh commitment in the Kentucky recruiting class.

He averaged 17.1 points, 4.1 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.8 steals for Roosevelt High School in Corona, Calif., and he quickly emerged as one of the Wildcats' top backcourt targets after their season ended last month.

[31] UK's final commitment came on May 6, when Tampa product Kevin Knox II announced he would come to the school.

Kentucky beat out Duke, Florida State, North Carolina, and Missouri for Knox's signature.

[33] On March 28, 2017, Malik Monk was voted consensus Second Team All-American by each of the NCAA's four recognized organizations (AP, National Association of Basketball Coaches, United States Basketball Writers Association, Sporting News) it uses to determine consensus status.

Monk beat out Duke's Luke Kennard, UCLA's Bryce Alford, and Creighton's Marcus Foster for the award.