The 2013-2014 Kentucky Wildcats have the “most to prove” this season, as does Nerlens Noel

Coming back to Lexington as First Round NIT losers, coupled with John Calipari bringing the greatest recruiting class of all time for the 2013-2014 season and what you have is the team with the most to prove this season.  Well that’s according to ESPN’s Eamonn Brennan anyway.  And after some consideration, I don’t disagree with that.  There is more hype coming in to this season than has ever been with a recruiting class, so the say expectations are high would be like saying Dick Vitale is loud.  Anyway, here are Eamonn’s thoughts on UK and, as a bonus, UL because it’s only fitting to include those programs less fortunate.

"1. Kentucky: There may be a lonely faction out there in the Internet hinterlands who would assume this argument is about John Calipari. Sorry, but no: Calipari has nothing to prove. Yeah, Robert Morris in the NIT, I know, I know, but come on: We’re not even two full years removed from Kentucky’s national title. Remember that? When Calipari got the top two picks in the NBA draft to happily settle for the fourth- and fifth-highest percentage of their team’s shots en route to a 38-2 championship season? You remember that, right? Clearly, Calipari can mesh a class of hyper-talented freshmen with a mix of almost-equally-talented returners and win a national title, which is the be-all goal of Kentucky’s 2013-14 campaign. That exact thing just happened! No, this designation is about Kentucky’s players. Forget Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist; forget John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins; forget Derrick Rose. Calipari has had a lot of crazy recruiting classes in his career, but none of them have come close to this kind of hype. In March, less than 15 hours after the Wildcats’ embarrassing loss to Robert Morris, Julius Randle committed to Kentucky. A few hours later, ESPN.com recruiting guru Dave Telep wrote that Calipari’s class was the best ever — better even than Michigan’s Fab Five, “the standard bearer for recruiting classes.” So, yeah, Randle and his classmates — No. 5 ranked Andrew Harrison, No. 7-ranked Dakari Johnson, No. 8-ranked James Young, No. 9-ranked Aaron Harrison, and No. 25-ranked Marcus Lee — have something to prove. That goes double for disappointing sophomore holdovers Alex Poythress and Willie Cauley-Stein. The ceiling here is unfathomable — like, undefeated-season-unfathomable — and it’s almost impossible to envision Calipari presiding over another disaster. Not with this talent. But it is incumbent upon a very confident, cocksure group to come together, to sublimate their individual desires for the good of the team — all of that boring, cliche stuff. The inverse of “best recruiting class ever” is “most disappointing recruiting class ever,” and that’s a legacy no one wants to leave behind. 10. Louisville: Yes, Louisville is on this list. Weird, right? I know! But hear me out. Last spring, after four months of (almost) uninterrupted dominance, the Louisville Cardinals won the national title. Soon thereafter, their best player — arguably the country’s best player, period — announced his intentions to return to school. So did the power forward who put up 15 and 12 in the national title game. So did the swingman who made 12 of his 17 3s, and scored 42 total points, in two Final Four games. This team, by the way, is also adding a universally heralded point guard prospect and two other ESPN 100 recruits. And despite all that, this team is probably not going to start the season ranked No. 1 overall. Even worse? Their rivals, the Kentucky Wildcats, probably will. How’s that for something to prove?"

The “Voice of the Wildcats” Tom Leach had Mike DeCourcy of Sporting News on his radio show yesterday and there was some talk of Julius Randle.  This 29 seconds of audio tells a bit of the dominance of Julius Randle.