Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: Expectations High For 2015-16 Wildcats

Kyle Tucker of the Courier-Journal got input from some highly touted college basketball analysts about their opinion of the upcoming Kentucky Wildcats.

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He asked Jay Bilas from ESPN, Gary Parrish from CBSSPORTS and Mike DeCourcy of Sporting News just what they thought the Kentucky Wildcats would be next season after the memorable 38-1 season.

"“I mean, they’re going to be great again, you know?” Parrish said. “You can make the case – I wonder if people will be scared to do it, because there’s an obvious backlash every time – that they should be preseason No. 1 if you just look at the talent on the roster.”Prized Canadian guard Jamal Murray signed with the Wildcats last week, giving Calipari six former five-star recruits with which to work in 2015-16. Only Duke (seven) has more. Among teams that will round out most preseason top-five rankings, Kansas has five former five-stars and Maryland and North Carolina have three each.And to think, Kentucky fans were worried about recruiting this year. Murray erased all the disappointment of a half-dozen elite prospects picking other programs this spring.“I thought he was exactly what they needed to push them over to being a contender for a championship,” DeCourcy said, “with his ability to play basically all three perimeter positions, to attack off the bounce, to make a shot. He has a great basketball IQ from what we can see. I think that he adds a lot.”"

"They don’t have as much experience coming back, but they have really, really good talent again. So they’ll be right there,” Bilas said. “They don’t have as many players, but they do have returning players. That’s important. Any time you’ve got a team with players that have been there before and done it before, it’s important for the locker room, for practice, in drills. When coaches don’t have to teach everybody everything, it makes it a little bit easier.”“They can be really dynamic,” DeCourcy said. “I think that Tyler Ulis is probably the most complete point guard at the offensive end that they’ve had at Kentucky. He can do everything that you want a point guard to do. He can penetrate, he can pass, he can see the floor, he can organize, he can make deep shots, he can push the ball in transition.“They’ve had really good, special players that had great talent in particular areas – John Wall’s athleticism and Brandon Knight’s shooting and on and on – but this kid does a little bit of everything really well. And I think that’s a great start for a productive offense.”"

"“Nobody else could do what (Calipari) is doing,” Parrish said. “Nobody else could lose seven players and reload. But what’s even crazier is that two months ago, we would’ve thought they’d get at least one more marquee guy. When you talk about losing seven guys and then talk about reloading a roster that might be the best in the country, and then say, ‘You know what? It could’ve been even better,’ that’s a testament to what he’s got going on right now.”This is not exactly a new phenomenon for the Cats, even if it is the biggest rebuild yet.“In a way, it’s more of the same,” Bilas said. “One of the great things about Kentucky is that they’ve been different every year. They’ve been the same in many ways, but they’ve been different every year. I think that’s great.”“And it could be a team like 2011, that maybe even though we put them (top five) in the preseason, it takes them a while to get to that,” he said. “That wouldn’t surprise me at all, because of the youth at the center spot and the fact that Murray’s going to have to be special and you’re counting on a junior-college player to be productive. So it may take them a little while … but I still think they’ll be one of the teams that can win a title.”That’s as much about the competition as it is about Kentucky. Bilas, Parrish and DeCourcy all agree that the field won’t be as strong this season.“This is a lot like 2011 or 2014, where I don’t think there’s going to be any teams that are really special, just extraordinary,” DeCourcy said. “Any one of four teams from last season, if transplanted into this year, would be the overwhelming favorite against this field. Arizona, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Duke would be just an absolute runaway favorite if they had last year’s team in this season.”So that brings us back to the question: How good can Kentucky be in 2015-16? Parrish is considering the Wildcats, Jayhawks, Terrapins and Tar Heels for his preseason No. 1 ranking. It’ll be a close call.“I will have (UK) no lower than No. 3,” he said. “I like Maryland’s roster, I like Carolina’s roster, I like Kansas’ roster. But if you believe in Murray and Skal – if you think Murray and Skal are going to be great – then you could reasonably put them No. 1. And I might.”"

I can help but to agree with most of this. It should be another great year for the Wildcats.

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