Kentucky Basketball: This Is Going to Be Fun

Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

The 2014-15 University of Kentucky Men’s Basketball team may not win the school’s ninth NCAA title. The team may not make the school’s 17th Final Four. The team may not achieve the school’s 14th 30-win season. But there’s a few things that we know going in to the regular season. Head Coach John Calipari’s sixth team is extremely talented and is going to be fun to watch.

With the glimpses that we’ve seen in the Bahamas and the two exhibition games, it’s clear that this is a deep team. It’s a team that’s talented. It’s a team that has the roster flexibility to play various styles and various tempos. Despite what some of the naysayers want to happen, the guys actually seem to actually to be buying what Cal’s selling with his two platoon system.

Sure, there’s the entire season to play and if last year taught us anything, there’s something to be said about counting your chickens before they hatch. But, as a Kentucky fan, how can you not be exited about this team? For the first time in forever, Calipari will have talented juniors and sophomores to mesh with yet another talented group of freshmen. The older guys know exactly what it takes to achieve on court success.  And unlike previous years, the youngsters don’t have to hit the ground running as fast. Their learning curve doesn’t need to be expedited. They can just play and be, well, freshmen.

Despite what Cal and his staff will say, they know they’ve got a potential juggernaut on their hands. This year will be more of mentally keeping the guys involved than Xs and Os and gameplans. For all of his faults,  former head man Rick Pitino did a masterful job on that 1995-95 balancing egos and convincing Antoine Walker that he doesn’t need to shoot 20 times a game to succeed. While there may not be any current Wildcats to rival Walker’s self-confidence, each one of them know about their individual talent and it’s up to the staff to keep them buying into the team concept.

If there’s to be an alpha dog on the team, it looks like it might be Aaron Harrison. Sure, we all know his exploits during last year’s NCAA Tournament. It seems as if he’s even more confident and more comfortable than he was sending the Cardinals, Wolverines and Badgers home. It’s clear that he’s comfortable from the left side of the floor shooting from three point range. He’s attacking the rim and the hesitation that plagued him through most of the regular season last year is gone. He’s locked in and he’s ready to put his mark on this college basketball season and cement his legacy for the Big Blue Nation.

Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

For the first time since the 2012 title team, these guys are having fun. They’re not being weighed down by the burden of outsized expectations. There’s no “40-0” T-shirts. There’s no rational UK fans talking about if these guys can beat an NBA team. Most folks in the Big Blue Nation are just buckling themselves in and getting ready for yet another great ride from another great team.

When Calipari was hired, it was a safe bet that he would win in Lexington. What couldn’t have been predicted was how he and the Wildcats would hijack the national discussion. After years of being a national afterthought, Cal has brought the spotlight on the Bluegrass. Critics scoffed when Calipari declared that Kentucky Basketball IS college basketball. From where I sit, that’s a pretty accurate statement and I like everyone else, I’m ready for another fun season.