Charting a Course to March: Kentucky Wildcats

December 5th: #4 Kentucky 68, #10 North Carolina 66, at Kentucky

December 9th: #4 Kentucky 64, #13 UConn 61, at Madison Square Garden

December 12th: #4 Kentucky 90, Indiana 73, at Indiana

With the arrival of John Calipari and the top recruting class in the nation, Kentucky has really emerged as the most talked-about team in the country so far this season.  I’ve been able to watch their last three games, ending with a win at Indiana on Saturday that pushed their record to 10-0.  It’s hard to imagine there is a more fun team to watch in college basketball.  They’re probably the most purely talented team in the nation and, at least physically, they look more like an NBA team than a college team.

Any conversation about Kentucky has to start with freshman PG John Wall.  The word “electrifying” gets thrown around a lot in sports, but it fits the bill with Wall.  Opposing coaches have described him as “better than Derrick Rose” and “the best point guard to come into college basketball since Jason Kidd.”  The kid has it all: size (6’4″, will need to add some muscle), athleticism, quickness, defense, shooting, passing.  He turns it over too much right now, but he makes a few plays a game that just leave you shaking your head, or laughing out loud.  He’s a legit national player of the year candidate, and will almost certainly be the top pick in next year’s NBA draft.

The key veteran for Kentucky is junior F/C Patrick Patterson.  Kansas’s Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich were both pre-season All-Americans, but Wall and Patterson might just form the best duo in the game.  Patterson is an elite rebounder and has added a very effective jump shot to his game.  He can run the pick-and-pop like a pro right now.  He’s the best big man I’ve seen so far this year, and he should join Wall as a top-10 pick in the June draft.

The team has two other players that could end up as lottery picks (especially if they stick around for at least one more season): freshmen Eric Bledsoe and Demarcus Cousins.  Bledsoe would be a star PG at just about any other school, but with Wall around, he’s playing off the ball.  Cousins is a power forward with NBA size and athleticism, and a lot of skill to go with it.  He’s had a lot of foul trouble and probably needs to mature a bit, but he’s already averaging 14 pts and 8 boards.

The supporting cast to those four future pros includes three solid, 6’7″ guards, Darius Miller, Darnell Dodson, and Ramon Harris, along with a promising freshman F/C, Daniel Orton.

With three of their top four players being freshmen, they have the expected mental lapses.  The best thing that can happen to this team will be to lose a few games so they realize that they can’t just rely on their talent.  Calipari has been trying hard to get that across to them, but it will probably take them getting beat before they really start to listen.  It will happen though, and this will be a very tough team to beat.

Best-Case Scenario: National Champions

Best Guess: Final Four (They’re not the best team in the country right now, but they definitely could be by March)