[Ghost01Participant]

Maybe I’m crazy…but Nerlens Noel probably won’t be as good as a collegiate player as Anthony Davis was. So If Teague, Lamb, and Jones all go pro, where do you guys see this Kentucky team being? I don’t see a top 10 team, but maybe thats just me. Ryan Harrow is decent, but he’s not amazing. Kyle Wiljer hits 3s. Thats all. I don’t see that continuity that they’ve had since Calipari got there. Even in 2011 when they weren’t awesome, Knight and Jones were top tier recruits, along with Lamb giving them one of those usual Calipari stacked classes.

[Bill Walton’s KneesParticipant]

 They made the final 4 in 2011, I don’t know how you can say they weren’t that awesome

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

He can definitely hit 3’s, but that guys post game is underrated. He knows how to play and I am sure he will be bigger next season. Kyle is not a great athlete, but I think he steps up big next year. He may be a 3-4 year college kind of guy, but I think he will be a role player any team in America would want next season.

In my mind, Kentucky 2012-13 is miles away from 2011-12. You are not crazy to think Nerlens will have nowhere near the impact of Anthony Davis, simply because I think people make that comparison more out of simplicity than actual similarity. Think everyone goes pro from that 6 man rotation this past year.

If they add Bennett, I think they are still more than likely a top 10 team. If not, they are still in contention as Ryan Harrow should be pretty damn nice in the dribble drive. Shooting may be a MAJOR issue for them, but they are athletic and will probably still out talent a majority of teams. Big bodies and talent though, plus they could be a killer in transition.

I am not quite sure they are championship contenders, but they might be deeper than the 2010-11 Final Four team, so who knows what can go down. Certainly no John Wall, Brandon Knight or Anthony Davis on this team though, so I think this team may indeed be a step below John Calipari’s other Wildcat teams. Not a lot of experience in the likely rotation though, so to say this class puts them right back into contention seems like stretch.

[scott3210Participant]

They will be top ten and probably top five. Archie Goodwin and Alex Poythress can ball. Nerlens is probably as good as Davis defensivley. Wiltjer can actually do more than shoot threes, he just needs a summer workout session so he can more vitalize his skills on the court. Plus, Harrow is really talented and I am sure that Calpari can improve him throughout the season.

[joecheck88Participant]

 Yea, Archie Goodwin and Alex Pothyress are amazing athletes. I could see those 2 having outstanding years, especially Goodwin with his speed. I don’t think they will win a championship next year but they should at least get a sweet sixteen appearance. I’m not sold on Noel at all, I don’t think he will be close to the player Davis was. 

[rickybobbyParticipant]

 Every great Empire has it glory days but in the end they all must fall. This year Team isn’t as talented as Calipari’s other Kentucky teams or his Last 2 Memphis teams. This maybe the year Calipari fall back to earth happens. He doesnt get the top talent in this class, dont get me wrong they maybe the most athletic but this year teams going to have to survive on athleticsm alone. To me Kyle Withjer is the most talented(versatile) player Next to Harrow. Im expecting Ryan Harrow to have a very good year, but he cant take this team nowhere by himself. Calipari has based his teams around top talent that he molds to play together. Its going to be interesting to see this year club play, if they dont perform as well as Calipari other teams it maybe the slow decline of his empire he built. Bazz commiment to UCLA was the first blow and showed us not everyone wants to join the elite and i suspect the remain top recruits to follow suite and sign elsewhere. 

[DipoTimeParticipant]

 Will Noel average 14, 10, and 4.5 blocks? Probably not. Is his offensive game as good as davis’? No. But to say he won’t be near as good as Davis is pretty shocking IMO. I think he could get close to a double double with 4+ blocks and close to 2 steals. Sounds pretty close to me. 

Im not saying Noel is as talented as Davis or has as much potential I just think he will have a very similar impact. What do u think he will average next year?

Btw I think Kentucky will be around a 3 or 4 seed similar to a couple years ago. I can see them being a good defensive team again and like mentioned above their athleticism and overall talent will push a lot of teams around but I don’t think they will be elite 

[Memphis MadnessParticipant]

Top 10 or so.  Will start out preseason top 4 or 5.  They should be better towards the end of the year as Cal’s teams usually are. 

There aren’t a whole lot of proven teams out there since UNC lost a lot, Michigan State lost Draymond Green, Kansas lost T Rob, and U Conn and Syracuse lost guys too.  

The SEC isn’t that great.  Florida is losing Beal, Vandy is losing 3 guys and Moultrie and that chubby kid are leaving Mississippi State.  Look for Kentucky to rack up wins in conference and hold their own in out of conference games.  Look for them to them to lose 3 or 4 games during the regular season, make a deep run in the conference tournament to secure a number 1 seed.  After that it is gonna be "survive and advance" and get hot and get the right matchups. 

I would put them preseason top 3 along with Indiana and UCLA.  IU is bringing Zeller and some other guys back and bringing in a solid class.  UCLA is bringing in Shabbaz Muhammed and some others and Ben Howland is a great coach.  The West sucks so UCLA can rack up a bunch of victories.  Calipari has a young team with a lot of promise.  Kentucky will get a good ranking due in part to presitige, tradition, and a history of Cal’s teams doing well.  

Looks like it could be another classic Final Four next year with powerhouses Kentucky, Indiana, UCLA, and UNC among the early season favorites.

[fliptonnParticipant]

theyre stacked at every position except point guard. theyll be just fine this year. and if they dont absolutely kill it, maybe poythress and goodwin will stay another year in which case im sure UK will be back to normal.

[M-EazyParticipant]

I see another stacked team next year.  They bring in the #1 and #11  C, #3 SF, and #4 SG.  They also have a good chance of landing the #1 or #4 PF.  Ryan Harrow is an elite level PG, in my opinion.  I’ve heard that he’s upgraded his game too.  Why the doubts?

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

I stand by what I said. He does not have the offensive polish or rebounding ability of Anthony Davis. I definitely believe that. Plus, lets keep in mind that Davis had some guys named Terrence Jones, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Darius Miller. They not only helped him tremendously on defense, but gave him a lot of offensive looks as well. You had Doron Lamb shooting 50% from three, if Arch Goodwin shoots 33%, that would surprise me. There are factors to why I believe Nerlens Noel will not have the impact that Davis had as a college freshman. I feel saying that Nerlens Noel is a Player of the Year candidate or an All-American just seems far fetched to me.

[Johnny Chill]

This past season had Jones,  Lamb and the Senior, Miller as the 6th man, who all played the year before.

Next season, who do they have back to bring that experience in? Wiltjer didnt play that much this past season, dont know if him alone can bring much experience to the young team.

 

 

[apb540Participant]

I like Archie Goodwin a lot and I think Noel will be a dominating force just like Anthony Davis.  Top 7 team with a ton of potential.

[phila9012Participant]

I think this next year will be a stepping stone to competing/being a top team in the 2013-2014 year. 1 or 2 guys will go pro, then the rest will stay and provide experiance along with wiltjer. Then that team will be as good as the one that won it this year.

[uknationParticipant]

Offseason isn’t over yet, I suspect UK will add Bennett who has UK on the top of his list after seeing Bazz pick UCLA (has said he doesn’t fit well with Bazz) . They will start out top 10 easily and have a chance to win it all since next season there is no UK,UNC,Ohio st like this past season.

Wiltjer is way better than people think and he will show it, there’s a reason he was said to have the best post game in his class. The main issue was who he had a head of him? He should make the same jump that most AA’s make in there second year of college especially with the added weighty and strength.

The main issue will be shooting since there are now proven shooters on the team outside of Kyle. But like all of Cals teams they will be better near the end of the regular season.

uCLA will be good but they will still have to deal with Stanford,Colorado,Arizona in that conference, all of them will be ranked at some point during the season

[HadzialijagicParticipant]

 Alex Poythress is a beast. Archie Goodwin is also really good. Dont forget it also is looking like Anthony Bennett wll comit to them. Amile Jefferson is considering but unlikely. They also have top 40 recruit in Center Willie Cauley so it looks like they will have a stacked frontcourt with Noel, Witljer, Bennett(most likely), Poythress and Cauley. Harrow is a good point guard and Archie Goodwin is a real good 2 guard.

[HaleParticipant]

I’d say they are top 10 team and top 5 if they get Bennett. They certainly won’t be as good as they were this year, but let’s not kid ourselves into thinking they won’t win 25-30 games in the regular season.

[Bill Walton’s KneesParticipant]

 Willie Cauley is incredibly overrated.  I go to KU and have a ton of friends from the Overland Park area who played his high school (Olathe Northwest) and said he stunk and was real easy to push off the block.  I know he’s massive with a ton of potential, but it takes a lot for you to be a stud in the state of KS and not have Self offer you a scholly.

[DipoTimeParticipant]

 Im not saying Noel will be an all-american or POY candidate. And I already mentioned that his offensive game isnt as good as Davis’ and that he probably wont average 14, 10, and 4.5. All Im saying is that he will have a similar impact for this team as Davis did for his team. Ya, Davis does have really good offensive skills. Much better than Noel. But when did Davis make a big impact with those offensive tools? Sure now and then he would make a good pass or make a 3, but let’s face it his impact was defensively and I just really believe that Noel will have a similar impact. I really think that saying he won’t have anywhere near the same impact is just too far. But that’s just me.

[Future_Scout]

 i think they are top 5 even with out bennett. like Hadzialijagic said, poythress is beast.

 

[Ghost01Participant]

 Way too dependent on freshman/guys who havent produced at the D1 level. Its okay when they are all coming from the top 10…that isn’t the case this time around. 

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Davis led the team in scoring. He may have been known as more of a defensive presence than for offense, but he scored 18 points in the Elite 8 and Final 4. He had 28 and 11 in a game against Vanderbilt where he went 10-11 from the field. Now, Nerlens is a defensive presence, but I see little of the court sense or aggression that made Anthony Davis a total monster this past year at UK. If he averaged more blocks per game, would be surprised. If he averaged more rebounds, shocked. I think putting Anthony Davis comparisons with him are unfair and that he will probably not have that type of impact next year. Just my opinion, but something I see from watching them at similar points in development. 

[jeff416Participant]

My opinion is that they will be talented, but no where near as talented as this years team. They will be very inexperienced(much more so than they were this year) and they have almost no depth. Noel should be good, but he wont be Anthony Davis imo. Poythress and Goodwin are talented, but there not going to be able to make up for Kidd-Gilchrist, Miller, Jones, and Lamb leaving. I will say that Harrow will probably be as good as Teague was this year though. So right now I see them as a borderline top 10 team, but I think people putting them in the preseason top 5 is overrating them and really just going off the hype from this year. And from what I have heard they wont get Bennett. Everything that I have heard points to him going to Florida.

[Dale WorthingtonParticipant]

Top 10, maybe even top 5.

They have Wiltjer coming back which is nice, but let’s not kid ourselves, he’s a horrible athlete. Fortunately, he does offer size and shooting and should strengthen his post game.

But they have the typical FOUR 5-star recruits coming in (I’m including Harrow even though he’s a transfer).

1 – Harrow

2 – Goodwin

3 – Poythress

4 – Wiltjer/Bennett

5 – Noel

I know they’re all young pups but when you have a 5-star recruit starting at every position, and they’re being led by Coach Calipari, that’s gotta be a top 10 squad dawg.

[mwamParticipant]

They’ll be young and inexperienced, but will be the only team in the country who will be starting five 5-star recruits (Harrow, Goodwin, Poythress, Wiltjer, Noel) and possibly a 5-star 6th man in Bennett. Talent-wise, they are unsurpassed but since most will be freshmen, I anticipate something like a 2-3 seed with a run to the Elite 8 +/- a round.

[joecheck88Participant]

 I’ve only seen Noel play an actual game once against good competition in the Hoop Summit. He had a couple blocks but he didn’t rebound or score much. Maybe it was just one game but in my mind he isn’t near as smart as Davis. I see Noel as like 7 to 8 ppg, 5 or 6 rpg and 2 to 2.5 blocks per game. I think he is a project big man and should stay in school a few years. He just hasn’t impressed me at all. 

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