Kentucky comes in at #5 behind Duke, Arizona, Kansas and Michigan State in ESPN’s Way-Too-Early Top 25 college basketball pre-season poll.
5. Kentucky Wildcats
Previous Way-Too-Early ranking: 4
Key losses: Malik Monk, De’Aaron Fox, Isaiah Briscoe, Bam Adebayo, Derek Willis
Key additions: Kevin Knox, P.J. Washington, Nick Richards, Jarred Vanderbilt, Quade Green, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jemarl BakerThe haters will look at coach John Calipari’s failure to win a gold medal with USA Basketball’s under-19 national squad, which featured some of his top incoming players, and say, “Well, how can he win a national title with this group?” But that’s an overreaction. Both P.J. Washington and Hamidou Diallo averaged double figures in his team’s bronze-medal campaign. That squad failed to shoot well and wrestled with turnovers throughout the tournament. But the class Calipari put together resembles his past assemblies. They’re young, gifted and athletic. But he must overcome a pair of significant questions with this group. Can the Wildcats shoot? Calipari did not succeed in his pursuit of Cam Johnson, who picked North Carolina. Wenyen Gabriel is the team’s top returning 3-point shooter. He shot 31.7 percent from beyond the arc in 2016-17. The other question for Kentucky: Who will lead this squad? Calipari’s best teams featured elite veterans. He had Willie Cauley-Stein on the 38-1 squad in 2014-15. He had Darius Miller on the 2012 national championship squad. Based on experience, Calipari’s 2017-18 group looks like the team that failed to make the NCAA tournament the year after that title run. But this season doesn’t come with an abundance of guarantees. Question marks decorate this entire top-25 list. Yes, Kentucky lacks experience. But five of its incoming players are top-5 prospects, part of the No. 2 recruiting class on ESPN.com.
