2009-10 SEC Basketball Previews: Kentucky

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Bandwagon [band-wag-uhn]—Noun: A cause or movement that, by its mass appeal or strength, readily attracts many followers. (www.dictionary.com)

What bigger fanbase is there in college basketball? Certainly none more rabid or anxious for success than Kentucky.

When a large mass of people begin to buy into something (a belief, a political party, Kentucky basketball, etc.), the buzz spreads. Who better to create that buzz than God himself (for practical purposes, the previous can be assumed to be John Calipari)?

Granted, Calipari has numbers. He's 403-137 (.746) as a head coach, including wildly successful stints at UMass—five straight conference titles, five straight conference tournament titles, five straight NCAA appearances, one Elite Eight appearance, and one Final Four appearance—and Memphis—four straight conference titles, four straight conference tournament titles, six NCAA appearances, two Elite Eight appearances, and one National Championship Runner-up.

Easy to see, then, why the True Blue are in a frenzy over their new head coach.

This is a different level of coaching prestige. Billy Gillispie came into Kentucky as one of the hottest mid-major coaches, yes, but Calipari's achievements make Gillispie look like the slow kid from the house next door that always won a ribbon no matter how many times he ran the bases the wrong way.

Despite being the cynic I am regarding this year's Kentucky team, I admit that Calipari is a very talented program leader and is a massive step up from the now-alcoholic Gillispie.

Expectations are undeniably at a level that even the majestic Wildcats haven't seen in some time.

Kentucky is ranked second in many national top-25 publications I've viewed and in the top five in nearly all of them. The Wildcats are fully expected to challenge for a national title with the help of the [insert NBA Hall-of-Famer here] protege freshman John Wall.

In fact, it seems as if anything short of a Final Four would be a severe disappointment for most Kentucky fans approaching 2009-10.

My, how memories are short and rationale is scarce.

Unless I've suffered an offseason stroke, this is the same backbone of experience that missed the NCAA Tournament in 2009, a feat that hadn't been achieved since before some of their players had been born. Despite the undeniable talent of Patrick Patterson and Jodie Meeks, the team simply had no chemistry and relied on Meeks for more than 40 percent of its scoring.

Well, guess what? That 40-plus percent is gone. Meeks opted to stay in the NBA draft, leaving Patterson as the only player to average more than eight points last season.

The amount of talent added in Meeks' place is understood. Calipari's first recruiting class in Lexington is mathematically one of the best the game has ever seen. The stars fell in Lexington this offseason.

While the freshmen will, in my opinion, vault Kentucky from a non-NCAA team to a Sweet 16-type team, freshmen simply don't win championships. A freshman, perhaps even two, being relied upon to help carry a team can be doable (Calipari and Derrick Rose comes to mind), but not a whole roster full of freshmen.

That's not my only reasoning here, Kentucky fans. Stop writing the hate mail you've undoubtedly begun and hear my second point.

Truly great teams require a healthy dose of experience, talent, depth, and balance. Experience I've discussed, talent will be ample, and depth should be okay. Let's break down Kentucky's balance.

Five freshmen in the entire conference hit more than 36 percent of their three-pointers last season. Most, if not all, of these came in as shooters. With the loss of Meeks, Kentucky does not have a single returning player that hit over a third of his three-pointers.

Let me re-emphasize that: Kentucky does not have a single returning player that hit over a third of his three-pointers.

Thus, it would seem relatively important for this all-star incoming freshman class to have some shooters. This is common logic. Let's break down that recruiting class now.

John Wall
(No. 1 Overall - No. 1 PG - five stars - 6'4" - 175 lbs.)

Wall is everyone's (yes, everyone) preseason favorite for National Freshman of the Year. He's also garnered many picks as preseason favorite for National Player of the Year. Yes, it happens, but no, it doesn't happen often.

I've never been a fan of all-league or non-freshman-related national honors for incoming freshmen, but that's a different article for a different day.

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