Road to the Final Four at Ford Field: No. 25 Kentucky

If the buzz surrounding the University of Kentucky's basketball version of Midnight Madness, called Big Blue Madness, is any indication of how good the actual squad will be, UK will making its way back to top of the polls.

Despite several consecutive seasons of disappointing NCAA tournaments, UK basketball fans will be coming out in droves for Big Blue Madness to see a team that should be improved from 2008.

Campus public safety has asked fans who want tickets to the Madness to line up no more than three days in advance. Over 23,000 people have packed Rupp Arena each of the last three years for Kentucky's first basketball practice.

The man leading the Wildcats in their first practice for the upcoming season, will be second year Head Coach Billy Gillispie.

Gillispie has a history of rapidly changing programs around, as he did at the University of Texas El Paso and Texas A&M. He'll try to work his magic in a weak Southeastern Conference and turn the program's 18 wins in 2008, to a 20+ win season in 2009.

He averages 13.5 wins in his first season at a new school, but 23 wins and an NCAA berth during his second year at a school. 

There won't be a shortage of talent for Coach Gillispie to work with to make that hoped success, a reality. He retains a strong core of players and several stud freshmen to replace stars Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford.

Losing Bradley and Crawford, who combined for 34 points per game, isn't quite as devastating as it seems.  Ken Pomeroy's statistics suggests Bradley and Crawford weren't the most productive offensive players on the floor. Their offensive ratings were actually pretty low for "star players."

Since both graced the hardwood in over 80% of the team's minutes, the low offensive ratings had a major impact on Kentucky's 81st best adjusted offensive efficiency rating. If you go back to 2004, the year Ken Pomeroy began keeping track of offensive efficiency, the lowest Kentucky ranks before 2008 is 25th.

In 2007, the Wildcats finished ninth—ninth to 81st is a pretty large drop in just one season.

Replacing Bradley and Crawford in the offense will primarily be Sophomore Forward Patrick Patterson and Junior Guard Jodie Meeks.

Patterson ranked above Bradley and Crawford in offensive efficiency as a freshman—natural progression suggests he should only get better in an offense that will operate through him in the low post.

Meeks on the other hand, struggled during an injury plagued sophomore season. He dealt with numerous injuries which limited him to just 11 games, but also affected the quality of his play.

Wildcats fans know what Meeks can do when healthy. In his freshman campaign, Meeks finished the season scoring in double-digits in eight straight games and also hit at least two three-pointers in seven of those eight games. His offensive rating topped both Bradley and Crawford in 2007.

Meeks became an immediate impact player, but lost his punch in 2008. A healthy Jodie Meeks means Kentucky will essentially be adding an all-conference caliber guard to an already good team.

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