North Carolina Tar Heels or Kentucky Wildcats for Preseason No. 1?

When Jay Bilas was asked which team will be the best in college basketball next season he picked North Carolina over Kentucky?

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I believe that North Carolina will be the best team in the country next season. While some would argue that Kentucky beat Carolina in the Elite Eight last year and has the No. 1 recruiting class coming in, I still like Carolina's make-up, experience and depth. Barnes has the chance to be National POY, and Kendall Marshall gets to run the point from day one. He did pretty well as a starter last year. Kentucky will be next, and then Ohio State. This will be a really powerful year at the top.

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For Bilas, a very reliable college basketball analyst, picking North Carolina makes sense. They have a lot of experience with senior Tyler Zeller and junior John Henson.

Harrison Barnes and Kendall Marshall will be better in their second year. The freshmen class led by James McAdoo and P J Hairston has reinforced North Carolina's strength.

North Carolina is the safe pick.

If you wanted to go out on a limb Kentucky is the pick. 

Jay Bilas also thinks that North Carolina's 2009 team was the last truly great team in college basketball and this year's team has a chance to be great again. His point was reinforced when Roy Williams won the championship with that 2009 team.

However, Kentucky had one of the greatest teams in the last ten years with that John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, Daniel Orton, DeMarcus Cousins and Patrick Patterson team of 2010. They lost prematurely, but unfortunately that's just how the dice rolls in the NCAA tournament.

The current Kentucky team has four 5-star recruits to add to Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb not to mention Darius Miller.

Kyle Wiltjer has a sweet stroke for a forward 6'10 and will most likely be coming off the bench. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is the best small forward of the 2011 recruiting class and Anthony Davis is the best power forward.

Marquis Teague is an upgrade to Brandon Knight. At least no one will be confused over Teague's true position. He is a point guard with a scoring mentality.

He will create plays for his teammates.

Not that they need to. Davis has guard skills and can create his own shot. The offense can run through him or Kidd-Gilchrist.

They have yet to play together in the structured game, but the ceiling for that team is extremely high.

If anyone wants to go out on a limb, the pick is Kentucky. The only comeback is North Carolina winning the 2012 championship.