The University of Kentucky’s record currently sits at 1-2, with back-to-back losses to Richmond and Kansas. They looked impressive in their opener with an 81-45 win over Morehead State, but that will now be forgotten thanks to this slide.

Kentucky head coach John Calipari has been able to turnover his roster most years thanks to elite recruiting classes he’s been able to sign. A handful of players go pro and a new elite class takes their spots. This season is an extreme example of that. Nearly every single player who is getting minutes right now, is new to the team. There are a ton of freshmen and transfers like center Olivier Sarr (Wake Forest) and guard Davion Mintz (Creighton) and forward Jacob Toppin (Rhode Island).

Calipari has been able to right the ship before as some of his past freshman-heavy teams have looked outclassed early in the season by teams with a lot of upperclassmen. Although, there were a couple that never really lived up to the preseason hype (2017-18 team). It could be awhile before we really know how good Kentucky is as they have a rather average schedule up until the end of January when they play Texas and then Tennessee soon after that.

The Southeastern Conference isn’t expected to be among the best conferences in country. The SEC could have a few teams ranked at times with Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and Florida are all expected to be ranked at various points this season. The Wildcats won’t need to be great to battle for a conference title, but they need to be much better than they are now.

My guess is that Kentucky will only be good this season if freshmen Brandon (B.J.) Boston Jr. and Terrence Clarke can live up to expectations. They were among the top ten recruits in the country and the offense will run through them. They must learn to take better shots and be smarter on both sides of the ball. Their athleticism will only get them so far against the better teams in the country. 

The Wildcats may not win a championship this season, but if Boston and Clarke can continue to grow into potential Lottery picks, they could find themselves with an SEC Championship and win a few games in the NCAA Tournament this season.

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About the Author…

Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of ‘America’s White Boy’ and contributor at Project Shanks. His writing has been featured on ESPN’s ‘SportsNation’, Sports Illustrated’s Hot Clicks, Guyspeed, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at @Sweetbob