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The Kentucky Wildcats will arguably have the most talented team in the nation in the upcoming season, but it would still be a surprise if this team ran the tables or if they did not struggle somewhat at some point in the year. So if the Wildcats are going to lose, they better lose early.
That could easily happen since Kentucky will have to play Michigan State on Nov. 12. The Spartans are returning a good majority of their team. They finished one game back in the Big Ten standings and made the NCAA tournament as a No. 3 seed last year. You could say that the team has high expectations for the 2013-14 college basketball season.
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Kentucky has a brutal non-conference schedule to say the least and SEC play could be challenging as well. Florida will be a top 10 team and teams like Alabama and Tennessee will have the talent to be ranked.
Losing early on in the season probably is not ideal for John Calipari’s team, but it is much better than losing right before the SEC tournament.
The team will be full of freshmen and a couple of sophomores this year, so it is bound to slip up. That likely could happen at the beginning of the season. However, the Wildcats need to get those losses out of the way and grow as a basketball team before SEC play begins.
If Kentucky can meet expectations before SEC play, it could also win some big games. The Wildcats will play Baylor, North Carolina and Louisville in the month of December.
I would imagine Kentucky would not be as bad as last season’s team and I would also imagine that it would be a top five team in college hoops all season long. Losing right away could help this team grow and it would also be better in the grand scheme of things. Of course, not losing at all would be great as well.
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