Really tough for me to decide to go with being sarcastic with this one or being serious.
I'm gonna go with a very optimistic approach :
1. Freshmen are freshmen. After watching Kentucky basketball for nearly 50 years, I will never see it be anything but this. They'll make freshmen mistakes, but with this group, the talent level more than makes up for the inexperience. I think they will overachieve and be a very, very good team, and I truly hope that this team will restore our faith in Kentucky basketball. That has been rather lacking in the past 5+ years with Coach Cal at the helm.
2. I truly feel like even Coach Cal cannot miss with this group. Maybe he can demonstrate some new qualities of flexibility, show he's changing with the game, throw some serious changes into his philosophy, and hopefully bring the fans what we want most of all (NOT high NBA draft picks) - National Championship #9.
3. I'll be thrilled for a Final Four appearance (So I'm going to go with a greatly optimistic view here) and leave it at that. But if this team makes it THAT FAR, there's NO REASON AT ALL (luck holding) they shouldn't win it all.
4. Cal has shown the ability to get some of his teams to really buy into valuing playing defense. This will be the absolute key to how far this team goes this year. I like his chances. He's got a great group of young men that can, and I believe, will do it. We will (by start of conference play) be a hugely improved defensive team and once the bigs get in there, find a comfort zone, the team will be clicking and firing on all cylinders. Defense will be a big surprise by then.
5. The rest of the country is sleeping on Kentucky this year. That's a good thing. With some big wins to the early OOC schedule, this Kentucky team will quickly rise to a top 5 team in the polls. They'll stay in the top 10 most of the year once they get there. End up with a #1 or #2 seed.
6. Knock on wood : I finally think the law of averages (and the basketball gods) smile on Kentucky this year. We have an early injection of the bigs getting back on the court with the team. The dreaded injury curse Cal carries will somehow stay at bay with this team. We actually get a few breaks somewhere along the way, in a couple games, the tournament too, and we come away with a national championship.
Hey, I said I was going to be optimistic. Why not try to be as optimistic as I can possibly be. Not setting myself up for disappointment, though. But I do believe this team will be a very special one that we will be very proud of at the end.
Go Big Blue !