The House of Blue

Ugh this is such a bitter sweet moment for me as a UK fan. I am disappointed and happy all at the same time; I do not think UK will be a top 5 team next year until the end of the year. I can see this upcoming team losing 8-9 games this season and getting it together come the end of Feb. I will say that next year's team will have a lot of growing pains because of Cal's system. The only way for this upcoming team to get up in the top 5 teams is through the rigors of the season; UK will need Hood and Wiltjer to step up big and hopefully Harrow will get control of the team early on.

Only time will tell but remember this; when or if next season does not turn out to being a great year in UK history, UK just won a national title and fans should be thankful for that.

My girlfriend said something kind of insightful and funny after the announcement; Hate to see them leave but love to watch them go. Now she may be commenting on the looks but I took it as I hate to see these players stay one year and leave the UK program but I love that they are going to accomplish their dreams.

we have a rs soph fivestar pg that is experienced. a 5star pf that has ton of ability. a top 40 player in hood that will be a jr and the number one recruiting class we will be just fine.

All UK managed to do the last time it lost almost its entire roster to the NBA (2010) was eek out a sorry Final Four appearance in 2011

I toally agree.

Good point Chris, but so many people forget exactly how much the 2011 team struggled, especially on the road during conference play. A lot of the struggles arose from the PG position where Knight, just like Wall before him and Teague after him, was a work in progress for most of the season.

The 2011 team showed the most improvement over the course of the regular season of any team thus far in the Calipari era. I look for next year's squad to be similar. The biggest difference will be having an experienced PG in Harrow. However, given the inexperience of the supporting cast, I do think the Cats will struggle at times. Unlike this year where UK was playing some of its best basketball in late January and early February, I think next year's squad will peak much later. Our saving grace will be the dilution of talent throughout Div 1 next year. There is now way UofL or IU should be top five teams in normal years but when Duke loses Kyrie Irving and Austin Rivers while UNC loses Henson, Zeller et al. plus UK's revolving door, there just are not any teams loaded with talent next year.

Following some struggles on the road in conference play, all should be fine come tourney time. If we can keep the home winning streak alive for another year and win a decent amount of conference road games, we should be able to get a high enough seed to avoid the route we took in 2011 playing UNC and top seed Ohio State to get to the final four. We had (and deserved) a much easier path in 2012.

We will be up there but not best. Certainly not to start the season. You just never know how the guys will mesh as a team and how quickly these guys pick up Coach's system. I hope it all comes together quickly and we have another super season but one of these years it's bound to be a struggle with so many new guys coming in leading the way.

UK belongs preseason top 5, but it's only because of how down college basketball will be next year. Tis team will be very vulnerable to start the year. this team will be really young and there will be no Patterson, Stevenson, Harris, Liggins, Harrelson, or Miller like years past to steady the ship esrly. We have 1 guy who contributed this year that will play, and Wiltjer has a lot of growing as a player to do himself. Another shallow bench won't help either. Just have to be patient and give them time, I think we will lose between 7-10 games but be very dangerous come March with the talent we will field and the likely growth they will experience throughout the year.

I used to do a lot of drugs too.

I think we've got a chance to be the best team in the country depending upon how these guys gel and buy in.