Kentucky's Struggles

Kentucky entered the season ranked 5th in the country and having one of the best recruiting classes for like the billionth straight year. After two poor performances, though, I'm questioning this team's viability as a national powerhouse.

On Friday Kentucky took on Utah Valley at home, and they did not play well. Utah Valley took a NINE point lead into halftime. For Kentucky, a nine point LEAD at the break would've been considered an underwhelming performance. At one point the Wildcats were down by 12 points in the second half. Luckily, they caught Utah Valley looking ahead and used an 18-0 run to win the game 73-63. Still though, it shouldn't have been that close.

On Sunday the Wildcats welcomed another inferior opponent to Rupp Arena as Vermont came into town. Kentucky started off the game strong, carrying a double-digit lead into halftime, but in the second half Vermont outscored them by 8 points and only lost by 4. Granted, Kentucky never really vanquished their lead or relinquished control of the game. But it's still worrisome that they couldn't close out Vermont at home.

This Kentucky team reminds me of the infamous 2012-13 squad that didn't make the NCAA Tournament and lost to Robert Morris in the first round of the NIT. (Yeah, that actually happened.) That team had no stars (though many draft picks) and probably had the worst chemistry I've ever seen.

Now I don't know if that will be the case this season. But I do know that De'Aaron Fox, Anthony Davis, Tyler Ulis, Karl-Anthony Towns and John Wall aren't walking through those doors. I don't see a star talent in Hamidou Diallo, Nick Richards, Kevin Knox or PJ Washington. Nobody stands out, and given Kentucky's extreme youth (2nd youngest team in NCAA Division I), that could be a major issue.

All of this can be reversed if they beat Kansas on Tuesday. That game will show the nation whether this team can hang with the best of 'em because Kansas is an established power after returning so much talent. But given the inexperience of this roster and overall lack of star talent, I'll take the Jayhawks by 20.

This could be an overreaction (it probably is honestly), but this is going to be the worst team Calipari has had since 2012-2013. I'll let that simmer for now.