1 KENTUCKY
Divide and Conquer
Kentucky coach John Calipari was at a high altitude when he came up with a solution to his high-end problem: how to keep a roster filled with nine McDonald's All-Americans happy. The answer: a two-platoon system.
Calipari tested his idea during a summer exhibition tour in the Bahamas. Ten Wildcats played between 17.8 and 21.0 minutes per game, and Kentucky went 5--1 against high-caliber teams that included pros. Still, Calipari points out that "this isn't communism." If certain players separate themselves from the group, their playing time will increase accordingly. The mostly likely candidate to max out minutes is 6'11" freshman Karl-Anthony Towns, who was the team's second-leading scorer (11.0 points per game) and rebounder (6.5) on the Bahamas trip.
This year's group will benefit from the leadership of juniors Alex Poythress and Willie Cauley-Stein, as well as twin sophomore guards Aaron and Andrew Harrison, who each reduced his body fat to 4% (from 16%) over the summer. "I know we're going to lose some early games, and there's going to be a lot of grief," Calipari says, but he'll stick with his platoons "as long as I can." One way or another, in the end Kentucky will again be flying high.
Lineup
With 2014--15 Projected Stats
FINAL FOUR
NCAA CHAMP
TITLE GAME
NCAA CHAMP
'10--11
'11--12
'12--13
'13--14
'14--15
TELLING NUMBER 3
Consecutive seasons in which Kentucky has had a player block at least 100 shots. Anthony Davis led the nation with 186 in 2011--12, Nerlens Noel had 106 in '12--13, and Willie Cauley-Stein had 106 last season.