By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer
Until the games start next week there is still one topic that
dominates all hoops talk - Kentucky.
Yes, Kansas was the runaway No. 1 choice in the preseason Top
25. And sure, the Jayhawks had two players on the preseason
All-America team.
But it's Kentucky that's generating all the buzz. With one of
college basketball's storied programs now being run by John
Calipari, what else are people going to talk about?
It's the marriage of a program starving for big-time success to
a coach looking for that elusive national championship.
Calipari, who took Massachusetts and Memphis to the Final Four
only to see both appearances wiped out as part of NCAA
probations against the programs, will start his first season
with the Wildcats with a team that will try to get Kentucky back
in the NCAA tournament.
"When I first got the job, (the expectation) was going to the
Final Four," Calipari said. "Then a month later it was, 'We are
going to win all the league games.' Then a month ago, winning
the games by 10, and now winning all the games by 21."
With such lofty expectations, he'll be counting on junior
forward Patrick Patterson, a member of the preseason All-America
team, and freshman point guard John Wall, who must sit out two
games and repay almost $800 in expenses incurred during
unofficial visits to schools during high school.
"(Players) are held to a higher standard than other players
across the country, and so am I as a coach," Calipari said of
Kentucky, which fired Billy Gillispie after two seasons. "You
are held to a different standard. That is the privilege of being
here. Things that go on over (at other schools) just cannot go
on here."
That's what has Calipari and Kentucky front and center, stealing
the attention from Kansas.
The Jayhawks received 55 of 65 first-place votes in the
preseason poll, and senior guard Sherron Collins and junior
center Cole Aldrich were both on the preseason All-America team.
Coach Bill Self has almost everybody back from last season's
team that reached the round of 16 after winning a fifth straight
Big 12 title and adds a topflight recruiting class led 6-foot-6
Xavier Henry.
"If we get to jelling, I think we'll be one of the toughest
teams to beat in the country," Collins said. "I love having the
pressure on my shoulders."
Last season's Final Four all return enough players to be ranked
in the top 12. Defending champion North Carolina saw its top
four scorers head for the NBA but it is loaded in the frontcourt
- where Tyler Hansbrough dominated for four years - and relying
on Larry Drew II to run the show for the first time.
Connecticut will be a lot smaller with Hasheem Thabeet gone, but
point guard Kemba Walker will have the Huskies running.
Villanova must replace Dante Cunningham and Dwayne Anderson, two
senior role players, and find someone to score with Scottie
Reynolds. Michigan State has Big 10 player of the year Kalin
Lucas back to lead a team that needs someone to step up in the
frontcourt.
Last season's entire All-America team - Hansbrough, Blake
Griffin of Oklahoma, DeJuan Blair of Pittsburgh, James Harden of
Arizona State and Stephen Curry of Davidson - all moved on. And
some of this season's biggest names might be making only
one-year appearances - Wall, Henry, Derrick Favors of Georgia
Tech and John Henson of North Carolina.
There was movement among coaches, as usual, but the 33 changes
were 30 less than last season and the lowest since 1993-94.
In addition to Calipari going from Memphis to Kentucky, other
prominent names making a move were Sean Miller from Xavier to
Arizona, Tony Bennett from Washington State to Virginia and
Kevin O'Neill to Southern California after a one-year hiatus in
the NBA after leaving Arizona. He replaces Tim Floyd, who
resigned suddenly in June amid allegations of breaking NCAA
rules.
Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, most recently the president and
coach of the New York Knicks, takes over a program at Florida
International that has made one NCAA appearance and has lost at
least 20 games three of the last four seasons. The Panthers open
the season at North Carolina on Monday.
That might not be one of the games to circle on the must-see
calendar this season, but the Tar Heels are always in two of
them, the season series with Duke.
Among the many good early season matchups is
Kentucky-Connecticut at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 9. With
Calipari facing Jim Calhoun, this is a coaching rematch of the
hotly contested UMass-UConn games in the late 1990s.
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