Returning Cats say UK has enough talent

Kentucky fans are -- perhaps understandably -- concerned about the Wildcats' recent run of basketball recruiting, are baffled at John Calipari's spring season struggles on the recruiting trail and UK's perceived lack of depth for 2015-16.

But Wednesday -- when Kentucky made guard Tyler Ulis and forwardsAlex Poythress and Marcus Lee available to reporters -- was a reminder that, despite seven players turning pro, the cupboard isn't exactly bare.

That's three former McDonald's All-Americans, a foundation to which UK will add the second-ranked recruiting class next fall.

"We do have good players," Poythress said. "Last year, I guess our fans got kind of spoiled. We had 10 guys, but you only need five to play, to be honest. So whatever five we put out there, we can still win games. You don't need to go 10 deep."

Kentucky adds a recruiting class that (so far) consists of forward Skal Labissiere, swingman Charles Matthews and guards Isaiah Briscoe and Mychal Mulder.

But the news of late has been bleak on the recruiting front. Since the McDonald's All-American game, four players from that game with significant interest from Kentucky -- Cheick Diallo, Stephen Zimmerman, Brandon Ingram and Malik Newman -- have opted for other schools.

That -- coupled with the loss of Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, Trey Lyles, Devin Booker, Dakari Johnson, Andrew Harrison and Aaron Harrison, who declared themselves eligible for the NBA Draft -- created consternation among Cat fans who grew accustomed to this season's stacked team that rotated players in and out en route to a 38-0 start before a Final Four loss to Wisconsin.

"I mean, we still need enough players to play the game, so I can see why they're kind of like that," Lee said.

But Kentucky last season was "overly blessed" with players, Lee said. Poythress, who missed most of the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, called UK's depth "a different circumstance."

In 2015-16, Kentucky will return to more normal circumstances.

"Practice won't be as intense," Ulis said. "It won't be as physical and as competitive because you don't have the seven pros that just left. You just have a couple players -- a lot of great players, but you don't have as many bodies. So it won't be as competitive as usual."

Still, Kentucky will have four total McDonald's All-Americans even if it doesn't sign another -- UK target Jaylen Brown is the only one in the Class of 2015 yet to choose a school -- and role players in Dominique Hawkins and Derek Willis who Ulis predicted "are gonna surprise some people."

And Ulis -- who doesn't anticipate any more players signing with UK -- thinks that core will be enough to make the Cats contenders.

"We're definitely not what we had this past season, because we had 10 guys and now we're probably -- we're definitely -- not gonna have that many," Ulis said. "So it's gonna be a lot different, but we're still gonna be talented and we're still gonna make a run for this. We didn't win it last year, so we're gonna try to do it this year."