To help you prepare for the upcoming college basketball season Cats Illustrated's staff of writers will begin discussing the Wildcats at much greater length.

Here's our attempt to lay out preseason expectations for the 'Cats, in terms of a national rankings or what would constitute postseason success.

Travis Graf: There’s a lot of returning talent across the landscape in college basketball this season. While that may be true, it’s nearly impossible to find a roster with more natural talent and ability than Kentucky. For that alone, the ‘Cats should be ranked in the top five. Let’s put them exactly at five for now. As for this team’s ceiling, Kentucky will live and die by guard play in March. Terrence Clarke and BJ Boston will be the best 1-2 punch in America by the end of the season and they themselves will carry the ‘Cats to a lot of wins. However, point guard play is the biggest question mark and the team must find an answer to that position by the season’s end. For right now, Kentucky has an Elite Eight baseline that could be elevated to final four or even championship favorites depending on how everything comes together.

Justin Rowland: When I look at Kentucky, I see a team with a very high ceiling if they get good point guard play from someone, but I also see a team that could run into some issues if that point guard play isn't resolved or if the pieces don't all fit together as well as fans are hoping. I feel like I'm in a place where my preseason pick for Kentucky is always the Elite Eight, and that tends to be a common (and very good) outcome for John Calipari teams. That's what I'll say this year, with the caveat that I wouldn't be shocked by anything from the Sweet Sixteen all the way to the national championship. There is enough talent and versatility that if something's not working, Calipari should be able to tweak and find solutions that make the 'Cats a tough team come tournament time. I'll have Kentucky in the 5-8 range nationally in the preseason, but with as much upside as just about any team out there.

David Sisk: Naturally many of us look at a stacked Kentucky team before the season and believe they should be preseason top five. Without Olivier Sarr the ranking around the twentieth spot was pretty well across the board. With him the tenth spot give or take a couple seems to be a popular take. I love to keep up with KenPom. He has them at No. 11. Keep in mind that there are some other really good teams out there.

The rankings are relative in my book. Expect a young team to take a game or two on the chin early on, and then they have to play catch-up. What makes it tough is that the Southeastern Conference doesn't get respect so that makes it tougher to climb. if the young players perform up to their press clippings then this roster certainly has Elite Eight and maybe Final Four potential. However, the top eight would be the median for me and then they could trend either way.

Jeff Drummond: When we learned that transfer center Olivier Sarr would be eligible to play for the Cats this season, it immediately propelled UK into a new tier of the rankings in my eyes. Prior to that news, I had UK somewhere in the 11-15 range. Adding the 7-foot All-ACC performer should address John Calipari's biggest need and make UK a legitimate Final Four contender. There are some other talented teams that feature more experience, but I'd feel comfortable placing the Cats somewhere between 5-8 now, a solid 2 seed, if you will.