Kentucky basketball: 5 questions the Kentucky Wildcats must answer in 2020

1. Kentucky questions: How fast can the freshmen acclimate?

It’s nice to talk about the potential leadership qualities of Mintz and the matchup problems Sarr could cause down low. Those would be nice bonuses, but the key to Kentucky’s season is the same as it has been for the last decade.

The Wildcats are a team that has been built on talented one-and-done players. That approach can pay off in spades, as we saw with the 2012 national champions and the 2015 team that nearly went undefeated.

There have also been examples where the group simply doesn’t reach its full potential as evidenced by exits in the Sweet 16 in 2018 and in the Round of 32 in 2016. The talent level coming in is never in question and Kentucky has another six top recruits committed for this season, giving them arguably the nation’s top class of freshmen.

This group of players has a chance to be really special for Kentucky, but they need to acclimate to college basketball rather quickly. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic could put some limits on offseason practice time, which would also hurt the team’s learning curve.

The development of Kentucky’s freshmen and how they gel together is by far the biggest question Kentucky has to answer. Without figuring out this problem, all of the other questions that have been raised here are simply window dressing.

For more NCAA basketball news, analysis, opinion and features, check out more from the FanSided college basketball section to stay on top of the latest action.