I think UK will be much improved just from having gotten rid of Gillespie but I think it is a big leap to have UK as a national title contender already. Meeks and Patterson could not get them into the NCAAs last season and most of the optimism surrounds incoming freshmen which is always a gamble. I can easily see them as a top 25 team but not as a challenge to Kansas, Duke, North Carolina, Michigan State,etc. unless the freshmen are just lights out.
i saw them ranked 10th in a preseason poll, and someone else saw them 3rd. i doubt they're that high, but the state-uk game should be ridiculous. like back in 2004
If they land John Wall and Meeks comes back to go with what they already have coming back, they'll be Top 5 pre-season. Who knows how well they'll adapt to Calipari's system, but they'll get a lot of pre-season pub.
...that with Cousins, Bledsoe, possibly Wall, and the recruits Gillespie had coming in, along with Patterson and Meeks, UK is no question top five and probably a top three team. That is unreal talent. Those freshmen would be lights out.