New CBS Preseason Top 25 Poll places Kentucky Wildcats at No. 6

We’re still a ways away from the new college hoops season, but it’s never to early to gauge the landscape and where Kentucky stands in it.

Most of the way-too-early polls thus far have had Kentucky checking in the 3-6 range. Gary Parrish of CBS Sports recently released his latest Top 25 (and one) poll for CBS Sports, and Parrish ranked Kentucky #6 in the nation.

Here is what Parrish said about Kentucky.

“The late addition of Kevin Knox bolstered an already top-ranked recruiting class that should have Kentucky competing near the top of the sport again. The Wildcats will have eight five-star recruits on their roster -- most notably Hamidou Diallo, who withdrew from the NBA Draft at the deadline. So UK will be inexperienced, sure. But John Calipari will once again have more talent than anybody.”

Kentucky trails Louisville (5), Wichita State (4), Michigan State (3), Kansas (2), and Arizona (1).

Duke (7), Villanova (8), USC (9), and Florida (10) round out the top 10 of Parrish’s poll.

Some people will be upset over the poll, but it’s hard to gauge how this Kentucky team will start off.

They’re very young and lost an overwhelming majority of their production from last year. Wenyen Gabriel and Sacha Killeya-Jones are the main returning players, along with Tai Wynyard, so the freshmen will have a huge load to carry early.

This may mean some early season losses, and some basketball that isn’t so pretty to begin with, so I can understand the lower ranking.

However, I firmly believe this team will be in the mix at the end of the season as the young players grow into their roles and learn how to play well together.

We can all agree that preseason polls really provide nothing, except driving clicks in the offseason. In this instance, it does show that Kentucky won’t be the heavy Final Four favorite we’ve become accustomed to under John Calipari, but perhaps flying under the radar a little more will be good for these young Cats.