Dickie V puts UK at No. 2 in his top 4

We had an interesting bit on Twitter Friday when CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish and ESPN’s Dick Vitale shared their thoughts with each other on who should be No. 1 this preseason. It was like some sort of studio college basketball crossover episode.

Anyway, Dick Vitale revealed his top four to be Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Duke, in that order.

The conversation started when Parrish posted his column on why he was unable to decide if Kentucky or Kansas was the more clear-cut No. 1 team. He told Vitale that he eventually leaned toward Kansas after speaking with Matt Norlander.

(Side note: I love the fact that Dick Vitale’s “column” is just one sentence in a tweet. Give me more columns like that. Or maybe he just can’t figure out how to use Twitter).

Kansas certainly has the stronger veteran presence, but if we’re basing this ranking off of who’s going deeper in the tournament, give me Kentucky.

John Calipari has the type of mix of players that he’s know to take to Final Fours. His veteran experience is more than what he usually has. Reid Travis knows the college game as well as anyone in the country this year.

Nick Richards, Quade Green and PJ Washington are going to be well-acclimated and ready to make a jump this year. Add in the abundance of talent UK will get from its freshman group of Keldon Johnson, Immanuel Quickley, Ashton Hagans, EJ Montgomery and Tyler Herro, and you’ve got a serious threat to win it all next season.