Mark Pope shares in what area his Kentucky team is behind last season's team

Here is what Coach Pope had to say in response to this question: "The only thing I will say is we're not quite as veteran as we were last year, and that's just going to be a work in progress. We were blessed last year. We had seven super seniors to start the season on the roster. That's hard to replace in that sense. Our in-game experience was so huge last year in terms of guys. Even though we were brand new, guys hadn't played together. They'd been on the court for an inordinate amount of reps. That's the one thing where I'm like, Hey, there will be a little bit of a growing process there. Otherwise, I like where we are. I think our staff has done an unbelievable job, and I think our guys have really tried to buy in. You guys are going to laugh. I'm really excited about this group. Really excited."

Without question, this Kentucky team is not as veteran as last season's team, but at the same time, this team does have veteran players. This team isn't full of super seniors, but it also isn't full of freshmen.

Kentucky has players like Otega Oweh, Mo Dioubate, Jaland Lowe, Brandon Garrison, and Denzel Aberdeen, who all have a lot of college basketball experience.

There are some players who don't have a ton of college basketball experience, but it does sound like the players are learning at a quick rate.

This could mean that in the Purdue and Georgetown exhibition games or the first couple of games, there could be some silly young mistakes made by this team, but Coach Pope will use these to teach.

Coach Pope would take a healthy mix of veteran and elite young talent over a fully veteran roster any day. This team might have a few things to learn, and it could take some mistakes to make it happen, but it will be worth it in the end for the Wildcats.