Kentucky to play two 5-man units this season

Kentucky has a surplus of talent for the upcoming season - so much so that head coach John Calipari is toying with the idea of using two separate five-man units.

"We didn't have the players last year to do this," Calipari told ESPN. "We will have two 5-on-5 platoons and a guard sub and a big sub, and that puts you at 12. You're working to get in the top 10. It means we have to play faster and have to press more. Who those two groups will be is going to unfold."

Matchups will still come into play for Calipari, but he plans to employ the two-unit strategy against big-name teams like Kansas and UCLA.

"Now we're trying to do something never done in college basketball," Calipari said. "We never expected four of these guys to come back, but they did, so what are we going to do? If we can finish the season doing this, then we will."

The Wildcats have the depth to pull off such a strategy, boasting returnees Andrew and Aaron Harrison, Willie Cauley-Stein, Dakari Johnson, Marcus Lee, and Alex Poythress, in addition to fresh recruits Trey Lyles and Karl Towns Jr.