Kentucky and North Carolina

These 2 powerhouse programs boast the most impressive freshmen classes coming in this season. Both schools have stumbled out of the gate, at least relative to how dominant their supporters had hoped they would be. Both schools have a different set of issues to work through before their showdown in 2 weeks.
Kentucky: While their wins haven't been dominating blowouts, I have to say that the Wildcat freshmen impress me early on. They all have some work to do, but it looks to me like there are at least 3 solid prospects here in Wall, Cousins and Patterson. There are also Bledsoe and Orton who could emerge down the line, but seem likely to take a backseat this season. The Wildcat defense has struggled some, but that's not uncommon for freshmen-laden teams and is something I expect Calipari to fix. Wall is obviously a great offensive talent when it comes to scoring and passing. The question of where he fits as a top prospect will be how dominating his defensive numbers are. He could be anywhere from a taller Derrick Rose to Jason Kidd with a jumper. Cousins has been a terror on the boards and defensively. He's scoring at a crazy rate for a part-timer. With big guys we can't be sure until they get it done consistently against major colleges, but Cousins is the most promising freshman big man out there right now. Patterson has also been solid. The important thing with him is he's hit 3 of his first 8 3-pointers. Since those are the first 3 of his college career, that's a good start on a skill he probably needs to develop.
North Carolina: The situation here is a little more muddled at this point. Not only have none of the freshmen really stepped up so far, sophomore Ed Davis, the best returning player, has been in a supporting role early on. It's as if Deon Thompson has moved into Tyler Hansbrough's role as the top option and Ed Davis is in the Deon Thompson role of second-banana in the paint. Davis is actually 5th on the team in FG attempts, as most of the offense has run through seniors Thompson and Marcus Ginyard. I guess it's good to let the seniors shine. But it's also good to let the best players have the lead roles. There's a reason Thompson and Ginyard are still playing college ball as seniors. That reason is they're not pro prospects. Ed Davis is and some of the freshmen might be. So far the frosh have been uninspiring in low minutes. The big guys don't board well enough to merit playing them ahead of Thompson and Tyler Zeller and the guards Strickland and McDonald have struggled to get their shots to fall.
But it's still pretty early.
But it is still early.