Thanks to the Champions Classic, getting early returns on the teams at the top of preseason rankings has gotten considerably easier over the past few years.
And the biggest observation from last Tuesday? Kentucky was clearly the best team at Madison Square Garden, and therefore, the Wildcats are the best team in the country right now and deserve to rise to No. 1 in the first in-season edition of the Power Rankings.
Regardless of personnel, John Calipari generally gets his freshman-laden teams to defend as well as anyone in the country. Given that this year's version of the Wildcats has more experience than usual, it shouldn't be a surprise that they're already guarding at high level this season.