By LARRY VAUGHT

ESPN.com’s Eamonn Brennan recently took an in-depth look at the best-case, worst-case scenarios for Southeastern Conference teams during the 2012-13 basketball season. Here’s what he posted about Kentucky:

Best-case scenario: Another national title. It’s just that simple. As is his wont, coach John Calipari has restocked his team with elite recruits who will play big minutes right away. Bringing Ryan Harrow in after his transfer year and putting a score of athletic players around sharpshooting power forward Kyle Wiltjer is a recipe for some potentially spectacular offense. This team won’t be as good as 2011-12 — that almost seems impossible — but its best-case scenario is still very much about hardware.

Worst-case scenario: Regardless of personnel, Calipari teams are always tough on the defensive end, so there’s a baseline level of expectation baked in no matter what form — dribble drive? downscreen sets? secondary breaks? — the offense takes. Still, some tempering of expectations is probably warranted. Nerlens Noel is not the transcendent, once-in-a-generation freak show Anthony Davis was, and Alex Poythress and Archie Goodwin are not Michael Kidd-Gilchrist or Terrence Jones. The learning curve for this team will be higher, but when your worst-case scenario is not making the Final Four, you’re in pretty good shape.

Go to http://espn.go.com/ncb/notebook/_/page/summershootaround120726/sec to see his full column on the entire SEC.