For outsiders, intrigue surrounds the two-platoon system John Calipari plans to use this year.Which players will play together? Will regular-season opponents be as overwhelmed by UK’s depth as its Big Blue Bahamas opponents? Will the Wildcats be able to stay together through the inevitable clutter that the season will bring?For those inside Kentucky basketball’s circle, as Coach Cal calls it, the feeling isn’t all that different.”It’s just going to be interesting,” Willie Cauley-Stein said. “It’s going to be interesting to see how Cal pieces everything together and how — once games start flowing — how our intensity level’s going to be once we start platooning.”Nearly two weeks into practicing full time, the intensity is there.”The practices should be what they are, which is they’re competitive,” Calipari said. “There are no easy baskets. You’re not getting layups.”As for the Cal piecing it together thing, there’s a longer way to go on the eve of Big Blue Madness.In the Bahamas, the Cats used two five-man units for four-minute stretches and deviated only in the case of blowouts and a couple close-and-late scenarios. Absent, however, were junior Willie Cauley-Stein and Trey Lyles, two of the more talented players on a roster full of them.Cauley-Stein and Lyles, two months later, are back, giving Calipari two more options but also two more mouths to feed. The fact that they’re both big men and they join an already crowded frontcourt featuring Karl-Anthony Towns, Dakari Johnson, Marcus Lee and Alex Poythress complicates matters even more.Consequently, Coach Cal is doing some experimenting.”I’m still not convinced of what the groups will look like,” Calipari said. “Yesterday or two days ago I changed the group a little bit and I didn’t like them. I went back. We may change some big guys and switch them on different teams to see what that looks like, because at the end of the day I’m coaching two teams.”UK’s annual Media Day on Thursday was the first time Calipari put the job he’s facing in those terms, but it makes sense.Following the lead of his coaching mentors and the legendary John Wooden, Coach Cal has long espoused the notion that the best teams feature shorter rotations. His track record backs that up.On his three Final Four teams at UK, never have more than seven players averaged double-digit minutes. On the national title team, six players carried the load, with each playing at least 26.1 minutes per game.Now set to try to achieve the same kind of success using a completely different style, Calipari is joking he needs another raise five months after signing a new contract.”The best teams that I’ve coached, I’ve coached six guys, whether it’s (UMass), Memphis or here,” Calipari said. “Now that being said, I’m doing it twice now. In other words, I’m coaching these guys together, and I’m coaching two different teams I’ve asked to be paid twice. I’m not sure they’ll do that, but if I’ve got to coach two teams, then I think it’s fair — a fair question anyway.”Calipari was struck by the idea for the platoon system when he learned Andrew and Aaron Harrison would both wait on the NBA Draft. Realizing he had a roster with 12 players who would likely start for almost any other team in the country, he had to devise a plan that would fit his players-first mantra.Seeking to find a balance between playing so many guys and developing the kind of chemistry he believes is necessary to win at the highest level, he trotted out the platoons to great effect in the Bahamas. They worked, so they live on with less than a month before the Cats open the regular season against Grand Canyon on Nov. 14.But as committed as he is to making a new system work, Calipari isn’t chaining himself to his brainchild. “This isn’t communism, so if one group deserves to play a little bit more, they will,” Calipari said. “It’s not communism. If two guys separate themselves and need to get more minutes because you all look and say that kid is so good, he needs more minutes, it’s not communism, they’ll get more minutes.”To keep the socioeconomic analogy going, Calipari’s players believe introducing some free-market concepts into the platoon system is a must.”That’s important because as a team we have to understand that if a guy’s playing good he should be out there,” Tyler Ulis said. “So if Andrew’s in but it’s my turn to rotate in, if he’s playing good I should understand that he needs to be in the game at that point.”Calipari also opened the possibility of adjusting situationally.”At the end of the game if they’re fouling, it would probably be pretty smart to have five good foul shooters in,” Calipari said. “And you won’t believe this, I’ll probably do that.”Short of those things, it’s full steam ahead with the platoons. Calipari expects change as the season wears on, but for now the Cats are committed to doing whatever is asked of them.”I think that everybody’s ego is checked,” Lyles said. “Everybody believes in each other and we’re all happy for each other. Whatever Coach wants from us, I think that we’re going to be able to do that.”Even more importantly, the players understand how the system can benefit them individually and the team as a whole.”It won’t be a problem because the outcome of the bigger picture of it,” Cauley-Stein said. “The way that we can play with guys getting fewer minutes is going to make you look better, for one. And two, the intensity of the game is going to be crazy. When people watch us play and they see how fast everybody is and how quick we get the ball up the floor and how hard we play on defense, that sets the tone. People are going to look at that and just be amazed by that.”In spite of all that potential, Calipari is already hearing the “clutter” that will fly at his team all season on the recruiting trail. Over the noise, he also hears an opportunity calling him to prove the doubters wrong, have his watershed moment and do right by his players in an unprecedented way.”Why would you go there?” Calipari said. “These guys aren’t leaving. Here, oh, what if you only play 20 minutes? It’s OK. It’s less pressure. It’s not on me. It’s on us. I can be a great teammate. I can improve my skills, and they all got drafted and they all won, and then — so it’s an issue now if this works. I’m on a mission to make this work for each of these kids.”