John Calipari is hammering home the point that his team has a long way to go at every juncture. Even so the Kentucky Wildcats were very impressive on Tuesday in a 75-65 win over the No. 12/11 Kansas Jayhawks. KU coach Bill Self was very complimentary of the Cats in his postgame comments, saying UK could be a “very, very special team.” On his weekly radio show having had the chance to go back and watch the tap of his team’s defeat, he was even more effusive in his praise of Kentucky’s potential. This excerpt is from a Gary Bedore piece in today’s Lawrence Journal-World:

Kansas University coach Bill Self believes the Kentucky basketball team that pasted KU, 75-65, on Tuesday in New York ranks as one of the finest squads his Jayhawks have faced in the past nine years.“We’ve played two teams that would rival them from a talent standpoint — one would be Memphis, and one would be Florida,” Self said Wednesday on his Hawk Talk radio show.The Jayhawks downed eventual national champion Florida, 82-80, in overtime on Nov. 25, 2006, in Las Vegas, and toppled Memphis, 75-68, in overtime in the 2008 NCAA title game.“You are looking at maybe four lottery picks,” Self added of UK’s Terrence Jones, Anthony Davis, Marquis Teague and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and/or Doron Lamb.“If they keep getting better, they have a chance to be the best team in the country,” Self added. “From a raw-talent standpoint, even the Carolina team we faced in the Final Four with (Ty) Lawson, (Wayne) Ellington, (Tyler) Hansbrough and Danny Green … this Kentucky team may even be superior to that. That’s some hard-rocking dudes. They have a real shot (at 2012 national title).”

(h/t to Eamonn Brennan of ESPN’s College Basketball Nation Blog)