By Eamonn Brennan | ESPN.com

John Calipari almost seemed relieved. Facing the sudden end of a simultaneously exasperating and thrilling season, still damp from his postgame shower in the AT&T Stadium locker rooms, Calipari was talking, for the 14,000th time, about just how young his ultra-talented national runners-up were. He was proud of them. He also looked exhausted.

"I've never coached a team this young," Calipari said. "Never. Hope I don't ever again. I think all these kids are coming back, so we should be good."

It was supposed to be a joke. It doesn't seem so funny now.

This spring, these kids (save Julius Randle and James Young) really did come back. Toss in another star-studded recruiting class, and the 2014-15 Wildcats aren't just the most talented team in the country: They have 10 starters (and nine McDonald's All-Americans) for five positions, plenty of experience, and the obvious national title pole position as a result.

Calipari isn't talking about youth these days. He's too busy test-driving his mad-genius platoon idea . Will it work? Who knows? The fun part -- for Calipari, and for the rest of us -- will be finding out.