With No. 9 Duke playing No. 10 Kentucky in the season opener on Tuesday night, we wanted to get a sense of what Kentucky looks like, so we reached out to CatsIllustrated.com's Justin Rowland.

Here is our Q&A with Justin:

1. What's your general sense of strengths and weaknesses on this Kentucky team, at least as much as you can have going into Game 1?

It looks like a good offensive team but the jury is out defensively and on the glass. Last year's team couldn't shoot and didn't share the ball well. I don't think those will be problems for this year's team because they're very deep in the backcourt and have a lot of gifted shooters. They shot close to 50% from 3-point range as a team in the two exhibition games and I'm sure there will be some contests where that shooting is the decisive factor.

They didn't dominate the glass against those opponents as you would expect. Oscar Tshiebwe will be a force on the offensive glass but who is going to help him on the boards? That's not easy. Daimion Collins doesn't look like he's going to grab a lot of rebounds. Keion Brooks and Lance Ware will probably play when he's out and neither is really known for throwing their weight around.

Defensively they have to improve but that usually happens over the course of a season under Calipari.

2. How much should we read into the 9-point win against Miles College in the exhibition game?

Miles College is a Division II team so that margin isn't good any way you slice it.

I will say that they have been the Division II scoring defense leader for three straight years and shot something like 9 of 12 from 3-point range in the first half with a number of shots coming from deep. Kentucky started the second half 17-2 and never really looked back.

Having said that, I think Kentucky ultimately shot a higher percentage from 3 than Miles. It's just that their flurry out of the gate (6 of 6 to start the game) was a big surprise.

3. Is it just me, or is this one of the oldest teams John Calipari has had in the past decade? Is experience expected to play more of a factor this year?

It's the oldest team he's had at Kentucky, no question. Sahvir Wheeler (Georgia), CJ Fredrick (Iowa), Kellan Grady (Davidson), and Oscar Tshiebwe (West Virginia) have all played a lot at other schools. Davion Mintz was the best player on a bad team last year and is a sixth year college basketball player in the backcourt. You do have the freshmen like TyTy Washington, Bryce Hopkins, and Daimion Collins, but there are also returning players Keion Brooks, Jacob Toppin, Dontaie Allen, and Lance Ware.

When you think Calipari at Kentucky you typically think very young with shooting sometimes as a question. This year other questions are front and center.

It's apparent even already that this team is built to feature Washington surrounded by older players whereas normally it's about getting several freshmen acclimated at once.

4. Both of these teams had memorable 2020-21 seasons for all of the wrong reasons -- what's the level of excitement of the team to put last year far in the rearview mirror?

I think there's a healthy and justified blend of optimism and apprehension. Optimism because Calipari really did address the areas that everyone said he needed to in the offseason, even overhauling the assistant coaches and bringing back Orlando Antigua and getting Chin Coleman in. Concern because they didn't look great in the exhibition season and there isn't quite as much top-end talent as they have sometimes had.

As far as the drive to rebound, I think that's definitely there. Guys like Mintz, Brooks, Ware, and Toppin did not get a typical Kentucky basketball experience last year. Not only because of the 9-16 record but because of COVID and really strange circumstances all season.

5. What do you think the keys would be for a Kentucky win?

I think they're going to need to shoot well from outside. Fortunately for Kentucky, it wouldn't shock me at all if they do that. They're just built to throw in a bunch of them from outside.

But they're also going to have to put up a better fight on the glass than we saw against Kentucky Wesleyan or Miles College.

If Banchero gets a guy or two in foul trouble, especially Tshiebwe, that could be a real problem.