After attending the Kentucky-College of Charleston game in Rupp Arena, I’m not at all confident that the Wildcats are ready to go to Chapel Hill to play Coach Roy Williams’ Tar Heels. In fact, if the Cats don’t step it up a notch or two, it could get ugly. Freshman Brandan Wright, who almost went to UK, teams with Tyler Hansbrough to give the Tar Heels one of the best inside games in college hoops.

The Cats will have to play even better than they did against UCLA, the new top-ranked team in the nation despite almost losing to UK in Mauai. That was the game where Ramel Bradley made a couple of horrible ball-handling mistakes in the final minute to let the Bruins off the hook.

Ever loyal to his upper-classmen, UK Coach Tubby Smith is giving Bradley a shot at point guard. It’s a matter of trying to put the square peg in the round hole. It says here that if Bradley is still starting at the point in March, UK will be sitting on another 13-loss season and early exit from the NCAA tournament.

It looks to me that freshman Derrick Jasper has to eventually be the starter at the point. He makes better decisions and takes care of the ball better than Bradley. So what do you do with Bradley? You can’t put him at shooting guard in place of Joe Crawford — who, by the way, needs to study tape of Keith Bogans to see what kind of player he should be.

I’d have Bradley coming off the bench to provide instant offense and some pressure on defense. I don’t understand why the Cats don’t press more, especially against teams like Charleston. When you have superiority in numbers and talent, you use it to overwhelm the opposition.

It’s also obvious that Randolph Morris will be the team’s go-to guy and that the team is much better with freshman Perry Stevenson in the starting lineup instead of Sherray Thomas. I don’t understand Tubby’s affinity for Thomas. He may be a great kid — I don’t doubt that — but in all the years I’ve covered Kentucky basketball, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player get so much playing time and do so little with it.

To justify your playing time, you don’t have to be a great all-around player. But you must excell at something — shooting, rebounding, shot-blocking, defense, something. Dennis Rodman is a good example. He couldn’t shoot a lick, but he was a rebounding demon.

In Thomas’ case, I simply can’t see what he brings to the table. His stat line against Charleston was more or less typical: 26 minutes, two points, three or four rebounds, an assist or two. And defensively, there were at least three times where Charleston players easily wheeled around him for clear shots (which they missed).

On Senior Day, when Thomas and Lukacz Obrzut are introduced, it’s a question of which will be louder — the applause or the universal sigh of relief. Both these guys might have been decent players for Kentucky — Eastern Kentucky, that is. What was Tubby thinking when he recruited them?

I really like Stevenson. Yes, he’s so skinny that bulkier players will be able to push him around under the boards. But he makes up for lack of bulk with quickness, jumping ability, and good basketball instincts. Given enough playing time, he’ll lead the team in blocked shots. He’s also tough to guard because he can score from inside or go out for the 12-foot jumper.

The other member of the senior class, Bobby Perry, remains a mystery. At the end of last season, he had a couple of breakout games that indicated he would be a force this season. Instead, he’s so far reverted to his Star Trek — lost in space — ways. I’d continue to start him in the hope he snaps out of it, but I’d have freshmen Jodie Meeks and Michael Porter warmed up and ready to go.

Morris has an abundance of potential that hasn’t been tapped to its fullest. He still plays soft at times, and he often doesn’t finish with a basket after a good move to hoop. But I think he can become a scoring machine if the Cats get him the ball in the right places and he works the offensive boards hard.

No matter what happens at Carolina Saturday, it must be remembered that it’s very early in the season. There’s a whole lot of basketball yet to be played. But for UK to be as good as it can be, Tubby is going to have to bite the bullet and admit that his upperclassmen — other than Morris, Crawford, and Perry — are going to have to take a backseat to the freshmen.