By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Kentucky's Chuck Hayes on Sunday described the pain of another wasted No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed as "a dark cloud hanging over this locker room, this team."

The future is clouded, too, with uncertainty.

Hayes will return and rank as the unquestioned senior leader of the 2004-05 Wildcats. The dynamic Kelenna Azubuike will be back, too, as a junior. The rest of the starting lineup is TBA.

The core of the group that went 59-9 the past two seasons is gone. Though an influx of talent adds teasing potential to next season, there are certainly questions to address.

"We're still Kentucky basketball," guard Ravi Moss said. "We'll find a way to be good."

As many as seven new players could join the roster next season. Given that Azubuike (11.2 ppg) and Hayes (10.7) are the only returnees who averaged two or more points, perhaps three of the newcomers will end up starters.

"We're going to be young (and) inexperienced," guard Josh Carrier said. "Like coach (Tubby) Smith has always done before, he'll get us going by the time the tournaments come."

Who are the potential newcomers?

One, point guard Patrick Sparks, sat out this season at UK after transferring from Western Kentucky. Two more guards, Ramel Bradley and Adam Williams, have signed. Two more guards, the McDonald's All-American duo of Joe Crawford and Rajon Rondo, have committed to sign during the spring signing period.

A sixth possible player is 6-foot-7 Lonnell DeWalt, who committed to play football for UK, but says Smith would be open to the idea of him also playing basketball.

The seventh? That would be heralded big man Randolph Morris. The 6-11, 250-pound center from Palmetto, Ga., a McDonald's All-American himself, has said he will choose by May between UK and Georgia Tech.

Morris could replace Erik Daniels and fill the need for a true center, which 7-footers Lukasz Obrzut and Shagari Alleyne couldn't this winter. All those guards will help, as three of the team's four leaders in made 3-pointers are departing.

Sparks, who averaged 13.6 points as a sophomore and helped WKU reach two NCAA Tournaments, outranks Rondo in seniority and thus seems more likely to start the season at the point. Crawford, a Detroit native, might be precocious enough to start at shooting guard.

What's certain regardless of Randolph's decision is that Smith will need some creative accounting. UK is already one over the NCAA recruiting limit commonly called "5/8": no more than five new scholarship players in one year and eight over two years.

Sparks is paying his own way this fall with the promise he'll go on scholarship next season. For Smith to bring in the new players, it would have to lose a player, or one of the newcomers would have to delay his entry on scholarship. Randolph's arrival would further complicate matters.

Smith's only comment had been that he'd worry about the matter after the season.

Should Randolph not come, Smith will need to develop a center. He would seemingly have to pick between Obrzut (1.2 ppg) and 6-7 Sheray Thomas (1.7). The latter quietly became the season leader in field-goal percentage at 59.3 percent, albeit in just 27 attempts.

"We've got a lot of work to do over the summertime with the big fellas," Moss said. "Lukasz will come along and be fine, and so will Sheray. Everything will work out."

UK'S PROJECTED ROSTER FOR 2004-05

Name	Yr.	Pos.	Ht.	PPG	Hometown
Chuck Hayes	Sr.	F	6-6	10.7	Modesto, Calif.
Josh Carrier	Sr.	G	6-5	1.2	Bowling Green, Ky.
Patrick Sparks*	Jr.	G	6-1	13.6	Central City, Ky.
Kelenna Azubuike	Jr.	G/F	6-5	11.1	Tulsa, Okla.
Ravi Moss	Jr.	G	6-2	1.7	Hopkinsville, Ky.
Bernard Cote	Jr.	F	6-9	1.4	St. Lambert, Quebec
Brandon Stockton	Jr.	G	5-9	1.0	Glasgow, Ky.
Preston LeMaster	Jr.	G	6-2	0.0	Paris, Ky.
Sheray Thomas	So.	F	6-7	1.7	Montreal, Quebec
Bobby Perry	So.	F	6-7	1.3	Durham, N.C.
Lukasz Obrzut	So.	C	7-1	1.2	Gliwice, Poland
Shagari Alleyne	So.	C	7-3	0.8	Bronx, N.Y.
Ramel Bradley	Fr.	G	6-3	n/a	Brooklyn, N.Y.
Joe Crawford	Fr.	G	6-4	n/a	Detroit, Mich.
Rajon Rondo	Fr.	G	6-1	n/a	Louisville, Ky.
Adam Williams	Fr.	G/F	6-4	n/a	St. Albans, W.Va.
Lonnell DeWalt#	Fr.	F	6-7	n/a	Bowling Green, Ky.

(*Transfer; stats from Western Kentucky)

(#Committed to play football for UK; could walk on in basketball)

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E-mail nschmidt@enquirer.com