By David Schuh | Basketball columnist

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There has been a lot of hype this season surrounding UK’s ability to potentially go undefeated.

Several reasons go into why 40-0 is a dangerous prediction, but this year it comes down to the Cats schedule — one of the toughest they’ve faced in a long time. UK is the preseason No. 1 team in the country.

Before New Year’s Day, they’ll play No. 2 and 3.

By mid-February, they’ll play No. 8 and 11.

Given such quality opponents spread throughout the season, what is this team’s ceiling? Let’s look at their best- and worst-case scenarios.

Best Case

If you’re trying to predict the best possible outcome for a team at this point in the year, the essence of the argument is to assess their potential.

This team has a lot of it.

I’ve said it’s dangerous to say a team will go 40-0. And I’m not saying this group will, but it’s hard to say it isn’t their best-case scenario.

I can’t see the Cats losing to anyone before the turn of the calendar except Michigan State University and the University of Louisville.

The University of North Carolina could give them a challenge in Chapel Hill, N.C., but the Tar Heels don’t have the depth to hang with UK, despite returning three starters from last season.

So let’s say the Cats win two close ones over the Spartans and the Cardinals. They match up closely with both teams, but must defend and take care of the ball to negate a mismatch of experience.

They ride that momentum into conference play, dominating some of the weaker teams and outlasting the University of Florida and the University of Tennessee on their way to the program’s third perfect SEC record in history.

As the media is swarming around a 31-0 team, the Cats don’t let the attention halt their play, grinding out an SEC Tournament title over Florida in Atlanta.

The Cats then cruise into the Elite Eight, where they meet equally talented, solid teams motivated to knock these young kids off their historic pedestal.

But UK’s rhythm and chemistry built up over five months is too much.

The team never feels seriously threatened, winning UK’s ninth national championship and making college basketball history in the process as the first team to ever finish 40-0.

See how difficult that sounds? We’ll see, but I honestly feel it is this team’s ceiling, however high it may be.

Worst Case

If the best case is a measurement of a team’s potential, the worst case is that of their most likely shortcomings.

Last year, my worst-case scenario for UK was a loss in the Sweet 16. At the time, I thought that was foreseeable, but that team was worse than most people could have thought, given the raw talent on the roster.

These Cats enter the season with a more complete team. They’re deeper, have much better guards and more experience.

Yet still, my worst-case scenario isn’t much better than it was a year ago.

UK can lose to Michigan State and Louisville, so let’s say they do.

The SEC isn’t very deep this year, so I’ll say the most games they could lose in conference play is four.

College basketball as a whole, though, is much deeper this year. The quality of play across the board will be better, with several top teams combining young talent and seasoned veterans.

In this scenario, UK runs into one of those teams in the SEC Tournament — Florida — that denies them of their 29th conference tournament title.

With only six or seven losses, they still obtain a four seed in the NCAA Tournament and get to the Sweet 16 pretty easily.

After a close win to continue on, they meet a tournament-tested team in the Elite Eight (e.g., Duke, Michigan State), finishing what turns out to be a fairly disappointing season given the early expectations.

This team has the ability to reach historic heights.

However, we have seen so often how unpredictable Calipari’s roster’s can become.

These Cats don’t really have any glaring weaknesses, but if there is one thing, it is depth in the backcourt.

I fall somewhere in between my two scenarios.

UK won’t lose any more than four regular season games. The SEC just isn’t good enough to challenge them on a weekly basis.

If they can establish some confidence and momentum in nonconference play, they can get pretty close to that best-case scenario.

I won’t predict 40-0, and nobody should, but if this team has an identifiable ceiling, that is it.