‘We all just want to win.’ Kentucky’s incoming freshmen embrace high expectations.

For all the reasons you might think — the basketball legacy, the history of one-and-done success under head coach John Calipari and recent shortcomings in team success — arriving at Kentucky as a highly ranked men’s college basketball recruit comes with the weight of expectations.

Calipari will frequently, and somewhat tiresomely, say that playing at UK isn’t for everybody.

All of these qualifiers apply to Kentucky’s top-ranked 2023 recruiting class, perhaps more than ever before.

While the 2022-23 Kentucky squad managed to shake a years-long NCAA Tournament victory drought, the Cats still fell well short of lofty preseason expectations.

Now, five highly regarded freshman are set to arrive in Lexington over the spring and summer, looking to return the Wildcats to the “gold standard” that has so often been championed, but rarely executed, in recent seasons.

Four of those incoming players — Aaron Bradshaw, Justin Edwards, Reed Sheppard and DJ Wagner — are taking part in McDonald’s All-American Game festivities this week in Houston.

Monday afternoon’s media day for the event offered a chance for some of those players to comment on the inherent pressures that come with becoming a Wildcat, and why they feel they’re well-suited to handling the spotlight that comes with playing for a college basketball blue blood that’s looking to get back on track.

“I feel like we’re all confident in each other and the way to prepare for that is to stay in the gym and keep working hard every day,” Wagner said when asked by the Herald-Leader how he has prepared for his Kentucky experience. “We all feel like we can rely on each other in games. We’re all excited.”

“I’m a workhorse. I love being in the gym and I’m just an energetic, fun type of guy,” Bradshaw added when asked the same question by the Herald-Leader. “I feel like I fit the perfect (mold) of a Kentucky freshman.”

While the 2023 class isn’t considered to be particularly strong in recruiting circles, Kentucky has swallowed up most of the top-tier talent that’s available.

Bradshaw (No. 2), Edwards (No. 3), Wagner (No. 4) and Sheppard (No. 46) all occupy lofty positions on the 247Sports Composite player rankings for 2023 recruits.

UK’s other incoming freshman is Robert Dillingham, a shifty backcourt player who is ranked No. 13 in the 247Sports Composite player rankings. Because Dillingham spent his senior season at Overtime Elite, a professional basketball league based in Atlanta, he was ineligible to be chosen as a McDonald’s All-American.

Sheppard, Wagner have direct family ties to Kentucky

While college basketball represents the next level for these future UK players, awareness and scrutiny about their on- and off-court activities won’t be new.

All of Kentucky’s incoming players have been major names on the travel basketball circuit for years, and their high school teams have all played in high-profile tournaments against other top teams and players.

Locally, each of these players has been expected to shoulder the load for their high school teams in the pursuit of a state championship.

For Sheppard in particular, there’s a daily tax that comes with being the son of two former basketball stars at the state’s flagship university, the same school that he will attend.

“The things he’s gone through from a publicity standpoint is higher than any player that’s currently being recruited at Kentucky,” Nate Valentine, Sheppard’s high school coach at North Laurel, said earlier this month ahead of the state tournament in Lexington.

“Maybe Bronny James, but other than that, in terms of expectation and attention, it’s been an at all-time high.”

“Anyone knows that it’s going to be hard to play at Kentucky. They’re one of the greatest college basketball programs in history,” Sheppard said Monday. “Going to Kentucky you have a lot of pressure, and knowing that they’ve kind of struggled a little bit in the last postseasons, and the fans are getting a little impatient... It’s kind of a lot of pressure, but it’s something you work for and it’s something that you look forward to: Going up there and playing with great players and great coaches and trying to make a run.”

Familial connections were also at the heart of Wagner’s college recruitment.

Calipari coached Wagner’s father, Dajuan Wagner, early in his tenure at Memphis. Louisville hired former star player Milt Wagner — the grandfather of DJ Wagner — as U of L’s director of player development and alumni relations last spring.

Wagner said his earliest memory of Calipari is meeting the head coach in Lexington when Wagner was around 6 or 7 years old.

“That’s when I really noticed how big Kentucky was and stuff like that,” Wagner said. “How big of a thing it was in college. Just seeing the practices and how hard they worked and stuff like that. That’s when I could really comprehend everything.”

What has anchored this memory in Wagner’s mind?

He took a photo with Anthony Davis during that summertime trip to Central Kentucky.

The collective might of Kentucky’s incoming freshman class alone likely won’t be enough to vault Kentucky back to the top of bracketology projections and NCAA Tournament seed lines. Nor should that expectation be placed solely on these five players.

But Wagner was also quick to praise the collective and communal way that each incoming Wildcat’s game complements the others.

“Each player has great things about their games that we could all use and match and play together (with) each other,” Wagner said. “But the main thing I know is that we all want to win. Just from having conversations with them and talking about next year, we all just want to win. That’s our main goal. Just winning as much as we can.”

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John Calipari is back on the recruiting trail. And other top links from the Next Cats blog.

Year in review: Kentucky signee Robert Dillingham makes most of Overtime Elite opportunity

Year in review: Reed Sheppard returned to the Sweet 16. Now, he’ll be a Kentucky Wildcat.