CHICAGO -- John Calipari calls it “clutter.” Before Kentucky ever played a meaningful minute of basketball this season, Calipari knew his team’s toughest opponent would be the shapeless, shifting idea of distractions hanging over what could be a groundbreaking year.
Kentucky’s only competition is history
As Kentucky keeps piling up wins, the Wildcats’ biggest challenge might be staying in the moment.
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Calipari figured out before anyone else that it’d be tough to resist the thought of placing his Wildcats among the best teams of all time. Through a perfect 12-game start, there’s already a growing sentiment that Kentucky has transcended contemporary competition. As the wins keep piling up, the only thing left in front of the Wildcats will be ghosts.
Some of these ghosts are as familiar as Kentucky’s championship teams from 1996 and 2012. Others will be as antiqued as Bob Knight’s 1976 Indiana team, college basketball’s last undefeated national champion. But as good as Kentucky is this season, Calipari knows they can’t travel through time. His challenge to keep this team focused in the moment and not on the unimaginable goals at the end of this season.
"We just have to keep playing against ourself," freshman forward Devin Booker said. "Coach always stresses to us that we're not playing against the other team. You can't look at the score. Just keep going."
On a Roll
This was how Calipari’s team stayed medium after the destruction of their most impressive performance of the season, a 83-41 victory over UCLA in Chicago on Saturday, a 42-point beatdown that was even uglier than the final margin would suggest.
Kentucky led 24-0 before UCLA scored its first basket. The Wildcats forced the Bruins to miss 17 shots before one mercifully fell. By the time the halftime buzzer sounded, Kentucky was leading 41-7 and UCLA was shooting eight percent from the field.
If you believe the things coming out of Calipari’s mouth, he never knew exactly how big his team’s first half lead was. Playing in a foreign arena that was the United Center, Calipari couldn’t find the scoreboard.
“I didn’t look at the score in the first half. I did not know what the score was,” Cailpari said. “I knew it was pretty good, but I did not look. The second half, I glanced up there one time. That’s the best way to coach: if you don’t to look at that scoreboard, you’re just looking at your team.”
It couldn't get any worse for the Bruins in the second half, yet it only got marginally better. Shots started falling, but the deficit grew bigger. It's not like UCLA is lacking talent. Early departures from three first-round NBA draft picks (Zach LaVine, Kyle Anderson and Jordan Adams) last year sapped the Bruins' depth, but the starting five should still be good enough to compete with most teams in the country. As UCLA found out, Calipari's evolving monster is not most teams.
“I don’t know in my 20 years of coaching at the Division I level that I’ve coached against a better team than what this team looks like,” UCLA coach Steve Alford said. “They have everything.”
"Everything" is no exaggeration. Kentucky starts two ultra-athletic seven-footers who are among the very best shot blockers in the country. Even after junior Alex Poythress suffered a season-ending ACL tear, Kentucky's replacement on the wing is 6'10 freshman Trey Lyles, who gives the first unit more shooting than it had before. In the backcourt are Andrew and Aaron Harrison, the sophomore guards who spearheaded an unlikely run to the national championship game last season.
Photo credit: Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Of course, what makes Kentucky so good is that the roster has enough talent to supplement two top 10 teams. Hell, they might be the two best teams in the country. The second unit has four McDonald’s All-Americans of its own, including game-changing freshmen like Booker and Tyler Ulis. Each gives Kentucky a dimension the starters lack, be it shooting, pressure defense or a probing floor general that makes things easier for everyone else.
Booker ended the night as Kentucky’s leading scorer, but his team was already winning 16-0 before he first entered the game. Booker came to school with a reputation as a shooter, which put high expectations on every jumper he attempted. They weren’t falling at the beginning of the season, but the freshman from Grand Rapids, Mich. never lost faith.
On Saturday, Booker scored 19 points in 16 minutes on 5-of-6 shooting from three-point range. Each make was a punch to the gut for an already-woozy UCLA team. If this was a boxing match, they would have stopped the fight after the first round.
what makes Kentucky so good is that the roster has enough talent for two top 10 teams. Hell, they might be the two best teams in the country.
Kentucky now sits one game away from entering SEC play unblemished. Of course, that one game left might be the most charged game of the entire season, because Louisville welcomes the Wildcats into its home on Dec. 27. This time, there’s more than just in-state bragging rights on the line.
With every dominant effort, Kentucky is leaving the impression that an undefeated season isn’t out of the question. Yes, mid-majors like Columbia and Buffalo have hung with the Wildcats for a half, but Saturday’s game against UCLA was just another example of Kentucky playing its best when the lights shine brightest. This team is not going to fall asleep against Louisville or anyone else.
Calipari has accomplished just about everything in his career, but an undefeated season would cement his place as the best coach of his era. No one is willing to admit it, but it’s easy to get the sense that everyone here wants to go for it.
As much as Calipari would like to slow down the hype, his team isn’t doing him any favors. If they keep playing like they did against UCLA, the ghosts will be all that’s remaining.
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