Getting to an NCAA tournament championship game is hard. Getting to two in a row is a feat very few basketball teams have ever accomplished, especially in the one-and-done era where star freshmen take their leave for the NBA draft as soon as possible.
But it's not impossible, and John Calipari knows it. Coach Cal said at the beginning of the year, "Top to bottom we have enough talent to get back, so it's not a question of talent. There are a lot of teams with talent. It's about learning every day and competing every day and peaking at the right time with the ultimate goal of getting back and winning one more tournament game than we did a year ago."
He can feel comfortable that this Wildcat team is on track to reach those goals. After an 86-52 drubbing of South Carolina this past weekend, Coach Cal said, "It didn't matter who we played, someone was getting beat by 30 today. It wasn't South Carolina; it was us."
The Wildcats put on a display against the Gamecocks, just as they have done in most of their recent outings. Their lone loss of the year was a one-pointer to Indiana back on Dec. 10. Since then, they have won 15 straight by an average of 18.3 points a game. But it's been much worse than that. To say the Cats have won by an average of 18 points makes the games sound closer than they actually were. With few exceptions, Kentucky has steamrolled opponents this year, beating most as badly as they wanted.
In their last six conference games, the Cats have beaten Arkansas by 23, Alabama by six, Georgia by 13, LSU by 24, Tennessee by 25 and South Carolina by 33. With the lone exception of Alabama, which was a nail-biter by Kentucky standards, each of those games felt like the Cats could have won by 50. They dominated inside and outside on offense and defense, setting the pace and dictating the style of play.
"It doesn't matter who we put in the game, they score," Calipari said. "They're sacrificing for their teammates, which makes it even more powerful."
The power needs to continue. The final seven games could be the toughest stretch yet. The Cats host Florida on Tuesday and then travel to Nashville to play Vandy. After that, it's Ole Miss and Mississippi State, then Vandy and Georgia at home before finishing the regular season in Gainesville against Billy Donovan and a Gator team that won the regular season SEC title a year ago.
If the Wildcats finish with one loss (a tall order in today's college basketball environment) they will lock up the No.1 tournament seed by a wide margin and be the odds-on favorite to win it all. Even with a loss in the home stretch (something Coach Cal won't contemplate at this point), they will still be favored to win the conference tournament and return to the Final Four.
If there is one sure thing going into the final month before the tournaments, it is that Kentucky is playing the best basketball in the country by far. And, on any given night, they could, indeed, beat anybody by 30 or more.
