This has been an interesting year in college basketball. Kentucky has been dominant. As dominant a team as I've seen in all the time I've been watching college basketball. They rolled thru their regular season and enter the SEC Tournament with a 31-0 record, with a chance to become the first undefeated National Champion since Indiana in 1976 and become the first 40-0 men's team in history.
Kentucky has been so dominant that there isn't another team anybody can envision winning the championship. While that may be true, I wonder what it is that has made Kentucky so head-and-shoulders above the rest. There's always one team that stands out as the best in the nation, but there's rarely this big a gap. Is that because Kentucky is just that much better than everybody else? Or is it because the Wildcats are simply the only really good team in what's been a down year? Seriously. This hasn't been a good year in college basketball. At least we've got Kentucky's undefeated record to keep us interested.
They're just three games away from entering the NCAA Tournament undefeated. That, of course, is nothing new. Wichita State was undefeated going into the Tournament last season (when they lost to Kentucky in the second round). But the difference is that, even though they were undefeated and a No. 1 seed, very few people considered Wichita State as a legitimate threat to win the national title. Not so with Kentucky. Everyone expects them to win, and it'll be a major shock/upset if they don't.
I've gotta admit, it'll be pretty cool if we go into the NCAA Tournament with such a heavy favorite that has a chance to do something that hasn't been done in 40 years. This is probably the most realistic shot at it since UNLV in 1991. But remember what happened that year? UNLV lost to Duke in the Final Four, ending their season with only one loss, but without a championship. Kinda like the 2007 Patriots. People remember the 1 a lot more than they remember the 18.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, if they win the SEC Tournament, but don't finish the job and win the national title, that's what people are going to remember. Not the 31-0 regular season. Not anything else. The fact that they were 34-0 entering the NCAA Tournament and didn't end the year 40-0.
To their credit, Kentucky didn't start thinking about it until like December. Their first two SEC games were close calls. But since then, the Wildcats have blown out everybody. They're definitely thinking about it now, though. How could they not be? It's all the media can talk about. And they've got to be feeling the pressure too. They know what's at stake. This could be one of the truly historic seasons in college basketball history.
But Kentucky isn't the only undefeated team in the nation. The Princeton women are also yet to lose a game, and it looks like they're going to head into the NCAA Tournament perfect. There's one major difference between Kentucky and Princeton, though. Kentucky is the obvious favorite for the National Championship on the men's side. Meanwhile, there's a consensus that the Princeton women aren't. There's no denying that Princeton is good, but a national title contender? Not so much.
Princeton is more like last year's Wichita State men. The question isn't whether or not they can win the National Championship. It's more about how far they can advance. Are they a Sweet 16 team? Can they get further? Or is that record more a result of the schedule that Princeton has played? (Although, there's not much they can do about the quality of the other teams in the Ivy League.)
Last year, we had that history-making National Championship Game between undefeated UConn and undefeated Notre Dame. The Huskies won to finish 40-0, just like Brittany Griner's dominant Baylor team did a couple years ago. Despite the fact that Princeton's likely going to enter the NCAA Tournament undefeated, UConn will be the favorites for the women's title.
Meanwhile, that 40-0 number is perhaps more significant than it's ever been. Can Kentucky do it? That remains to be seen. But if they do, the Wildcats will take their place among the greatest single-season performances by any team in the history of the college game. Right up there with the Wooden-Kareem-Walton UCLA dynasty. And I don't care if it's a down year in the rest of college basketball. Kentucky's chase of 40-0 has been exciting and incredible. While I'm not sure I see it happening, I really hope it does. Imagine the story that'll be.
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