Keep an Eye on Arizona; Kentucky's Not the Only Team with a

[HiCat]

40 w's would be cool, but a FF - NC way way better!

By Kerry Miller , College Basketball National Columnist
Dec 18, 2014

While the entire world talks about Kentucky's quest for 40-0, there's another Wildcats team that at least has a snowball's chance in Arizona of running the table, too.

There are still nine undefeated teams across the country, but let's go ahead and rule seven of them out.

Duke, Louisville and Virginia are outstanding teams, but there's no way anyone is going 18-0 through that ACC gauntlet. Likewise, Villanova is bound to lose at least one game in a Big East conference that is drastically better than last season. TCU won't last a week into its Big 12 schedule before suffering a loss. Washington is going to lose as soon as it runs into a team with a competent big man that can handle Robert Upshaw.

Colorado State is the wild card, because the Rams undeniably have the easiest remaining schedule of the undefeateds. However, we can't take them too seriously until they win a game against San Diego State.

That leaves the Arizona Wildcats and the Kentucky Wildcats as our top candidates for perfection.


In a recent exchange between Jay Bilas and Jeff Goodman (ESPN Insider subscription required), ESPN's gurus asked and answered how high Arizona's ceiling is.

Goodman's synopsis: "I like this team a lot, especially from a defensive and toughness standpoint, but I'm just not sold it can win the national title this season."

Bilas' response: "I think Arizona is in the top tier of teams this season, but I still have the Wildcats behind Kentucky, Duke and Wisconsin. After that, I would put Arizona up with Louisville, Villanova and Virginia as the next best teams."

(Um, Jay, do you know how tiers work? You can't say Arizona is in the top tier and then put the Wildcats behind three other teams.)

Arizona is 11-0 with quality wins over Gonzaga, San Diego State, Michigan and Kansas State. The Wildcats have had fewer shots blocked than any other team in the country and currently rank fourth in the nation in defensive rebounding percentage, both according to KenPom.com (subscription required).

Whether Arizona is a legitimate threat to beat Kentucky is a discussion for another day, but the West Coast Wildcats are one of the toughest teams in the country to defeat.

Arizona doesn't allow second-chance opportunities and there's not much of anything you can do to stop its players from putting the ball in the hoop.


http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2303 ... ot-at-40-0

[Beachcat97]

Count me among those who think UK is beatable. The SEC is garbage, so they'll likely waltz through their league schedule. But they have to visit their old nemesis later this week, so loss #1 could happen soon. Beyond that, though, I can't see UK losing until the NCAA tourney. I think the weight of their expectations will be their undoing. All it takes is one off-shooting night. We've seen past teams look similarly invincible, and very few of them have closed the deal. Calipari is right: they're playing against themselves, and it'll be that way for most of the season. I just think someone's going to knock them out in March.

[azcat49]

If the Ville doesn't get them they run the table in the regular season

[Beachcat97]

If the Ville doesn't get them they run the table in the regular season

Yep. The only things that could slow them would be an injury (God-forbid; I wouldn't want to incur that negative karma) or a white-hot shooting opponent. Maybe Florida? Arkansas? We'll see. But still, I have this funny feeling they're going to suffer the same fate as Kansas in '97.

[ASUHATER!]

Yeah I can see uk being 31-0 if they beat Louisville since the sec is God awful. Right now it looks like a 2-3 bid league.

[psiclist23]

I saw KU against UCLA, and they looked like they were playing a h.s. team. Good chance to run the table I would say. As far as AZ, I don't think they can do it as piss poor free throw shooting will come back to bite them in the ass at some point. alas.

[cats101]

They will slip on the road somewhere. Winning conference road games are not easy. Well some are easier than others.

[splitsecond]

I have no desire to have a perfect regular season. I feel like a team needs to get loss out of their system before the tournament so they know how to prevent a loss in the tournament.