With Louisville out of the Way, Kentucky Really Should Go Undefeated

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky point guard guard Andrew Harrison took a bad shot, and John Calipari angrily high-stepped it down his sideline with less than three minutes to go on Saturday afternoon.

His team was ahead by 11.

The greatest spin doctor in college basketball has one last challenge left until mid-March: Try to find some way to convince his team that ripping through the SEC on its way to an undefeated regular season is not a foregone conclusion.

After the top-ranked Wildcats fly-swatted in-state rival Louisville, 58-50, there's no fooling the rest of us.

Calipari has put together the foolproof roster.

If there were ever going to be a game that Kentucky would lose, it would be the one when its starting point guard had six turnovers and scored three points. It would be the one where National Player of the Year candidate Willie Cauley-Stein was in foul trouble and didn't block a shot for only the second time all season. 

"This is why I'm platooning," Calipari said. 

Two years ago, when Calipari had no depth and found himself in the NIT, he made it a point to never be in that spot again. But as stacked and talented as the Wildcats were last year, Calipari had no backup plan when Harrison played like he played against the Cardinals. 

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Now he has Tyler Ulis. 

Ulis, the 5'9" point guard, made Harrison obsolete on Saturday by scoring 14 points, dishing out two assists and handling Louisville's pressure in ways that Harrison could not. 

"He was really good today," Calipari said. "That's the best I've seen him play since I coached him."

Ulis made sure the 'Cats made enough shots, and the defense that is in the conversation for greatest ever made sure the Cards did not. 

"I know one thing, they're one of the greatest defensive teams I've seen in my 40 years," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said, echoing every other coach who has seen it up close.

Calipari changed the way his team has guarded ball screens, and instead of switching, the Wildcats had their big men sag back and force the Cards to hit outside shots. 

Louisville shot 25.9 percent from the field and had just one assist. And even when the looks were there, the Cards were so spooked by UK's length that they were shooting off balance.

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Kentucky's opponents are now making 31.2 percent of their twos. Yes, the shots inside the arc. 

But as bad as the Cardinals shot the ball, they did prove that a team that can pester the Harrisons and also has athletic bigs can stay in the game with Kentucky. 

Problem is—where is that team in the SEC? 

"Our league is fine," Calipari said.

No, it's not. 

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Calipari used the RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) to prove the SEC presents actual challenges. He said the league ranked second. It actually ranks third in the metric that is as outdated as bell-bottom jeans. 

A much better metric like kenpom.com (subscription required) has the SEC as the fifth-best league, and it's worth pointing out the league gets to include the best team in America, and Kentucky doesn't have to play itself. 

The team, on paper, with a puncher's chance would be Arkansas. The Razorbacks press—just like Louisville—and they have legit bigs. Plus, Arkansas can actually make shots, shooting 41 percent from deep. 

So it sounds like the Razorbacks would have a chance, huh? 

Unfortunately, they don't get the Wildcats in Fayetteville. They only get them in Lexington. And Arkansas is 1-2 on the road this season, including an 18-point loss at Iowa State.

The other best three-point shooting team in the league is Vanderbilt—also 41 percent from deep—and also playing its lone game against UK in Lexington. The Commodores lost their only road game thus far at Georgia Tech.

The only teams that have the right combination of talent and shooting—Duke, Gonzaga and Wisconsin are the best of that bunch—will likely not get a chance until April. And the 'Cats will probably only have to face one of them.

Most years, Florida could check off the qualifiers. But the Gators have their worst team in five years. 

Kentucky could suffer another injury to a key guy—junior forward Alex Poythress is already out for the season—but the machine has gone without a glitch without Poythress. At this point, the only guy UK could not lose might just be the smallest man on a roster of giants. 

Ulis is only at Kentucky because Calipari missed out on Emmanuel Mudiay, who opted for SMU and ended up playing this year in China. 

"I only recruited him for three weeks," Calipari said. 

What he backed into was the best freshman point guard in the country. (Sorry, Duke fans, but it's true.) Calipari added that he would have recruited Ulis even if he had secured a commitment from Mudiay. 

Sure he would have. And the SEC is the second-best conference in America. 

This is why Kentucky is going undefeated. Calipari knows how to control the message and gets his guys to buy into whatever it is he wants them to buy into. 

As for the possibility of an undefeated season? 

"It's not talked about," sophomore Dakari Johnson said.

No, the spin doctor would not allow that.

Calipari finished his spin session on Saturday, just as he did the Saturday before after blowing out UCLA, talking about the selflessness of his team.

"I wake up every morning whistling and skipping," Calipari said.

As he should. At least until April.

C.J. Moore covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @CJMooreBR.