Louisville vs. Kentucky: Wildcats Prove Loss to Indiana Was a Bump in the Road

When the No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats lost to the Indiana Hoosiers a couple weeks ago there were whispers that perhaps Kentucky wasn't quite as good as advertised. That was put to rest on Saturday, however, as the Wildcats impressively downed the No. 4 Louisville Cardinals 69-62.

The win marks Kentucky's third over a power school this season as it had previously beaten both Kansas and North Carolina. With the loss of guard Brandon Knight to the NBA, it would have been very easy for the Wildcats to take a step back, but they haven't in the least.

One of the biggest reasons for that has been the immediate emergence of freshman forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. He exploded for 24 points and 19 rebounds against Louisville and has continued to get better as the season has worn on. That is in addition to super sophomores Doron Lamb and Terrence Jones, as well as senior Darius Miller.

Last season the Wildcats had very little in the way of expectations with a very young team, but they managed to make it to the Final Four and very nearly to the National Championship Game. Although much more is expected of them this season, Kentucky hasn't folded under that pressure.

The Wildcats are still young when compared to some of the other top teams, but their players that went through the Final Four run last year have matured. That much was very apparent as they beat the Cardinals in what could be described as a fairly split crowd.

When Kentucky lost to Indiana a couple weeks ago many observers were shocked. Although I don't want to take anything away from the Hoosiers I think that the loss was more of a fluke than anything. Indiana is a good squad at 12-1, but they played a very inspired game at home and still won by just a point.

Kentucky rebounded from that loss with a string of victories against inferior opponents, but the true test of their mettle came against Louisville. Had the Wildcats lost to the Cardinals, there would have been some major questions regarding whether they could beat the upper-echelon teams. The Wildcats rose to the challenge, though.

More often than not a team isn't going to go undefeated during the regular season no matter how good it is. That is especially true in college basketball today with the amount of parity there is. With that in mind, I think it is safe to chalk up Kentucky's loss to Indiana as an aberration.

There isn't a team remaining on the Wildcats' schedule that is as talented as they are, but they'll still probably lose a couple more games. That's the nature of the beast in college basketball, but I think it's fair to say that the win over Louisville proved that Kentucky is still a top national title contender.