Kentucky Basketball: SEC Tournament Loss Will Only Make Wildcats More Dangerous

They were bound to lose sometime.

Kentucky ran into some hot shooting from Vanderbilt Sunday afternoon, and the Commodores outplayed the Wildcats down the stretch and not only won their first SEC Championship in over 60 years, but put an end to Kentucky's 24-game win streak in the process.

The Wildcats didn't make a shot from the floor over the final 8:04 and shot just 35.9 percent from the field for the game.

While losing is never good, maybe Kentucky needed this reality check, and it couldn't have come at a better time as they prepare for the ultimate goal: an NCAA Championship.

Sometimes, with a young team on a roll similar to what Kentucky's been on, a feeling of invincibility builds within time.

Now, these guys know they are beatable, and they should enter the tournament a very focused team on a mission.

A focused Kentucky team with something to prove could be a scary thing for the rest of the field.

Kentucky wasn't playing its best basketball of the season during the SEC Tournament, and you could tell by watching head coach John Calipari throughout the tournament that he wasn't the least bit happy.

The Wildcats got by on talent for the most part, but the most talented team isn't necessarily the one that cuts down the nets at the end of the day.

You can bet Calipari has a message for his young team, and there's a pretty good chance he's going to get that message through to them.

Expect this Wildcats team to play with a chip on their shoulder throughout the next few weeks.

Kentucky learned a valuable lesson on Sunday. It's no fun watching another team celebrate at your expense.

The veteran coach that Calipari is, he will use that as a teaching tool, and it will motivate the Wildcats for the remainder of the season.

Sometimes, you learn more from defeat than you do from victory.

That will be the case with Kentucky.

They already have the talent to win it all. If this loss helps them get the focus and that chip on their shoulder, there's a very good chance that Calipari will get that long-awaited first championship he's been chasing.