Things That Could Derail Kentucky's Perfect 2014-15 Season

At this point, there are two distinct factions of people following Kentucky's pursuit of perfection: those who want to see it, and those who want nothing of the sort.

We've got you both covered here.

The Wildcats moved to 24-0 on Tuesday with a 71-69 win at LSU—the latest close call they've had since SEC play began a month ago. Tight results such as these—Kentucky trailed the Tigers early and also blew a double-digit lead in the second half, only to rally in the final minutes—add fuel to both sides of the will-they-or-won't-they fire that's raging through college basketball more and more each day.

Whether Kentucky will become the first team since Indiana in 1976 to finish a season unbeaten isn't our concern right now, though. Instead, we're discussing ways that this will not happen, of which there are many.

We haven't gone almost four decades without a perfect record by coincidence.

Where could it all go wrong? Check out our list of the most likely situations that will prevent Big Blue Nation from buying those 40-0 shirts that popped up at the beginning of last season.

A Hot Opponent on a Cold Night

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Sometimes, the shots just fall. No matter how good the defense is, there are times when an opponent seems incapable of missing.

Duke did it to Wisconsin in December, and North Carolina State did it to the Blue Devils last month. Kentucky has avoided this scenario, as the "hottest" opponent it has faced was Ole Miss in the SEC opener, and the Rebels still didn't top 50 percent from the field.

That Ole Miss game, which went to overtime on Jan. 6, was the closest thing possible to the picture we're painting. What tripped up the Rebels was top scorer Stefan Moody suffering debilitating leg cramps that knocked him out several times during the game and kept him off the court in the extra period.

Having seen what happened there, you can bet Kentucky's remaining opponents ensure that every player gets his fill of bananas and other potassium-rich products to avoid that situation.

"You keep taking everybody’s best," Kentucky coach John Calipari told William C. Rhoden of The New York Times. "We're in a championship fight every time we walk into a building."

More Rotation Attrition

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Trey Lyles returned from a three-game illness-related absence to log 18 minutes off the bench on Tuesday night. When the 6'10" freshman forward wasn't available, Kentucky had given more playing time to starting frontcourt players Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein, as well as the guards, with varying results.

Lyles is the second major cog who has missed significant time, as Alex Poythress went down for the season with a knee injury after eight games. The Wildcats still have more McDonald's All-Americans than anyone else, so you can hold off on the pity party, but after getting his players so used to logging a certain amount of time each game, coach John Calipari is dealing with fatigue issues, as his top contributors have to stay on the court longer.

As the rotation shrinks from the two-platoon system that began the year to what's become more of a seven- or eight-man lineup, Kentucky is starting to resemble most other teams in terms of player usage. The talent might be far superior, but fatigue can negate that.

Besides Lyles and Poythress, the other key players to miss time were freshmen Devin Booker and Tyler Ulis, though that was early on. If other contributors became unavailable at some point, that could factor into a losing scenario. 

Calipari Coordinates a Casualty

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Like the Wizard of Oz, John Calipari is the puppet master pulling all the strings with this Kentucky team. It was his idea to go with the platoon system, using two distinct units of players that entered the game in waves in an effort to spread out the minutes, keep everyone happy and allow for fresh bodies to always be available.

Calipari's system also makes it possible to manipulate his players, using playing time as a carrot that helps prod his charges into action.

With that in mind, couldn't Calipari also be capable of orchestrating a loss? Or, at least, a game where losing is made more possible because of holding out a player—we still haven't gotten official word what Lyles' "illness" was—or stacking the deck against his team?

Per David Ching of ESPN, Calipari admitted after the LSU game that he deliberately didn't call a timeout late —after Karl-Anthony Towns was called for a technical—so his team could learn how to deal with what that situation brought about. If he's willing to take that risk, who knows what he's got in mind over the rest of the regular season. 

A Bad Tournament Draw

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If Kentucky makes it into the NCAA tournament without a loss, it will be a big deal. But it won't be that rare.

Remember, Wichita State was 34-0 when the tourney began last season and got to 35-0 before falling in the second round...to Kentucky.

The Shockers got a rough draw, landing a first-weekend matchup with an eighth-seeded Wildcats team that was far better than its record and tournament placement indicated. Kentucky parlayed that victory into a trip to the championship game, where it lost to Connecticut.

The NCAA tournament's selection committee hasn't been shy about leaving potential traps throughout the field in the past, and with the amount of attention Kentucky has gotten this season, it would stand to reason that those putting the bracket together would want to see the Wildcats face as many challenges as possible.

Is there an underachieving team out there that, in the right scenario, could finally rise up to the occasion when matched with the Wildcats in March? There are probably a few out there—teams like Texas or North Carolina, both of whom have already failed at beating Kentucky during the regular season, or someone we're not thinking of.

Maybe Wisconsin? The Badgers are in line to get a No. 1 seed if they keep winning, but if they were to fall to a No. 2 seed and end up in Kentucky's bracket, that would be a definitive loss possibility, wrote Reid Forgrave of FOX Sports.

"Wisconsin is the type of offensive dynamo that could patiently work that Kentucky defense," Forgrave wrote. "The Badgers are the nation's best at limiting turnovers and have one of the top effective field-goal percentages in the nation."

Wisconsin gave last year's Kentucky team a heck of a battle in the Final Four and could very well be the one to beat the Wildcats this season. It all depends on how the bracket plays out.

The Basketball Gods

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Whenever the final unbeaten team in the NFL loses for the first time, it's commonly noted that the surviving members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins crack open some champagne to celebrate their extended reign as the last team to make it through a pro football season without a loss, although former Dolphins head coach Don Shula refuted this claim in an interview with Vic Carucci of Cleveland Browns Daily (via Pro Football Talk).

It's unknown if Bobby Knight and his Indiana players from 1976 do the same thing, but they could if they wanted to.

Before Wichita State suffered its first loss during the NCAA tourney last season, the last team to make it nearly as far without a defeat was St. Joseph's in 2003-04. The Hawks fell in their conference tournament, and then went out early in the Big Dance.

UNLV made it to the Final Four unbeaten in 1991, and others have flirted with perfection only to come up short.

If Kentucky can buck this trend, it will be a feat for the ages. But if it doesn't happen, we can just attribute it to the basketball gods not wanting it to take place. 

All statistics are current as of Feb. 10.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.