Two Reasons to be excited about Kentucky Basketball’s Las Vegas Trip
By Luke Bennett
Competition
For the Kentucky Wildcats, there has been a lack of competition this year.
Outside of the Cats’ win over the then No. 1 Michigan State Spartans, Kentucky has seen very little competition. Yes, even Evansville – a loss growing more confusing by the day, especially after the Aces 26-point loss to a 3-7 Jacksonville State – doesn’t count as competition.
The strength of schedule has been so bad that the debut NET ranking of the season placed Kentucky at an impressive… 58th. Gulp.
Other than the Spartans, who are by no means a top-caliber team, Kentucky has yet to face competition that will prepare them for March. That is, until now.
In Las Vegas, the Cats will face a top-five Buckeyes team and a Utes squad that coincidentally ranks 54th – four spots higher than Kentucky – in the NET rankings.
If Kentucky heads to Vegas without fighting and finishing, they will come home with two losses, a practical death sentence in the race for a #1 seed.
“[Utah and Ohio State] are two of the better teams we’ve played,” Calipari said. “Obviously Michigan State and Georgia Tech [are good teams], and I should say Evansville since we lost to them. But when you look at Utah, they’ve beaten BYU and scored 143 in a game this year. They’re a team that plays well, plays hard. They’ve got size. Then Saturday, we’ve got [No. 5] Ohio State. I’m surprised they lost to Minnesota.”
Kenny Payne also chimed in on the upcoming matchup against Ohio State and said that looking past Utah could be deadly.
“I wish we could look past Utah, but as you saw earlier this season [in Kentucky’s loss to Evansville], we can’t look past anybody,” he said. “Anybody can beat us, and we can beat anybody.”
Competition is a good thing, so long as we match their energy by fighting AND finishing.