Sullivan | Unbeaten Kentucky conveys well-earned confidence
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Two roads diverged in Big Blue Nation. Kentucky basketball fans took the path of most resistance, carefully combing the countryside for speed traps, tapping the brakes in anticipation of hairpin turns, anxiously aware that any pothole could spoil perfection.
The players have followed a parallel route, but with the gas pedal pressed to the floor. Where spectators might perceive peril, the unbeaten Wildcats see thrill rides whose many twists and turns invariably end at the same predictable place.
Today's test is posed by 18th-ranked Arkansas, the first ranked opponent Kentucky has faced in two months. But if the Razorbacks pose a meaningful roadblock to UK's fretful fan base, they could probably pass for a couple of plastic cones to the players.
"I wouldn't say (it's) a big deal," freshman guard Devin Booker said Thursday afternoon. "Every game we're playing against ourselves. Arkansas, we know they're going to bring it. We've just got to go out there and be more focused and, I'd say, come out to a better start."
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After 28 straight victories – the last four by an average margin of 26.25 points – the Wildcats' collective mindset might be summed up by a shrug. The questions have grown so repetitive and the games have so often been lopsided that the biggest challenge confronting John Calipari's team could be stifling its yawns down the stretch.
More than two weeks before the NCAA Tournament bracket is unveiled, Kentucky is already an odds-on, 10-13 favorite to cut down the nets in Indianapolis according to Vegasinsider.com. And though Arkansas is unbeaten in February and swept two games against UK last season, the betting line on today's game has fluctuated between 15 and 17 points -- blowout range.
So when Booker says the Cats are playing against themselves, this is less of a boast than an admission. With five UK players widely projected as first-round draft choices in the upcoming NBA Draft – two of whom don't start – it's easy to believe the 'Cats face their toughest competition in practice. It's also easy to see how a February game against Arkansas might not create an overwhelming sense of urgency among Kentucky players who have held opponents to 34.3 percent field goal shooting – an NCAA record pace.
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"Every game we play, we're telling them that we're playing a good team," UK assistant coach Kenny Payne confessed. "When they win they say, 'I thought you said they were good.' Tomorrow will be a very, very good team coming in here, a team that's capable of beating us. We will have to play well to beat them."
Part of a coach's job is to combat cockiness, to remind players of opponents' strengths and their own weaknesses. But despite two overtime victories and a 71-69 escape at LSU, Kentucky carries itself with an air that falls somewhere on the confidence continuum between entitlement and the divine right of kings. These guys know how good they are and how many elite players they can bring to bear on their opponents. They can do this much math in their heads.
"If we're all playing well with one another," freshman forward Trey Lyles said Thursday, "there's no reason why we shouldn't be winning."
That's not arrogance, either, but accuracy. When a basketball team has won 28 in a row, and bludgeoned proud programs such as Kansas and UCLA, its players should dispense with false modesty and take aim at immortality. They have earned the right to think of Arkansas as more of a tuneup than a test.
"With so many weapons that we have we can just adjust to any type of game," Booker said. "So, I think it will be a good challenge for us because we haven't really played an up-tempo game like they play in a while."
When asked if Arkansas' high-pressure defense might disrupt Kentucky's offensive patterns and produce a more free-flowing game, Devin Booker appeared unconcerned.
"I feel like we have good enough players to play basketball," he said, smiling. "So it'll be a good time."
Tim Sullivan can be reached at (502) 582-4650, by email at tsullivan@courier-journal.com or @TimSullivan714 on Twitter.