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Kentucky Basketball On Its Way To Making History After Defeating Louisville

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Aaron Harrison Kentucky Wildcats

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If you haven’t been watching the 2014 Kentucky Wildcats dominate their opponents on the court this year, then you are missing history in the making. I’m not sure if we will ever see this collection of talent on a single team again. Sure, the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers team that went undefeated was talented, but they didn’t have the athletes this Wildcat team has.

The last time college basketball had a team this good was back when Jerry Tarkanian had an NBA All-Star team at UNLV, but even that team lost the championship game to the Duke Blue Devils that year; I don’t see that happening to Kentucky.

They got their toughest test this year in the Louisville Cardinals, as they play tough as nails defense, but it was the defense of the Wildcats that was the difference in this game. Absolutely every shot Montrezl Harrell or Terry Rozier took had at least one or two sets of hands in their face. Even when they were on a fast break, they couldn’t convert because Kentucky would always hustle back and contest every pass or shot that was put up.

Louisville shot less than 30 percent from the field for the game, but they should be thankful for the fact that they even came close to that number because they were outmatched going up against the defense of Kentucky. Any time you can throw a frontline that has a 7-foot Willie Cauley-Stein, a 6-foot-11 Karl-Anthony Towns and a 6-foot-10 Trey Lyles on the court and ask a collegiate team to try and score against them, you may as well ask that same team to try and explain the theory of relativity while they’re at it, because both are nearly impossible tasks.

Kentucky may not be the best shooting team from the perimeter, but the fact that they can get so many easy shots off of turnovers will carry them through some of those rough shooting nights. And the fact that the Cardinals were so physical with them this game will prepare them for what they will face in conference play and the tourney.

A slew of teams will try and get in their heads by making life as tough as possible for them on the offensive end, but now the Wildcats know what to expect and know that they can still simply rely on their athleticism to carry them through.

They survived what will be their toughest challenge until they reach the Final Four in Indianapolis, but based upon what happened today in Louisville, they should be able to breeze their way through it as well and finish the season as the NCAA’s first undefeated team since the Hoosiers.

Kelly Anderson is a blogger for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @bgipp01 or add him to your network on Google.

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