Kentucky Ready to Start Run For Another National Title
The Kentucky Wildcats were named the AP Preseason No. 1 team in early November and have showed why when they routed Pikeville 116-68 in their first preseason game.
The Wildcats turned around and did the same in their preseason finale on Sunday night against Georgetown College, a perennial powerhouse in the NAIA.
Chris Briggs the Georgetown coach called the Kentucky team unreal. That was not surprising after Kentucky defeated Georgetown 121-52.
Briggs said he told his players after the game that Kentucky could have defeated some NBA playoff teams on Sunday.
Briggs added that he knew Kentucky was great entering the game, but watching them play gave him the feeling the Wildcats could go undefeated this season.
For the game, Kentucky shot 64% from the field and recorded 32 assists on 46 baskets made. Of course, Briggs knows that injuries can happen and players can have off nights, but for him if they play their season like they did on Sunday, Kentucky could be a playoff team in the NBA.
For Kentucky head coach John Calipari, this is season is not unlike the past few. His team joined just UCLA, UNLV and North Carolina as the only basketball programs to be given the preseason No. 1 tag in back to back seasons. The team this year has so much talent that any of the top 12 players could start and would start at other schools.
Calipari will start the season using a platoon format with his top 10 players.
Calipari likes to keep things in perspective and was quick to jump on Twitter and play down the comments made by Briggs.
He tweeted that the season would be a process with bumps along the way, but hopefully the team would be at its potential when March Madness arrived.
The talk from Briggs brings back memories of Dave Bike the Sacred Heart head coach following his team’s game against UConn the eventual national champions early in the season in 2003.
He lauded the Huskies with Ben Gordon and Emeka Okafor who both were taken in the top three picks of the NBA Draft in 2004.
Pike said that prior to that game he thought UConn had a shot to win the national title and his thoughts were the same following the game.
Briggs’ prediction from Sunday is much bolder, but it sounded serious.
This is coming from a coach whose team was the winner of the NAIA National Title in 2013. Briggs added that his team played zone, attempted man-to-man and even trapped on the post and nothing worked.
An opponent concluded Briggs, will have to have similar NBA-quality talent and catch the Wildcats on an off night, to defeat them this season.
Kentucky and the rest of college basketball start their regular season this week with March Madness, the Final Four and a national title all on the minds of players and coaches.
