We woke up to the NBA lockout ending. We saw a 26-year losing streak to Tennessee snap midday. We saw UK basketball take care of the business in the evening.

And at night — late night, like past midnight — college basketball’s No. 1 team, North Carolina, lost by 10 points to UNLV.

That sets UK up to be the new No. 1 team come Monday. The Cats were last No. 1 on Jan. 31, 2010.

To be honest, though, I was hoping North Carolina would survive the week undefeated (the Tar Heels also have to play No. 11 Wisconsin on Wednesday) to set up an epic showdown on Saturday. Two undefeated teams. No. 1 vs. No. 2. Winner becomes undisputed best team in the land.

Now, the game has lost some — just a tiny bit, but some — of its luster. I’m sure the CBS production team is with me. Maybe you aren’t. Maybe you love to see that top ranking by UK’s name, and that’s fine.

As for how this impact UK, well, it probably won’t affect their mentality that much. Beyond taking the traditional “take it one game at a time” approach, UK was gearing up for its next two games already. The fact that North Carolina has lost doesn’t alter that. And I don’t think North Carolina magically gains more incentive for Saturday from losing, either. They were going to be, and still will be, plenty geared up for the UK matchup.

Essentially, UK now gets a one-week trial run at proving it’s the No. 1 team. And it came at the end of quite the day.

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