On Thursday — two days after the Davis posters were passed out to everyone in Rupp Arena for free — the highest going price was $150.

Only 30,000 posters were made. UK said Tuesday they were not planning on selling them through their department.

After the game Tuesday, Davis said he liked the look of the posters.

It appears everyone else does, too.

Notable among those required improvements: negate physical play and learn to crush, not simply beat, opponents.
Check and check. It appears UK has shifted into fifth or sixth gear in the last five games. Its wins have come by 13, 24, 25, 34 and 20 points.

“I was happy with how we played,” Calipari said Saturday.

And it’s happened because every player has been doing their job in every game (see chart, left, for key improvements). That was another thing Calipari had been waiting to see. Two or three players would show up for games, but never five or six. Now, they’re concurrently clicking.

Pretty telling: when asked about Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Calipari not only complimented him but applauded Anthony Davis, then Marquis Teague, then Doron Lamb, then Darius Miller.

“You’re always just in a bind personnel-wise on the floor,” Florida head coach Billy Donovan said.

Donovan, and the rest of the SEC, are in a pick-your-poison mode, especially with every player consistently turning in good games.

Marquis Teague has made the most improvement. The point guard has cut down on his shots and started running the team. Calipari has again turned a talented freshman and made an effective floor general out of him.

“I feel like I’m the leader of the team,” Teague said. “I’m the point guard, I have the ball 85 percent of the time. I know I have to make the right decisions.”

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist continues to come up in big games. As Davis said, there’s just something about the freshman that makes him shine whenever the game means more. It goes beyond the numbers, too. His energy is infectious, and the rest of the team thrives off his presence on the floor.

“He reminds me of Derrick Rose,” Calipari said, “in that he’s tougher on himself than I am on him.”

And Doron Lamb has provided an element of outside shooting that takes UK’s offense to another level. Donovan said after Saturday’s game that teams, including his own, have to leave UK shooters open because they can’t afford to let Davis and Jones be left alone in the post.

“I’m shooting the ball very well,” Lamb said. “I’m getting a lot of open looks. Hopefully I can keep that up.”

So where does UK turn to next? Maybe a game that’s a little closer.

“What we need to do is have a team come out and go nutty on us,” Calipari said, “and have to respond to that and then hold on to win a tight game.”

“Indescribable, really,” Davis said. “I was laughing. I think ESPN was holding a camera on Marquis (Teague) and Doron (Lamb) sitting down, and Marquis was holding the poster and the camera was on it.”

The poster was modeled after a famous Michael Jordan version — “the greatest basketball player who’s ever played,” said Davis, a Chicago native — and touted the freshman as a national defensive player of the year candidate.

But Davis said he wasn’t looking as sharp as he wanted.

“They threw it on me. I was going to get a hair cut, and they said, come to the gym, you got a photo shoot,” Davis said. “I was like, ‘what?’”

Still, Davis (and pretty much every UK fan) liked the finished product. Rupp Arena workers started laying the posters on seats at 8 a.m., according to the Courier-Journal’s Kyle Tucker, and it seemed well worth it.

Even if he hadn’t gotten one for himself by the time he came out for post-game interviews after the game.

“Zero,” Davis said of how many he had scored. “But I guarantee they have some for me.”

UPDATE: I’ve received a ton of inquiries about whether they’re available for purchase. I talked to UK Athletics Tuesday afternoon, and they said they are not.

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Florida coach Billy Donovan is in a unique position to compare the trio. He’s played all three, all on the road, all losses.

He didn’t rank them in order — if I had to take a guess at reading his mind, I think he thinks UK and Syracuse are right there with each other — but he had plenty of good things to say about each.

• Ohio State, he said, doesn’t have the length of UK or Syracuse. But their “three-headed monster” of Jared Sullinger, Aaron Craft and William Buford is as good as it gets, Donovan said.
• Syracuse has “every bit as much length and more depth (than UK), so they’re an interesting team.” He also said the Orange’s trademark 2-3 zone would be a “unique” look for UK.
• As for UK, well — “in terms of star power, in terms of talent, one through six or seven, Kentucky has the most of anybody,” Donovan said, who later added that the Cats have six first-round picks.
• So Donovan likes each of the teams, and he said a matchup of any combination of the three would make for a riveting championship game. “I don’t know who exactly would be better,” Donovan said. “The tournament’s a one-shot deal. Anything can happen on one game. But clearly, if UK went all the way, it wouldn’t be surprising.”

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1. John Calipari says defense is the most crucial characteristic of championship teams. UK has it, and it was on full display against Florida, the SEC’s best offensive team. Here’s how the Gators performed compared to their season averages:

• Scored 58 points (averaged 80.1 per game).
• Shot 34.9 percent (averaged 47.2 percent).
• Made six 3-pointers (averaged a nation-leading 10.5 per game), and that was only after some makes late in the second half. The Gators started 2-for-15 from behind the arc.
• Shot 22.2 percent on 3-pointers (averaged 40.2 percent). Its previous low was 25 percent, and it had only made less than 30 percent in a game twice.

Yes, Florida missed some open looks. But UK played its customarily tremendous defense, especially in the stretch from the middle of the first half to the middle of the second half when it took an even ballgame and stretched out a 20-point lead.

2. Which team was supposed to be the one pouring in threes? All the talk leading up to the game centered on how Florida could pull off the upset under a barrage of treys, but it was the Wildcats who hit their open looks. UK shot 60 percent on 3-pointers, and Doron Lamb had his second hot-shooting game in a row, making 4 of 5.

3. This game again showed how balanced UK is. In the first half, Anthony Davis and Terrence Jones had a combined eight points and five rebounds — and UK led a top-10 Florida team by 12 at halftime. The Cats looked shaken in the opening minutes, almost as if it had forgotten what a good SEC team that had comparable skill looked like. But, quickly enough, UK showed that the upper tier of the SEC provided as much of a challenge as the bottom rung of the league has over the first 10 games.

Not much at all.

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David Schuh: UK 77, UF 68

Florida is a very good team. They have a big frontcourt, quick guards, and athleticism across the board. They shoot just over 26 three-pointers per game, and will likely increase that total tonight. However, this game is in Rupp Arena and these Cats are in dominant form. A tight game for the first 30 minutes, the UK defense will be the difference down the stretch.

Cody Porter: UK 74, UF 69

Florida is bringing something to Rupp Arena that the Cats have yet to witness in more than opposing player – talent! The verdict on how good the UK defense is will be handed down when they have to match up against the numerous skilled guards that the Gators have. Freshman guard Bradley Beal and sophomore forward Patric Young should make the biggest impact and will determine how close the game can be.

Les Johns: UK 69, UF 66

This is one of the many dangerous matchups for the Cats in the stretch run of the SEC schedule. Stopping the 3-point shot will be crucial for the Cats. If the Gators are cold from long-distance, the Cats will win by a large margin. If the Gators hit more than 10 3-pointers, the Cats will likely take their first conference loss.

“Now, you just know that they’re going to take 30,” Calipari said.

Maybe not 30. Florida averages 26 threes per game and has eclipsed 30 four times, none since Dec. 17. But they’re going to be in that range. They’ve attempted at least 21 threes in every game and made less than 25 percent of them only twice.

Let’s take a look at a play they ran against Vanderbilt, a game in which they made 11 of 24 on the way to a 73-65 win.

Florida’s Ervin Walker handles the ball on the perimeter. To begin the play, the Gators have four players outside the arc. That’s not atypical for the guard-oriented team.

Walker receives two screens on the perimeter, which makes switching through the screens difficult.

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Walker loops around his teammates, and you can already see Vanderbilt’s three defenders getting out of position. The Commodore in the middle is starting to switch all the way over on Walker, but so is the closest defender.

“Their 3-point shooting comes as a result of the things they do before that,” Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. “They get you into a scrambling rotation.”

With two Vandy defenders trailing Walker, Florida’s Erik Murphy (top left player) has popped open. He’s a 6-foot-11 forward, but he’s not afraid to step outside. He’s attempted 24 threes on the year and has made 75 percent of them.

“With Murphy now, they spread the floor out,” Calipari said. “A year ago, you could predict the 4 or 5 would be close to the rim and you could guard the post. With Murphy able to shoot the 3 that way, it makes it even harder to guard.”

This is one of those times. Walker comes to an abrupt stop, pivots and fires a pass to Murphy, who is waiting behind the arc. He’s got plenty of space.

“I don’t think you can be totally one-dimensional,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said. “But when we’re open, I want guys shooting it.”

Nobody’s afraid to shoot it on Florida’s team, which has attempted 599 threes on the year in 23 games.

aMurphy rises and buries the three, one of 11 Florida made in beating Vanderbilt.

Calipari said it’s impossible to completely stop the three — Florida will take its shots no matter what — but the key is to heavily contest 3-point attempts.

“Look, you cannot stop a team from shooting threes,” Calipari said. “They’re going to get them. You just want to make sure they’re guarded.”

UK has been able to do just that this year, holding opponents to 31.6 percent 3-point shooting. Only four teams have made more than 40 percent of their 3-pointers in a game.

Florida could do that. If it does, Calipari said, UK just has to move on to the next game.

And shore up its 3-point defense.

“”(If) we come out and we don’t do a good job of guarding the three and they beat us,” Calipari said, “we’re like, ‘OK. Well, there’s an area that we could get beat by in the tournament.’”

And then maybe it wouldn’t happen when that time came around.

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Photo by Quianna Lige | Staff

Florida guard Bradley Beal said over the weekend that he and his team wouldn’t be intimidated coming into Rupp Arena, wouldn’t be daunted by facing No. 1 UK.

“We have the swag where we’re going to compete hard and try to get the win,” Beal said, according to The Gainesville Sun. “We’re not going in there with any doubts just because they are Kentucky.”

But UK’s got swag to match.

“Confidence in your own style of play,” Terrence Jones said when defining it for a group of reporters who may or may not have actually known what the word means. “I think we have a lot of it, too.”

UK will need plenty as it embarks on the portion of the SEC schedule that actually poses a challenge.
The opening SEC slate featured nine games against seven opponents. Those teams are a combined 19-38 in conference play.

The upcoming slate features seven games against five opponents. Those teams are a combined 22-18. Take away Georgia, and that record moves to 21-11.

So yeah, it’s about to get tougher.

It’s also a chance for UK to prove its recent dominance has been more a product of its own play and not its opponents’ vast inferiority. The Cats are No. 1 for a reason, to be sure. It can solidify that thinking over this next stretch.

To do so, UK will have to find a balance in its mentality. Calipari said he would talk to his team about staying humble through its achievements.

“There’s an easy transition from a swagger to arrogance,” Calipari said, “and that’s where you get beat.”

This statement led to the questions about swag. Of all the intangibles that could be talked about with this game — leadership, heart, even Calipari’s favorite will to win — it’s a word that also doubles as a description for clothes.
I sometimes wonder what players like Jones really think as they have to stand against a wall and talk about the merits of such things.

Regardless, Calipari wants his team to have swagger, but not too much. It’s the old confident-not-cocky mantra of finding that fine line between two inexact characteristics.

To do so, UK needs to remember what got it to where it is now — a 23-1 record , a No. 1 ranking — and what started the designations as best team in the country.

Which also becomes one of the things we talk about when a team has so much going for it. After beating its last three opponents by a combined 83 points, have the Cats peaked too early? It is, after all, early February.

Calipari said he believes in the theory that a team can peak too soon.

“I’ve seen teams come out of the gate and I’m like, ‘There’s no way they can sustain this,’” Calipari said. “There’s too much road between now and the end of the season.”

UK still has plenty of road left. Seven regular-season games, then (for the situation that matters most) three SEC Tournament and six NCAA Tournament games.

But Calipari doesn’t think this team has maxed out yet. He noted defensive breakdowns against South Carolina as opportunities for improvement. And with a team full of young players, their individual talent will continue to increase over the next two months, which pushes up the ceiling for the whole team.

Another easy way to guard against UK getting complacent? That tougher upcoming schedule. The Cats can’t relax if it wants to finish out the season at optimal strength, starting with conference second-place Florida.

Note, though, that optimal strength is not defined only by wins and losses. If UK wins out and finishes the regular season on a 22-game winning streak, fine. If UK drops one or two, but keeps getting better, regains that tinge of vulnerability that drives them even further, fine.

“If they really, truly want to do something unique and special, every one of these experiences is building toward March,” Calipari said. “Everything. Our whole season is about that.”

photo via @ukcoachcalipari

UPDATE: UK is not selling these posters. They can be found on eBay, though.

Posters of Anthony Davis will be placed on every seat in Rupp Arena before Tuesday’s game against Florida, head coach John Calipari tweeted Monday.

The posters bill Davis as a “national defensive player of the year candidate” and feature the 6-10 forward with his long arms outstretched.

Personally, I think the posters look very sharp. They could also dream a bit bigger if they want, as Davis is vaulting himself into the player of the year — not just defensive — discussion.

UPDATE: As TCP’s Matt May pointed out, this poster closely resembles Michael Jordan’s “Wings” poster.

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• Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist were named to a midseason 20-player watch list for the Oscar Robertson Trophy, given to the national player of the year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. Davis is averaging 13.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. Kidd-Gilchrist is averaging 12.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.
• Davis was named SEC Player of the Week after two dominating performances against Tennessee and South Carolina. He averaged 20 points, 8 rebounds, 7.5 blocks and two assists, and made 15 of 17 shots  (88.2 percent) in the two games.
• John Calipari said Davis and Kidd-Gilchrist are “finally getting their dues.” He said that their numbers may not be as staggering as other players’ around the country because of how much UK shares the ball, but that shouldn’t impact how his players are perceived. “These kids deserve the accolades.”
• Davis is now leading the SEC in field-goal percentage, making 66.3 percent of his shots. That’s good for third in the country, and if he maintained that rate, it would break Michael Bradley’s school record of 65.7 percent, set in the 1998-99 season.
• UK remained No. 1 in the nation in both polls. The Cats received all 31 first-place votes in the coaches poll and 63 of 65 first-place votes in the AP poll.
• On the SEC teleconference, John Calipari said he would talk to his team about staying humble through their success. “There’s an easy transition from a swagger to arrogance, and that’s where you get beat,” Calipari said.

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That’s because those were the last two opponents he’s seen, which came in the span of two days over the weekend. The Gamecocks lost to Florida by eight on Thursday and lost to UK by 34 on Saturday.

So how does he see the two teams stack up?

He pointed out strengths on different sides of the ball.

“Florida is very good, extremely talented on the offensive end,” Horn said. “Very hard to guard because of their ability to pass and shoot. … Kentucky is extremely talented, dynamic on the defensive end because of their length and athleticism.”

Horn said both teams have made noticeable strides since conference play began. He pointed out Florida’s Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton as have dramatically improved their decision-making with the ball, and said UK was a much better team overall than the one it played to open the SEC slate (a 15-point UK win at home).

“Because they’re a young team, they’ll continue to get better,” Horn said.

Tuesday’s matchup will pit the top two teams in the SEC. UK is 9-0 in conference play and Florida is 7-1.

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“Do you care about that?” Calipari asked, turning to Davis.

Davis shook his head no. Calipari cut in.

“Yes he does.”

That’s probably more accurate. Davis said his dad usually kids him whenever he falls just short, as he did against South Carolina with 22 points, eight rebounds and eight blocks.

“Unfortunately I didn’t get it,” Davis said, “but there’s always another game.”

It looked, for a while, like this would be the game. Davis was on pace at halftime, with 18 points, six rebounds and five blocks.

He kept up the pace, and late in the second half, Davis was sitting two rebounds and two blocks away from achievement. He was also on the bench. Calipari and his staff went back and forth on whether Davis should go back in, be given a few minutes to see if he could get closer.

The staff ultimately won out. Davis checked back in, a move Calipari later called “unfortunate.” He didn’t get any more blocks or rebounds, but did flip over a South Carolina player going for one.

Immediately, Calipari turned around to his staff and mouthed, “that’s why we don’t do that.”

Davis may not have reached the triple-double, but the night was still full of accomplishments. He broke Shaquille O’Neal’s SEC freshman blocks record of 115, a record that took Shaq 32 games to get.

His 22-point, eight-rebound, eight-block performance led South Carolina head coach Darrin Horn to call him “arguably the best player in the nation.”

The other coach involved in that game wasn’t arguing with him.

“I would say he’s playing that way,” Calipari said.

Davis might be. He’s at the top of the player of the year ballot for ESPN’s Jason King. He was No. 3 last week in the CBS player of the week poll.

Keep turning in games like the one Saturday, and he might climb even higher.

All the way to the top, even.

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I didn’t want to write about how amazingly awesome UK was, how they’re the clear No. 1 team in America. I wanted to wait to see how UK handles its upcoming seven-game stretch that includes all the top teams in the SEC.

But after that game against South Carolina, how could I write anything different?

“Yes,” head coach John Calipari responded, point blank and without hesitation, when asked if this was UK’s best game.

It absolutely was. UK more than doubled up on South Carolina by halftime, leading 52-25. With nine minutes left in an SEC road game, UK had one starter on the floor.

The Cats finished with a 34-point win, which followed a 24-point win on the road (LSU) and a 25-point win at home (Tennessee).

“We played well at LSU, but not like this,” Calipari said. “This was the best we’ve played.”

I know, it’s not the SEC elite UK is thrashing. But it’s still the SEC, and those are rather large numbers.

And it was the rather large numbers posted by Anthony Davis (22 points on 9-for-10 shooting, eight rebounds, eight blocks) and Terrence Jones (16 points on 5-for-10 shooting, six rebounds, one block) propelled the victory.

With a frontcourt of that caliber playing at a level of that magnitude, UK takes on another dimension. South Carolina was undersized, but it was more than the stats that left an impression. It was the way the pair played, viciously attacking the basket (on offense) and opponent’s shots (on defense).

As separate entities, Davis and Jones make for one of the most imposing post combinations. One or the other will inevitably go off, and not many teams have an answer for either.

But when they play well collectively, it’s an even more dire situation for opponents. If few teams have an answer for either, almost zero teams have an answer for both.

The pair had each scored 15 or more points in the same game only twice before, against St. John’s and Arkansas-Little Rock.

Against South Carolina, they combined for 38 points, 14 rebounds and nine blocks.

When both imposed their will on this game, it gave UK a look of being close to unbeatable.

“It’s simple,” South Carolina head coach Darrin Horn said. “They looked like the No. 1 team in the country.”

And if they looked like they were the No. 1 team in the country, that means they could have beaten anyone ranked No. 2 or below. Being dominated was not exclusive to South Carolina.

“It didn’t matter who we played,” Calipari said. “Someone was getting beat by 30 today. Just because of how good we played.”

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In Colonial Life Arena, 16,527 fans attended the game, but blue outnumbered red.

It wasn’t just visually that Cats fans dominated. It was sonically, as well. The Gamecocks received more boos than cheers when they came onto their own floor for pre-game warmups.

And when South Carolina head coach Darrin Horn appeared on the video screen to remind fans what happened UK was playing at Colonial Life Arena when it was ranked No. 1, the legion of UK supporters swelled in a “Go Big Blue!” chant that nearly drowned it out.

“This today, when I walked out, I was like what in the world?” head coach John Calipari said.

Horn said after the game that the unexpected ratio didn’t have “anything to do” with the outcome of the game. He’s spent plenty of time in Kentucky, and he knows this type of stuff is what UK fans are known to do.

That’s true. UK is known to travel well. It has fans at nearly every game, even the ones where they shouldn’t be (like at Indiana earlier this year).

But against South Carolina, even Calipari noted the ratio as being “unusual.”

“Usually it’s a third of the building (in blue),” Calipari said. “Today it was half.”

The players noticed it, too.

“I’m not used to seeing that,” Terrence Jones said. “That was crazy today.”

Said Anthony Davis, “It felt like a home game, with so much blue in the crowd.”

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“I don’t think he’ll play this year, not at this late of date,” Calipari said. “There’s no reason to use up a year of eligibility for that. I’m just now seeing him on the treadmill. I think he’s a ways away.”

The decision has been largely expected ever since Hood’s injury in the summer. Heading into the year, however, Hood held out hope that he might be able to make a full recovery in time to get on the court for a substantial amount of time.

It doesn’t appear that will be the case for Hood, who will continue to help the team in practice and on the sidelines in whatever way he can.

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1. Dominance — UK has crushed its last two opponents, LSU and Tennessee, by a combined 50 points, giving rise to numerous articles about how the Cats are the clear-cut No. 1 team. I wouldn’t disagree with that — but I would say that it’s advisable to wait another three weeks. UK still hasn’t played Vanderbilt, at home or away; Florida, at home or away; or Mississippi State on the road. Its SEC schedule is about to ramp up, and we’ll get a better sense of how truly elite UK is at the end of that stretch.

For now, UK will play the next opponent given to it on the schedule, and that somebody is South Carolina. The Gamecocks are 1-6 in SEC play but seemingly on the upswing. They beat Alabama at home, lost to Ole Miss by four on the road and lost to Florida by eight on the road. Still, UK has mismatches across the board — including on the boards.

South Carolina’s leading rebounder averages 5.3 per game, a number that three Cats top. The Gamecocks are the SEC’s worst defensive rebounding team and UK is the SEC’s best offensive rebounding team. The Cats should be able to exploit their size advantage and dominate the inside.

Right now, UK is moving at the right pace.

“Probably about where they should be. I’m not going to tell you we’re behind, but I’m certainly not going to tell you we’re ahead,” coach John Calipari said in assessing how his team is progressing. “It’s February, and we’re playing like a February team.”

If UK can turn in another imposing performance on the road, they will be rolling as they head into a significant three weeks.

And look more like a March team on the way.

2. Shooting — USC allows opponents to make 44.5 percent of its field goal attempts, the worst rate in the SEC. UK makes 48.5 percent of its shots, the best rate in the SEC. The Gamecocks are especially porous when defending the 3-point line, as opponents make 39.1 percent of their shots from behind the arc. For UK’s top perimeter threats, Doron Lamb and Darius Miller, this could be a game to bounce back from a tough shooting night against Tennessee, when they combined to shoot 1-7 on threes.

3. Teague’s improvement — It doesn’t seem that long ago when nearly everyone had some degree of criticism for Marquis Teague, but Teague’s recent production has been more than solid, as shown by comparing his first eight SEC games to John Wall’s and Brandon Knight’s:

Teague: Averaging 4.13 assists and 2.38 turnovers in his first eight SEC games.

Wall: Averaging 5.88 assists and 3.88 turnovers in his first eight SEC games.

Knight: Averaging 3.5 assists and 3.25 turnovers in his first eight SEC games.

Granted, Teague doesn’t have to score nearly as often as the other two — his 8.75 points per game average in the same span pale compared to Wall’s 15 and Knight’s 16.1 — but that just allows him to focus on running an offense.

Teague will need to continue his solid play as UK makes its way into the SEC homestretch. Another good game on the road against South Carolina will be a good step.

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The annual high school all-star game will be played on April 14 in Charlotte, N.C.

Poythress and Goodwin, who are both consensus top-20 recruits, will play on the same team in the game.

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Nerlens Noel

Nerlens Noel, one of the top high school recruits in the nation and a UK target, has reclassified to the Class of 2012, according to ESPN.

That sets up a potential windfall for UK if the recruiting chips fall correctly.

UK is currently targeting Noel along with Shabazz Muhammad, who are now the two clear-cut best players in the Class of 2012.

If UK lands those two, it could form one of the best recruiting classes in history — one that could perhaps be even better than anything John Calipari has landed yet, and that’s saying a lot.

Restocking with those two, along with the other players currently in place, would help mitigate the damage from an expected mass exodus of players to the NBA after this season.

Noel, who was originally in the Class of 2012 before moving down a year after an injury, is right up there with Muhammad for the top overall prospect in the class. Muhammad had previously been considered the clear gem in the class.

“In my opinion, yes,” tweeted CBSSports.com recruiting analyst Jeff Borzello, in response to whether Noel will be the No. 1 prospect in his new class. “Best shot-blocker I’ve seen in years, offensive game is rapidly developing.”

Noel is considered by many to be one of the best shot blockers ever — even better than Anthony Davis.

“Nerlens Noel would be the most dominant shot-blocker in college right now,” CBSSports.com’s Jeff Goodman said.

Noel told ESPN that seven schools — UK, Syracuse, UConn, Providence, Florida, Georgetown and North Carolina — were possible targets, but two stand out.

“I’ve long thought Syracuse and Kentucky were in best with Noel,” Borzello tweeted. “His first visit is to Syracuse. Still think those two will battle it out.”

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No. 1 UK is clicking.

That’s a scary sentence. The Cats are the nearly unanimous top-ranked team in the nation, have beaten everybody on their schedule except one team, and stand one shot from perfection (which actually is a good thing, as the “will they go undefeated?” chatter” would be heating up right around now).

And they’re just now starting to round into dominant form.

In the past two games, UK has converged on fully realizing its vast potential. The Cats eviscerated LSU on Saturday, then went platinum against Tennessee on Tuesday, 69-44.

Would this be what head coach John Calipari envisioned a few weeks ago when he said, once everything started coming together and the Cats started resolving their few glaring weaknesses, that UK could be “scary” good?

“I would,” he said.

But it wasn’t Anthony Davis, he of the 18 points, eight rebounds and seven turnovers, that Calipari said has been the primary reason for making his team go.

It wasn’t Terrence Jones, he of the 11 points and six rebounds, whose physical play has taken UK up a notch.

It wasn’t Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, he of a quiet 16 points and eight rebounds, either.

Those three players all help immensely, sure. But they don’t get going without the player Calipari said was the crucial component to making the offense click.

It was Marquis Teague, he of nine points, four assists and two turnovers.

“The guy that has the ball, if he’s playing well, you’ve got a chance,” Calipari said. “If he’s not playing well, you have no chance.”

UK had more than a chance against Tennessee. It was the most guaranteed thing I had seen since watching 4 a.m. infomercial promises (and waiting to hear more) on Saturday night. The Cats made their first shot of the game, then another, and then nine more to start the game. They didn’t miss until 11 minutes had elapsed.

While the offense is slowly getting to the point where it can consistently manufacture points, the defense has been a constant shut-it-down entity.

UK held the Volunteers to 28.1 percent shooting, the Volunteers’ worst shooting night of the season. Other than Renaldo Woolridge’s five straight 3-pointers in the first half (he had made one of seven attempts in SEC play before this game), Tennessee was getting rebuffed from every spot on the floor. The Volunteers finished with 44 points, their lowest scoring output of the year.

But for opponents playing UK, it was another night facing the same shredding defense. UK has held three straight opponents to 50 points or less for the first time since 1950-51.

That’s a damn long time.

Between that opening stretch and the full-game defense, UK showed it’s not just the current No. 1 team in the nation. It also has, far and away, the highest ceiling. And the closer March comes, the closer UK comes to getting all the way to the top.

“Coach Cal always says he doesn’t care about winning or losing, he just wants to get better as a team,” Davis said. “If we do that, we’ll be fine.”

Right now, the Cats are doing both. And they’re doing more than jut fine.

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1. Jarnell Stokes — Tennessee’s freshman forward played his first college game against UK in their first matchup. He had nine points and four rebounds in 17 minutes (all while, according to Jimmy Dykes’ now infamous repetition, hardly knowing what the game of college basketball apparently was) against Kentucky earlier this season in his first NCAA game.

While Terrence Jones downplayed his impact on that game — “I don’t think he really made that big of a difference,” Jones said — Stokes has the abilities to prove Jones wrong this time around. He’s not overly tall, but he’s strong in the paint. He had 16 points and 12 rebounds against Connecticut three games ago.

However, UK has been able to handle physical play in recent games, a style Jones said started with the Volunteers.

“I think they were one of the first that played us that way,” Jones said. “But since then every game has been like that. We’ve adjusted to it.”

If Jones and Anthony Davis are up to the toughness challenge, the Cats should hold steady in the post and take away Tennessee’s best trait.

Photo by Scott Hannigan | Staff

2. Marquis Teague’s defense — In the first matchup, Teague held Tennessee point guard Trae Golden — who was averaging over 20 points per game for the four contests leading into UK — to two points.

At the time, Calipari called it the best defensive performance Teague had played. It might have started a slide for Golden, who’s had point totals of two (UConn) and four (at Vanderbilt) since then.

Teague will need to play tenacious defense again. Golden has the capability to jump start the Volunteers’ offense. Shut him down, the Tennessee will struggle even more to keep up on the scoreboard.

3. Who steps up? — Last game, it was Terrence Jones, who exploded for a season-high 27 points. Often, however, one man’s huge game comes at the expense of others. Against LSU, that was Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who scored one point (he still did enough to where Calipari called him the “best” player on the floor that day).

Will it be a well-rounded performance from everybody? Will one player take command? The dynamics of UK’s offense is fascinating, because it could be one just as likely as it could be the other.

Either way, points are almost guaranteed to come because of UK’s offensive versatility. We just don’t where where it will originate.

PREDICTION: In the platinum jerseys, UK takes care of business, winning 75-64. Playing at home again will be a huge help (read this piece by Tennessee beat writer Mike Strange on the challenges on winning at Rupp).

When asked about the second installment of UK-Tennessee, Calipari first pointed to the location of the game.

“I’m glad it’s at home, I can tell you,” Calipari said, before hedging his words with, “I don’t know if that will matter.”

I would bet it does.

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UK is behind Syracuse, Duke, Baylor and Michigan State.

What brought UK down? Mainly it’s the strength of schedule, which accounts for 50 percent of the RPI rating.

It’s overall strength of schedule is 84th, and it’s non-conference strength of schedule is 118th.

Sure, UK played four marquee games — Kansas, North Carolina, Indiana, Louisville — but its other opponents were (extreme) cupcakes. It also hasn’t benefited much from SEC play — so far, its opponents have skewed toward the bottom half of the league. Four of the seven SEC teams rank between 100 and 200 in the RPI, and only Alabama ranks inside the top 50.

Why does RPI matter? It’s a factor — not the entire process, but a factor — in determining NCAA Tournament seeding. (There’s many arguments that it’s a flawed statistic, but the reality is that it’s used.)

There’s nothing to be concerned about by UK being No. 5, really. If the Cats keep winning, everything will take care of itself. And its strength of schedule opportunities will go up drastically as it gets into the Vandy-Mississippi State-Florida portion.

A full look at the stats, as released by the NCAA:

Here’s how UK compares to the rest of the top 10. A key component is strength of schedule; Syracuse has the No. 5 hardest schedule, Duke has the No. 2 schedule and Michigan State has the toughest of anyone.

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But the players brought them out for Monday’s practice. Here’s Eloy Vargas modeling the front and Ryan Harrow modeling the back (click for full size):

I had been wondering how the jerseys would look on real people and under real lighting, as opposed to the presentation pictures of the jerseys.

Harrow wanted to model UK’s new uniforms a day before they debuted, because he won’t get that chance in a game.

“I feel like I got a little bit of muscle in these,” he said,” glancing down at the new look.

The platinum jerseys are more like grey, with a sharp blue checkerboard pattern running down both sides. The front looks normal. The back looks like it’s imported from Europe, with the player’s name positioned below the number.

Eight other schools will be wearing the new look at some point this season.

“I think we’re all excited to get something special like this,” Darius Miller said.

Like it? A total matter of individual taste. I think they’re different enough to be cool for one game. A lot of other people who saw the jerseys at Monday’s practice disagreed.

Besides, they’re just aesthetics, a peripheral component of basketball. Sure, they’re not (really) school colors, and the back of that jersey might end up being a severe annoyance to my visual senses.

Regardless, the players seemed to like the new look. And it’s the players who are wearing them.

“I just saw them in the locker room,” Terrence Jones said. “Hopefully it brings us good luck.”

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The Cats were a unanimous No. 1 in the coaches poll for the second straight week, receiving all 31 first-place votes.

In the Associated Press poll, the Cats received 63 of 65 first-place votes, two more than the previous week.

And a couple notes from the SEC teleconference:

• Terrence Jones exploded for a season-high 27 points and nine rebounds in Saturday’s win against LSU, and the Tigers’ coach was impressed. “If Terrence is going to show up and play like that,” LSU coach Trent Johnson said, “you can crown them right now.” Jones is averaging 12.4 ppg and 6.5 rpg.
• Tennessee’s head coach, Cuonzo Martin, was also impressed — but he sees this team as much more than just Jones. He said Kentucky is “tough to beat” with Jones playing like he did Saturday, “but it’s hard to identify just one guy,” Martin said. “They have so many weapons, if you slow one down, somebody else steps up.”
• Johnson loved the play of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, as well, despite the forward scoring just one point. “Guys like him don’t get enough credit, because they impact the game without scoring,” Johnson said. “You ask any coach in the country. All of them would die to have one or two (players) like that.”
• Johnson said the flagrant-2 foul on Anthony Davis, committed by Malcolm White on Saturday, “was very disturbing. It’s one thing to be physical, but it’s another thing to be stupid. That was stupid.” Johnson said potential further punishment would be kept in-house, and he said he apologized for the play to John Calipari after the game.

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Really good.

So good that the national media is writing that UK has separated itself from the rest of the college basketball pack.

CBS, ESPN and SI.com all lauded UK’s play so far, play that has UK sitting at No. 1 in the polls and 21-1 overall — and it still has room to grow.

This storyline was a common one before the season. Most media said UK had the most talent. It just had to grow into that potential.

Based of what they’re writing, the national media seems to think that moment has come.

CBS’ Gary Parrish:

And it’s starting to look like the Wildcats are the lone trustworthy thing in the sport.

Sure, John Calipari will continue to question his team and build others up because that’s what he does. But there’s no denying that the third-year Kentucky coach doesn’t just have the nation’s most talented roster. He’s also got the country’s top team. And the Wildcats are playing like it. And they’re just a wild 3-pointer away from sitting here in late January with a 22-0 record.

Think about that.

If Christian Watford’s buzzer-beater doesn’t swish, Kentucky is undefeated.

Nobody else is literally one shot away from perfection.

ESPN’s Andy Katz:

The Wildcats are in Beast Mode right now. They’re just crushing teams. LSU entered this game following a tight road loss at Mississippi State. But the Wildcats are just a different animal. … How do you defend a team with that number of studs? The Wildcats have so many weapons. Syracuse is deep. Ohio State has balance. But no team in America looks as potent as Kentucky right now.

SI.com’s Rob Dauster:

And if (Terrence Jones) does start doing that on a nightly basis, the Wildcats have the potential to be scary good. Think about it like this. UK is just starting to hit their stride, but right now they are the No. 1 team in the country and currently sitting one Christian Watford three-pointer away from being undefeated.

Photo by Mike Weaver | Staff

UK might have had its “coming of age” game in Louisiana with a 74-50 win over LSU.

A game that made it look like UK might be on its way to five more games in the state — three in the SEC Tournament and two in the Final Four.

“That’s probably the best we’ve played all year,” head coach John Calipari said.

And if Terrence Jones plays like he did Saturday, those goals become that much more attainable.

Jones scored a season-high 27 points, grabbed nine rebounds and played the way a Terrence Jones running on full throttle can play.

In one stretch that spanned the late first half and early second half, Jones went on a personal 13-0 run. Jones scored on a dunk or layup four straight times, including a three-point play to finish his spree.

Calipari said this type of game from the sophomore was “what we’ve been waiting on.” It finally came.

But it has to continue.

“If this is who you are, then this is who you should be every game,” Calipari said.

UK is starting to separate itself from the rest of the college basketball pack. It’s the near-unanimous No. 1 team. It’s undefeated in conference play and a point away from being undefeated, period.

The main thing Calipari has said must happen for UK to totally split away from the pack, to assert itself as the unquestioned dominant team in basketball, is to negate physical play.

UK did that against LSU. Who did it start with? Terrence Jones.

“Now you’ve got a 250-pound guy who’s not backing away,” Calipari said.

If Jones isn’t backing away, he’s closer to being what Calipari called him back in October —  one of the top three players in the nation. He hasn’t expressed the same sentiment since.

He wishes he had. As Calipari said, if he knew the secret to getting Jones playing like he did against LSU every game, he would have resolved it “a month ago.” Instead, a 27-point game serves as a reminder of what could be, what should be. The talented sophomore taking the reigns of a talented, young team.

“That’s the guy,” Calipari said, “that people want to play with and coach.”

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Key player

Terrence Jones, who had a breakout game with a season-high 27 points and nine rebounds. At one point, he went on a personal 13-0 run that spanned the late first half and early second half. Jones played the type of game UK has been waiting for him to play — since his December finger injury, he had scored more than 15 points only once — and when he’s on another level, so is UK.

“He stepped it up,” head coach John Calipari said in a postgame TV interview, “which is why we were good today.”

Turning point/key stretch

Two stick out. The first was in the first half, when LSU briefly made a 14-3 run in the first half that cut UK’s lead to one, but the Cats answered with a 10-2 run that gave them a good cushion by halftime.

The second was coming out of the locker room, when UK put the game away in the opening minutes of the second half with a 9-0 run (all scored by Jones) that doubled UK’s lead to 18 points. After that, LSU couldn’t make any sort of serious dent in UK’s lead.

The good

Calipari has said UK has to do one thing to take its game to another level: negate physical play. The Cats, especially Anthony Davis, did exactly that against a rugged, defensive-minded LSU team.

In the first half, Davis was removed from the game after suffering a right shoulder contusion when he fell into an LSU player’s leg. In the second half, LSU’s Malcolm White committed a flagrant foul when he pulled Davis down from behind as Davis was on a breakaway dunk. At least two other times Davis took a hand to the face.

Despite the battering, Davis finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds playing against one of the biggest post presences in the SEC in LSU’s 7-foot center, Justin Hamilton, who was averaging more than 17 points per game in SEC play. For Davis, a wiry player who looks like he might get injured every time he hits the floor, to fight through being battered so effectively is a great sign for UK.

The bad

There wasn’t much going LSU’s way, but when forced to choose, UK’s free-throw shooting was lackluster. The Cats made 15 of 26 (57.7 percent), but it shouldn’t be too much concern because UK is shooting more than 70 percent on the year.

Stat of the game

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had one point. He was tied for second on the team in scoring entering the game. And UK still won, handily. Stats like this reinforce just how loaded UK is.

What’s next

The main part of this game to focus on going forward was Jones. How much of this performance was the real him? How often can he replicate it? If Jones plays like this consistently, UK is a completely different team — and one that could revisit the state of Louisiana for five more wins. Three in the SEC Tournament. Two in the Final Four.

UK returns home to play Tennessee on Jan. 31 in its platinum-jersey game.

• John Calipari barked like a dog. This is a true story.
• The most interesting subplot to this game is LSU guard Anthony Hickey, who was last year’s Kentucky Mr. Basketball but wasn’t recruited by UK. Marquis Teague expects him to come out and play with a “chip on his shoulder,” because “who wouldn’t want to go play against the team that didn’t recruit him and play well?” Calipari agreed that Hickey might come out with a little motivation. “And he should be. He’s going to go out and prove himself.” However, Hickey brushed off the snub and said he won’t be playing with any extra intensity.
• Calipari said Hickey — who’s averaging 10 points per game with a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio — was good enough to play at UK. It’s just that he went with Marquis Teague, instead. Calipari said it wouldn’t have been fair to bring both to UK.
• Hickey and Teague have played each other in the Kentucky-Indiana high school all-star games. In two matchups, Teague had 30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Hickey had 25 points, 14 assists and eight steals.
• Teague discussed in detail the improvements he’s made throughout the season. He said early in the year, he was “over thinking” things on the court. “I’ve always been a natural player, going off reactions and natural ability,” Teague said. “I was worrying about things I shouldn’t have been.”
• His early struggles with turnovers created some doubts as he wondered if he would ever truly grasp how to play the point guard position the way Calipari wanted him to. “It plays with your head a lot more than people think it would,” Teague said. “You have to be tough-minded and keep working to get yourself out of it.”
• Now, Teague said he’s back to playing instinctively. He’s had three or fewer turnovers in six of the past seven games, and Calipari’s prodding to get better — which used to be after every game — has decreased. “I’m a lot more comfortable,” Teague said. “I’m not always looking over my shoulder.”
• He is looking around him on the floor, however, and Teague’s directing the offense has helped six players average 10 or more points per game. It’s incredible balance that I touched on in my column last night, and Teague is a central part of it. “On a team like this, you don’t have to score as many points. I’ve just tried to get everyone else involved, create and control the tempo.”
• However, that balance makes it harder to make the extra pass, Calipari said. When you’re getting 8-12 shots per game, it’s harder to pass up shots because they are relatively scarce.
• Darius Miller said his 19-point game against Georgia wasn’t necessarily a turn-the-corner moment. “That’s just one game,” Miller said. “We feel we have a lot of weapons, so it could be somebody else’s game tomorrow. I’m just trying to get better, personally, every game.”
• Because LSU plays a similar style to Georgia, UK didn’t have to prepare as much as normal. “The good news for preparation is they play a lot like Georgia,” Calipari said. “A lot of the stuff when we go over it, we will have seen it. That’s why yesterday I didn’t use any time in our practice (for walkthroughs).”
• Calipari said he added some new wrinkles to UK’s offensive sets to “spice things up” for the players. “It kind of got them off-kilter,” Calipari said. “It made them think. You get used to coming into this practice and just going through the (motions). Now all of a sudden, what? Something new? I got to what?’”

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LSU coach Trent Johnson had this to say when assessing Saturday’s opponent: “I don’t know if it’s Kentucky or the Miami Heat we have to play.”

According to the schedule, it’s Kentucky, although Johnson’s remark pretty much sums up how opponents view UK. They have a talent, athleticism and size advantage over everyone else.

If UK can continue its gradual improvement and improve to 5-0 on the road, UK will retain its No. 1 ranking. And no pre-game chalk toss needed.

2. Offensive output

Two of UK’s five least efficient games came on the road in the SEC, against Auburn and Georgia (the others: Louisville, Kansas, Old Dominion). And LSU won’t be much easier than the other SEC opponents. The Tigers rank third in the SEC in scoring defense (61.5 points per game) and fourth in field goal percentage defense (40 percent).

UK stalled against Georgia in the second half, scoring 19 points. It doesn’t want that happen again — although even if it does, UK might be fine anyway. LSU is another good-defense, bad-offense team, the type that UK has seemingly encountered in every conference game to this point.

The Tigers shoot just 40.6 percent on offense and don’t get to the free throw line often. They take care of the basketball, ranking second in the SEC in turnover margin (plus-2.95), so it won’t be easy for UK to push the pace off turnovers.

Given UK’s high-quality defense, this could be another relatively low-scoring game.

3. Post play

If there’s one player who could give UK trouble, it will be Justin Hamilton. The 6-foot-11 center leads the team in scoring (13.9 points per game) and rebounds (7.4 per game).

UK just came off beating Georgia, a severely undersized team with no true interior presence. LSU has one, and the onus will fall on Anthony Davis to match his physicality. It’s another good test for Davis as he continues to improve his play in the paint.