Kentucky opened its 2014-15 season against Grand Canyon on Nov. 14. At that point, every team’s record was 0-0. More than four months later, the same is true again for Kentucky and 67 other teams.The freshly crowned Southeastern Conference Tournament champion Kentucky Wildcats were named the No. 1 overall seed of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday evening. Kentucky earned that seed by going undefeated throughout the regular season, taking every team’s best shot while also performing under the brightest media spotlight any college basketball team ever has.Now everybody else gets to play with that pressure of avoiding a single loss.”I’ve said it, now everybody has the same issues,” UK head coach John Calipari said. “You lose, you go home. See, to play us before you live for another day. No. Now you’re strapped up to the chair. OK, you lose this you’re done. It’s like, OK, we’re all in the same boat, now how do you play? We have been in these dogfights, but it doesn’t matter. All that aside, one game, one day, you gotta play.”Kentucky begins the postseason in the same position it began and ended the regular season: No. 1. That top-dog target UK has carried all year is still there, but the big difference is that the weighted jacket of being undefeated is now worn by all of UK’s opponents. Everybody is back at square one.”Everybody is 0-0, including us, which is nice,” Coach Cal said. “We don’t have to worry about it now. We’re all the same.”If dealing with pressure, scrutiny, skepticism and questions was a class, each Wildcat passed with flying colors. From the day Coach Cal dropped the mic at Big Blue Madness with hip-hop superstar Drake by his side and said “Let’s ball,” the Cats have balled harder than anybody else.They’ve defeated top-10 teams on the road and in neutral-site venues, cruised through much of the SEC season without too much drama, and won every game in the SEC Tournament by at least 15 points.”We did a lot of good things as a team,” junior forward Willie Cauley-Stein said about the Cats’ play in the SEC Tournament. “We’re going to have a good week of practice and go into our game with a clear mind and ready to hoop.”First up for the Cats is a matchup against either Hampton or Manhattan, which will face off Tuesday in the first round of the tournament.Hampton, though 16-17, earned an automatic bid into the tournament after winning the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference title. Meanwhile, Manhattan, coached by former Kentucky guard Steve Masiello, went 19-13 and won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.”You have teams that are 20-10 that could win the whole thing, 22-10 and they finish 28-10, win the national title,” Coach Cal said. “What was Connecticut’s record last year? I think it was 28-10.”Coach Cal’s point is, your record going into the tournament has no bearing on your chances of winning it. The Cats’ 34-0 record looks nice, but gives them no advantages when the ball is thrown up. For now, every team is 0-0.And while the Cats have denied talks all year of trying to go undefeated, they can embrace the talk now. Coach Cal’s goal has been to have eight or nine players drafted this June. The Cats’ goal has been to win a national championship, and if they are to do that they will have to go 40-0.”Now we have to go 40-0 and I want to go 40-0 and make history,” Aaron Harrison said.

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