The Wildcats themselves might be brushing off the possibility of an unbeaten run through the regular season, but Southeastern Conference coaches are a little more willing to participate in the talk. Here’s what a few coaches from throughout the league had to say on Monday, including Andy Kennedy, whose Ole Miss Rebels will face Kentucky at Rupp Arena on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.Ole Miss head coach Andy KennedyOpening statement“Excited to get the SEC schedule under way, and we obviously do it in grand fashion in Rupp Arena tomorrow night. So I know our guys will be excited about the opportunity, playing in the most storied venue in all of college basketball, against arguably the best team in college basketball. So I know our guys will be looking forward to the opportunity.”On how intimidating UK’s defense/defensive stats are …“Well, I’m trying not to think about it. I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t bring that back up. They’re a special defensive team. I’ve certainly watched them casually when I could throughout the course of the season, and then as we gear up for them in preparation. That is what gives them an opportunity to do what I know is a topic of conversation not only in Kentucky but throughout the country: Can this team go through the regular season undefeated? It’ll be a monumental challenge, obviously, but defensively is the reason that I think it’s a valid question, simply because they don’t give you anything easy, and as a result teams have really struggled to score against them.”On how his team has transitioned from the Marshall Henderson era …“Well, certainly, we always try to adjust to the personnel at hand. We try to play to the strengths of our guys. One of the things that has been a little bit puzzling to me in the non-league, even though we have some quality wins, we’ve got some puzzling losses because we’ve been inconsistent with our guard play. With the veteran players that we have in those positions, I was expecting a little more consistency. We’re in the ultimate make-or-miss business and we just haven’t shot well in games that we haven’t played well. So we know we’re going to have to go in and make open shots tomorrow night to give ourselves any hope.”On what about UK’s offense impresses him …“Their ability to get it off the offensive glass, I think, is their best strength. If they can get a shot at the basket – I was a part of Bob Huggins’ staff at Cincinnati for four years in the early 2000s, and that was really our best offense. Our best offense was a missed shot. Don’t turn it over; just get on the glass and go get it. And that’s where they’re really, really good. If they get it on the backboard, they do a tremendous job of pursuing the ball. And as these freshmen have gotten a few more games under their belt, I think they’re becoming much more consistent with their perimeter shooting, most especially Devin Booker, who’s been in incredible rhythm, and Tyler Ulis’ ability to crack people off the bounce and create help situations, which are giving other guys angles. And they certainly don’t need help, but when you give Kentucky angles, they’re very, very difficult to stop.”On Willie Cauley-Stein …If you ask me for my vote right now, I’d vote him player of the year in the league. I think he’s been the X-factor among many X-factors for Kentucky because of his ability to be so versatile. His motor has gone to another level. He’s playing like a junior, an upperclassman (like) you would expect. He’s playing with a real sense of urgency, and I think that has been contagious on their team.”Florida head coach Billy DonovanOn whether he agrees with Kevin Stallings that UK has separated from the pack nationally …“For me it’s probably–I’m not the best guy to ask and the only thing I can do: We played Kansas so I watched the first half of the Kansas game against Kentucky and obviously in that game they were obviously incredibly dominant and played at a such a high, high level. Obviously their size at the basket I thought was really difficult for Kansas in the game. Their ability to obviously play a lot of numbers of people right now. I think clearly on paper I would agree with Kevin based on the half that I saw. I haven’t seen enough of Kentucky just because I think when you get into your season as a coach you’re watching film of yourself or your next opponent. It just so happened that Kansas was kind of a mutual opponent for the both of us. But what I watched in terms of that first half, I would sit there and say that all the film that I’ve watched this year of different teams that we’ve played against, and I think that we’ve played against some good teams. North Carolina, we played against Kansas, UConn, Georgetown, Miami. We’ve played good teams. I would say that based on teams that we’ve played and based on the teams that we’ve played and what I saw in the first half, Kentucky was definitely head and shoulders above everybody else.”Vanderbilt head coach Kevin StallingsOn the state of the SEC …“I missed a little bit of the first part of your question, I believe, but in terms of the league, I haven’t really gotten to see anyone to speak of until the last couple days in watching Auburn. Obviously, I see the scores and that sort of thing, but I think the league is deep. Kentucky has sort of separated themselves in the nonconference from the rest of the world, not only in our league, but from everybody else’s league as well. Our league is deep and I think the conference season will be an absolute grind because there are so many teams that are probably competitive and equal enough that a lot of teams can win on any given night.”On if it would benefit the SEC for Kentucky to go undefeated …“I haven’t given that much thought, but it would certainly be an exciting storyline. It hasn’t happened since 1976. It would be a very exciting storyline for all of college basketball. Again, that’s a lot easier said than done. I suppose if anybody can do it, they could. Nevertheless, I don’t know how it would be for the SEC. It would be interesting for college basketball in general. I think it would be very exciting for college basketball in general, as well.”On the exposure it would generate for the SEC each time they took the floor if it continued …“I don’t really have any way to assess that, but gyms are more electric when they walk in anyway. That part wouldn’t change. The media coverage changes when they walk in the gym already, so it wouldn’t take an undefeated season for that to be any different. It’s already like that. I don’t know that that would represent a big difference, honestly.”South Carolina head coach Frank MartinOn how big of a favorite UK is in the SEC …“All that favorite stuff, and all that Jerry (Tipton), I don’t get into all that because I’m so wrapped up in our next game. If I was coaching that team I’d be just like Cal. I would be concerned with continuing to get better and continuing to clean up whatever things he feels that team needs to get cleaned up. They have experience. They’re returning four guys. They understand. It goes back to what I was telling you before, Cal doesn’t get the credit he deserves for the job he does with freshmen every single year. Well, this year, he doesn’t just have freshmen. He has five real good freshmen, or six, seven 12 of them, I think he has like 20 scholarships, but he has a whole bunch of real good freshmen, but he’s got a group of upperclassmen who played for the national championship. They get it, they understand. They grew up last year. Cal doesn’t get the credit he deserves for the job he does. I watched them the other day. They’re magnificent. They’re defending as well as any team in the country, and as well as any team I’ve seen in a long time.”LSU head coach Johnny JonesOn whether Kentucky going for an unbeaten record is good for the league …“I think it’s great for the league. I think Cal has done a tremendous job of building his program and developing a great identity for it, and not only for Kentucky basketball but for our league as a whole. I think (for) the coaches in our league it’s not a great a storyline I would say for us because we have a different agenda at the end of the day, but I’m sure those guys’ quest for their ability to do that, especially how they’ve played early this season against some of the toughest competition in the country, the success that they’ve had, it would certainly be their goal. And when you have a team that talented, I think you certainly have to put something out there in front of them like that because they’re certainly going to have a great deal of success. But to keep them motivated and playing possibly as hard as they have to, I’m sure Cal feels as though that’s something that he has to hang out there in front of them. I think their team is great for our league. The success that they’ve had early on certainly is, but if they have a setback then that shouldn’t be a bad thing for our league as well. But it should say a lot about our league that someone had the ability to maybe give them a setback before the season’s over.”Tennessee head coach Donnie TyndallOn whether Kentucky going for an unbeaten record is good for the league …“Well I think it’s good not just for our league but for college basketball anytime you have a team that’s as talented and as well-coached as Kentucky is. And they’re No. 1 in the country, rightfully so. That’s good attention not just for Kentucky but for your league. There will be some naysayers, I’m sure, that say, ‘Well, it’s Kentucky and then the rest of the league. There’s a pretty big drop-off.’ And I think some talking points have probably been made of how our RPIs have improved. We have a bunch of our league now in the top 100, which maybe hasn’t been the case in years prior. So our entire league is getting better and better. You look across the board, teams are showing great improvement from a year ago and Kentucky’s going to be the most talked-about team in the SEC for a reason. They’re very well-coached, they’re talented, they’re the No. 1 team in America, but it’s hard to go undefeated in any league. Whether it’s the OVC, Conference USA or the SEC, it doesn’t matter. There’s good teams and if you don’t come to play there’s a chance you can be beat on any given night and they’ll have a tough challenge to go undefeated, but as good as they are I certainly think it’s possible.”Auburn head coach Bruce PearlOn whether Kentucky going for an unbeaten record is good for the league …“Oh, it’s great for the SEC. We’re all looking for those quality nonconference wins to try to separate the SEC. This year, because Kentucky has got a more veteran team, they’ve been able to do this work in the nonconference. If you look back over the last three or four years in the nonconference with one-and-dones, they’ve not been as dominant because it’s November, December and they’re just trying to figure out how to be a good team and then Cal gets them better throughout the season and you wouldn’t want to play them at the end of the year. Those teams that they lost to in November, December couldn’t beat them in February and March because that’s how much better they got. Well now they’re beating them all.’ And you look at South Carolina’s win over Iowa State and Tennessee’s win over Butler and we had a good win over Xavier and there are several teams that have been able to get some good nonconference wins that can help the league.”Mississippi State head coach Rick RayOn whether Kentucky going for an unbeaten record is good for the league …“I haven’t had a chance to see a lot because you’re so enraptured with your own team and getting ready for the next opponent. I’ve seen some games casually but just my perspective is Arkansas is a pretty good team from what I’ve seen so far and the way they’ve played and the pressure they apply. I think they’ll be a hard team to play against. I think LSU is a really, really talented ball club and I know they’ve got some good components there and they’re trying to figure out a way to play together. But I think those guys are really talented. And then I’ve seen a little bit of Ole Miss and the way they change defenses and give you problems with their zone. I know Florida is going to end up being a quality ball club. I know they’re having a struggle with injuries right now. But I think what you can see is that Kentucky is not just ahead of everybody else in the SEC, but ahead of everybody else in the country. And I think you got about three or four teams that could be vying for that second place in the SEC and I think you got a jumble of people there that could end up–somebody could end up being six; somebody could end up being 14. I think it’s that close.”