The Pursuit of Perfection

The Quest For Forty

           

Sports are about winning. It’s about titles. It’s about how having more W’s than L’s. In the case of the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers led by Bob Knight, they had 32 W’s and 0 L’s. There have been numerous teams since then that have tried for the perfect season but along the way ran into that oh-so-sudden speed bump and they were perfect no more. What does it mean to go undefeated in college basketball? Is it all that impressive with how many talented players a team like Kentucky can get? Whether Kentucky’s players stay longer than a year or not, reaching the goal of a National Championship is one thing, to not lose a game along the way is even more of an accomplishment.

We’ve seen perfect seasons in college football, Florida State accomplished that just two seasons ago. We’ve seen a near perfect season in the NFL as well; the 2007 New England Patriots were at a mark of 18-0 heading into Super Bowl 42 against the New York Giants before falling 17-14 and having their perfect season ruined. Had the Patriots finished with an unblemished record, they might have been considered one of the greatest teams in sports history.

If you think about what it means to go undefeated in sports, or win a certain amount of games in a row, it’s a task that doesn’t come easily. There have been teams that have had some pretty incredible streaks in recent years:

• ·      Miami Heat- 27 games (2013)
• ·      Florida State Football- 29 games (2012-2014)
• ·      Oakland Athletics- 20 games (2002)
• ·      New England Patriots 18 games (2007)

It’s been 39 years since a men’s college basketball team has gone undefeated and this years Kentucky Wildcats have a chance to do so heading into the SEC Tournament then the NCAA Tournament where they’ll be the presumed number one overall seed baring a setback. This year’s Kentucky team doesn’t have the big names that some of the previous national champions had but they have something none of those teams had, two separate starting rotations. It’s the “platoon system”, as John Calipari likes to call it, nine players who play 10 minutes or more, eight of who average 5 points or more. Those numbers aren’t staggering and the system Calipari runs might not be the best one out there, but for 31 games so far this season, it’s workout pretty well.

Finishing the season at a mark of 40-0 is something that isn’t talked about much because teams will often lose early in the season and the talk ends, but not this year. It’s something that, if it should happen, should be looked at as once of the greatest accomplishments in recent sports memory.

I had the discussion with someone recently on how this team should be perceived. Kentucky is one of those college basketball teams, much like Duke, that people typically dislike, and with that comes the aspect of people wanting to see you fail. With Kentucky having the season they’re having it’s easy for people to watch one of their games and say, “boy I hope they lose tonight”, but what’s the reason? Is it just because it’s Kentucky? Is it the way Calipari runs the program, using it as a launching pad for players to go to the NBA? Whatever the reason is, this is a team that we shouldn’t want to see lose. We should all be cheering for this team to go 40-0 because the magnitude of that record is truly beyond anything we’ve seen. It means greatness and today, that’s what we want.