State-Journal.com - Is there anyone better than the Cats?

Arkansas’ Courtney Fortson tries to grab the ball in front of Kentucky’s DeMarcus Cousins during the second half Saturday’s game in Lexington. UK crushed Arkansas 101-70.(AP Photo/Ed Reinke)

LEXINGTON – UK coach John Calipari simply confirmed what we all saw Saturday afternoon after his unbeaten Kentucky Wildcats smashed the Arkansas Razorbacks, 101-70, at Rupp Arena in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.

“If we played anyone in the country today, they were going to get smashed,” Calipari said after his team improved to 19-0 and prepared to ascend to No. 1 when the polls come out over the next 24 hours.

“I’m not trying to be arrogant, I’m just being real,” Calpari added. “That’s what I saw. I asked the players afterward: ‘Are we this good? If we’re this good, this is going to be fun, boys.’”

“This was probably the best game we’ve played all season,” added UK guard John Wall. “Arkansas is a great team, but they got our best tonight. We were clicking on offense and defense.”

It was arguably the best a Kentucky team has looked since, oh, maybe 1996.

There was simply nothing not to love if you’re a Kentucky fan.

The Wildcats jumped on top 10-0, extended it to 57-27 at halftime, then scored the first 14 points of the second half. Kentucky led 80-34 with 14 minutes left in the game.

And this is not a bad Arkansas team. The Razorbacks are far from great, despite what Wall said, but they aren’t Hartford. They aren’t Drexel. They’re a lot better than that, despite a record of 8-11 overall and 1-3 in the Southeastern Conference.

“Arkansas is a good team...they just ran into a buzz saw today,” Calipari said.

UK graduate and Arkansas coach John Pelphrey did not dispute Calipari’s assessment.

“Kentucky has had a phenomenal year so far, and that continued today,” Pelphrey said. “They have speed, athleticism, youth and experience. They have a very high talent level, and today they obviously played well in a lot of areas. Their defense and shot blocking allowed them to get out on the break and make some fantastic plays. They also knocked down some perimeter shots.

“It’s their size and speed that separates them,” Pelphrey added. “They have quality on the front court and depth that makes them very unique on the college level. They are really good and really well coached.

“They have a chance to be the best team in college basketball this year.”

Possible stumblng blocks

I still believe Kentucky will have an off night somewhere along the way in this regular season and lose a game. Feb. 16 at Mississippi State, Feb. 20 at Vanderbilt, Feb. 27 at Tennessee or March 3 at Georgia are the most likely stumbling blocks.

But the exciting thing about Saturday’s win over Arkansas is the belief that if the Wildcats can simply re-create this kind of play for 40 minutes at tournament time, they will win the national title. This game leads me to believe that if any other team plays its absolute best, whether it be Kansas, Texas, Villanova ... you name it ... they will not beat Kentucky if the Cats play like this.

Any uncertainty revolves around UK’s inexperience. We still don’t know how the younger Wildcats will respond to the sudden death aspect of the NCAA Tournament. The encouraging thing, however, is that so far when Kentucky is challenged – or “engaged,” as the coach of one UK opponent said earlier this season – the Wildcats appear to be at their best.

Miller plays his best game as a Wildcat

Four Wildcats scored in double figures Saturday, led by (can you believe it?) sophomore swingman Darius Miller with 18 points. Miller was 7-for-9 from the field, including 4-for-6 from 3-point range.

Miller also had five rebounds, four assists and two steals in 26 minutes. It was his best game as a Wildcat. And proved to me what I claimed two weeks ago, that if Miller knocks down shots, Kentucky is unstoppable because it opens up the middle for DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson and Daniel Orton, to name a few.

“He played good,” Calipari said of Miller. “He made shots, he defended better and he rebounded. He was terrific.”

“I think it makes it easier on John (Wall) and Eric (Bledsoe) and the rest of the team,” Miller said of his shooting prowess Saturday. “It takes a lot of pressure off of them because they are getting double teamed.

“I was just being aggressive from the start today.”

Cousins was again a monster for the Wildcats, tallying 16 points and 14 rebounds in 17 minutes. Wall had 16 points, seven assists, three steals, two blocked shots, three rebounds and two turnovers in 26 minutes. Bledsoe had 10 points and seven rebounds. Orton had just six points in 13 minutes, but added five rebounds and four blocked shots.

The Wildcats also played great defensively, holding Arkansas to 30.6 percent shooting from the field at 22-for-72. Kentucky largely shut down Hogs sharpshooter Rotnei Clarke, holding him to 13 points on 5-for-15 from the field. Clarke came into the game billed as the best perimeter shooter in the SEC, if not the country.

“We played good, healthy defense today,” Orton said. “We all played well together.”

Ready to be No. 1

The Wildcats came into play knowing they’d go to No. 1 in the national rankings with a win, given that the Texas Longhorns lost earlier in the week at Kansas State (and again Saturday at Connecticut), and Calipari and the players made no bones about it – they want to be top dog.

“They wanted to be No. 1 bad,” Calipari said of his players. “That’s why they played this way. I think it’s a pride thing.”

Calipari says the ranking should not be a burden, any more than Kentucky’s seven national titles.

“Those seven national titles are not a burden, they’re a badge of honor,” he said. “No. 1 in the country is not a burden, it’s a badge of honor. And so, for us, we’ll see how we respond now.

“The issue I’ve had in the past where my teams have started off on win streaks like this and become No. 1 in the country is they were all veteran teams. They had been there. They had been to Elite Eights the year before. This team was an NIT team. I’m playing with a bunch of children, but they’re very good children. They’re young, and all of this is new.”

The next step for Calipari’s Cats is Tuesday night at South Carolina (9 p.m. on ESPN). The Wildcats return home to face Vanderbilt Saturday (4 p.m. on ESPN).