Kentucky Wildcats: Defending National Champions Are in Big Trouble

Prior to Feb. 12, the defending national champion Kentucky Wildcats weren’t exactly setting the college basketball world on fire, but were at least on course to earn a bid in the Big Dance.

Then against the Florida Gators disaster struck. Big man Nerlens Noel, who was going to be the No. 1 pick in the June NBA Draft, suffered a torn ACL and was lost for the season, ending his college career after just one season.

Now without Noel, Kentucky is in big trouble as far as making the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats are now a shell of what they were and could have been without the fab frosh.

If you don’t believe me, look at how they were manhandled at Tennessee, an average team at best, over the weekend. The 30-point loss was the worst John Calipari had suffered in his tenure at UK.

After that game, Calipari harshly criticized his players for what he perceived as a lack of drive. He backed off some of his comments the following day, but if the head coach is saying those kinds of things, it’s definitely cause for concern.

So the Wildcats head into their home game against Vanderbilt tomorrow night with a 17-8 overall record, including 8-4 in the so-so SEC.

And if Selection Sunday were held today, Kentucky would likely be on the outside looking in.

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Wildcats currently on his First 4 Out list.

This is a Kentucky team whose resume just isn’t impressive. Its best win to date is at then-No. 16 Mississippi in late January and that was with Noel. There are no other wins against nationally ranked teams.

The NCAA Tournament selection committee is fair, but when injuries happen (i.e. Purdue without Robbie Hummel in 2010 or Cincinnati without Kenyon Martin in 2000) teams’ stock falls and as a result so, too, does their seeding. In Kentucky’s case, it could mean its bubble bursts.

Making a case for the Wildcats earning an NCAA Tournament bid is tough to do.

Just look at their remaining schedule. Sure, of their six remaining regular-season games, three come against teams with losing records, but how much better is UK than say just those three sub-.500 teams? I don’t think much, if at all, without Noel.

SEC teams are looking forward to playing a less than 100 percent Kentucky. Who could blame them, too? These are the same teams that have been the Wildcats’ punching bag since Calipari arrived in Lexington.

Well, now expect the likes of Vandy, Arkansas and Georgia to try to deliver their own knockout punches to the men in blue.

In case you’re wondering, the last defending national champion not to make the following year’s Big Dance was North Carolina in 2010.

Even if Kentucky splits its next six game, I think it will have some work to do in the SEC Tournament to make sure it gets into the NCAA Tournament and I seriously doubt a Noel-less UK team can do enough to earn a bid.

Doug Griffiths is a member of the Football Writers Association of America and the US Basketball Writers Association. Doug is a columnist/writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ISLgriffiths and Facebook.