The Wildcats may be the best…but only in COLLEGE ! !

The 2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats are on an absolute tear for the ages. A team that so good, to the point where they have the power and capabilities to toy with the emotions of fellow aspiring student athletes. The current Wildcats are probably one of the best college basketball teams ever. They are so good, methodical and prolific that I am sure ESPN already has a 30 for 30 filmmaker on the team’s tail.

It is mid-February and the Cats have not lost a game this season. There have been some close calls, but the resilience of the teams intriguing chemistry has prevailed every time. Some are (fan and media) saying that this is the greatest team of all time. This should probably not be mentioned until every last game is in the book.

Can Kentucky beat an NBA team? This question has come up before, which was more popular in last November, than it is now. Some will say yes, some will say no and some will say this is stupid to even talk about; because the match-up is never going to be a reality. Kentucky`s starting five are dominating averaging 11.5 PPG to 7.9 PPG, this is great for a college team…COLLEGE! If a great college team is to match up with a pro team, they would have to start from the bottom, implementing training wheels.

Who would they match-up with at the bottom? The Philadelphia 76ers sounds like a good place to start. To write stats and analytics is dull, but for a discussion like this there is no way around it. Placed below is are up to date 14-15 stats on both the Wildcats and 76ers.

STAT                                                      TEAM                               EDGE

Games Played                                     KY-23     PHI-52                                PHI

Points per Game                                KY-74     PHI-89.9                            PHI

Rebounds Per Game                        KY-38     PHI-42                                PHI

Assist Per Game                                KY-15      PHI-20.3                            PHI

Steal Per Game                                  KY-7         PHI-9.79                           PHI

Turnovers per Game                       KY-11       PHI-17.6                            PHI

Field Goal %                                        KY-.461     PHI-.410                         KY

Free Throw %                                     KY-.700     PHI-.682                        KY

FINAL EDGE- PHI

Since this article is about dreaming these stats had to be compared in order to have supporting evidence to back up whichever premise you are clinging too.  Can Kentucky beat an NBA team or Can the 76ers actually win a game?

Clearly the above stats show the professional team has the advantage in the stat department. The 76ers are just like I said professional, even though half of the starters on the team probably would not even start for a college team. The games played by the 76ers still beat out the Wildcats in statistics with a longer stretch of games. The only reason why the Wildcats are borderline in the numbers are because it is a 23 game consolidation compared to the 52 games that the 76ers have put up. Last but not least, these stats that the 76ers hold are against 52 games of professional NBA teams. The stats that the Wildcats hold are 23 games against school kids. Not to mention there are practice limits in college that there are not in the NBA, this gives coaching and players to develop more complex schemes. Players in school devote time to other things such as academics and activities, while NBA players have time to prep, party and…well party some more.

Back in November this same question was brought up to Wildcats Head Coach John Calipari “Would Kentucky beat an NBA team?” Calipari answered with “I hear Coach Briggs got excited after the game last night. Let me be clear: If we played ANY NBA team, we would get buried. ANY.” He then took to twitter to also make it clear.

Some would say this was probably the reaction Head Coach Calipari had, when asked the infamous question.

Not to take anything away from the college athletes, and granted college level play does transition more easily than other sport. This is still not, nor ever will be, a credible topic or debate to talk about; in any sport. Somehow though the argument is brought up when absolutely dominating teams in college present a prolonged unbeaten record. So put your coffee cups down and get back to work, before all the water in the cooler in your  break room is gone.

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