Just two games separate the 2014-2015 University of Kentucky Wildcats from immortality, and just three teams stand in the Wildcats' way from joining eight others who had a perfect season.
The last time a Division I college basketball team went undefeated was 39 years ago when the Indiana University Hoosiers finished 32-0 in the 1975-1976 season. Kentucky hopes to be the next team to do that.
In another fitting twist, the Wildcats will try to remain undefeated in the state of Indiana—the location of this year's Final Four—smack in the middle of Hoosiers' territory. But the University of Wisconsin Badgers and either the Duke University Blue Devils or Michigan State University Spartans still have plenty to say about the outcome of the tournament.
While finishing undefeated in Division I college football happens pretty frequently—in fact, 35 Division I teams have finished their seasons undefeated since 1976—ending the season perfectly seldom happens in college basketball.
Only five teams have finished the regular college basketball season undefeated before falling in conference tournaments or the NCAA Tournament. That includes the 1978-1979 Larry Bird-led Indiana State University Sycamores and the 1978-1979 Alcorn State University Braves, who weren't even invited to the NCAA Tournament.
Bird and Indiana State lost to Michigan State in the title game. Alcorn State fell to Indiana in the second round of the NIT as the Hoosiers went on to win the whole tournament.
More recently, the best chance for an undefeated team came in the 1990-1991 season in the form of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Runnin' Rebels, who made it all the way to the Final Four undefeated. The team then lost to Duke, which won its first national championship to complete the rise of the Blue Devils' program.
Last season, Wichita State University entered the tournament undefeated but lost to Kentucky in the round of 32 as the NCAA selection committee stacked the deck against the Shockers. Kentucky reached the title game, only to lose against the red-hot University of Connecticut team.
Currently, Kentucky has tied the team's all-time record for most wins in a season with 38. The Wildcats set the record when it won the national title in the 2011-2012 season, finishing with a 38-2 record.
A win in the national semifinal against Wisconsin will set a new record at 39. If the Wildcats can finish undefeated, the team will have a perfect 40-0 record.
Kentucky faces the same task as the 2007 New England Patriots, who went 16-0 in the regular season but lost in Super Bowl XLII, finishing 18-1. Like the Patriots, the Wildcats must win everything, or the season will seem like a giant disappointment.
It is all or nothing for Kentucky: immortality for the Wildcats or a footnote in history.
Follow Bryan Flynn at jfpsports.com , @jfpsports and at facebook.com/jfpsports.
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