CAVALIER ATTITUDE

So long as the University of Kentucky stocks its basketball team with a host of one-and-done studs, it will draw more than its share of attention and obscure others. Kentucky ranks No. 1 in the Associated Press poll, its pristine 17-0 record shining like the morning dew on bluegrass.

One step down in the poll sits Virginia. The Cavaliers are 18-0, dominating and menacing in their own way. The Cavs play suffocating defense and smother their opponents.

The second-ranked Cavaliers (they got two of 65 votes for the top ranking, with 63 going to the Wildcats), put on another of those defensive clinics on Thursday night, squeezing Georgia Tech by the score of 57-28.

Simple math here: The Cavs scored more than twice as many points as their opponent; they allowed a piddling 16 points in the first half and an even more miserly 12 in the second. The Yellow Jackets shot 24.5 percent from the field and missed all 12 of their 3-point tries. It may be possible to do worse, but how?

The Cavaliers have held three teams under 30 points and lead the nation in scoring defense (50.6 points per game).

The Atlantic Coast Conference is no Sunday stroll this season. It has four teams ranked in the top 10, five in the top 15. That’s where the fun will be for the Cavaliers. They get No. 6 Duke (16-2) at home on Jan. 31, they play at No. 15 North Carolina (15-4) on Feb. 2, and then return home for No. 10 Louisville (15-3) on Feb. 7.

Virginia will be anything but cavalier.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .