Kentucky's big win and bad loss swings have been monumental

What do they say about pendulums? As far as they swing up in one direction, they swing in the other? I’m sure there’s a physicist out there (or someone with Google) who can articulate that better, but this Kentucky season has been one of the largest emotional pendulums in years. The oscillation between unbelievable wins and embarrassing losses has been downright monumental.

In Mark Pope’s first season, he has led Kentucky to incredible victories. Duke. Gonzaga. Tennessee. Florida. Louisville. The resume for big wins mimics the length of Kentucky fans’ wish list. The ‘Cats are 6-1 against teams who were ranked in the top 15 at the time they played them. The Wildcats’ seven Quad 1 wins this season are third-most in the country behind only Auburn and Oregon.

But the pendulum swings in the opposite direction has been equally gut-wrecking. Half of Kentucky’s six losses have been by double digits to unranked teams, including a blowout loss to Ohio State in Madison Square Garden to go along with that devastating 10-point loss to Arkansas.

It’s like Big Blue Nation is on one of those pirate ship amusement park rides at Hillbilly Days.

Why does Kentucky get so pumped up for games where experts don’t give them much of a chance and lay such clunkers when they are the favorites? If I knew the answer to that question, I’d be penning this to the coaching staff instead of musing about this perplexing dichotomy on a sports blog. Perhaps this group of transfers, mostly from much smaller schools, are more comfortable playing the role of scrappy underdog versus the prestigious favorite.

I have no idea, but whatever the reason, I fully expect BBN’s hearts to get the full pendulum experience a few more times before the season ends.

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