Kentucky unanimous pick for No. 1

As illogical as it sounds, Kentucky big man DeMarcus Cousins had an us-against-the-world reaction to being voted No. 1 in The Associated Press media poll this week. The Cats became the first unanimous choice for No. 1 this season. North Carolina received every first-place vote last season in the pre-season poll and the first seven of the regular season.
“It shows the world we really are No. 1,” Cousins said last week when it became obvious Kentucky would be No. 1. “I mean, people already are saying we don’t deserve it. . . . Some people saying we’re the third-best team.”
Citing “just stuff I heard,” Cousins suggested that many detractors pick at Kentucky.
“They hate us,” he said. “They hate the fact we’re doing big things. Everybody’s saying we’re good, but we’re not able to do anything because we’re so young. We’re the last undefeated team, but we’re so young.
“So much of it is back-firing in their faces, and they don’t know how to handle it.”
Kentucky achieved its first No. 1 ranking since the final wire service poll of the 2002-03 season.
After Kentucky solidified its hold on No. 1 by beating Arkansas 101-70 last weekend, Coach John Calipari said the top ranking was an honor and not a burden.
“We’ll see how we’ll react,” he said. This week’s schedule has Kentucky playing at South Carolina on Tuesday and then returning home to play Vanderbilt on Saturday.
Calipari is no stranger to a high ranking. Several of his Memphis teams reached the rarefied air of The AP poll.
But this time is different.
“They were all veteran teams,” he said of his past experience with highly-ranked teams. “(Memphis) had been to the Elite 8 the year before.
“This was a NIT team and a bunch of children. But they’re very good children.”