The Kentucky men's basketball team improved to 28-0 Wednesday night with a 74-56 win at Mississippi State in Starkville, and many consider the Wildcats a legitimate threat to finish the season a perfect 40-0.  Becoming the first Division I men's team to run the table since Indiana in 1976 will be easier said than done, however, according to Jamaal Wilkes, a basketball Hall of Famer who knows a thing or two about going undefeated — seeing how he did it twice during an 88-game winning streak that spanned the majority of the forward's career at UCLA.  After playing on the Bruins' freshman team alongside Bill Walton during the 1970-71 season, as was customary at the time, Wilkes joined the varsity squad as a sophomore in 1971 and didn't lose a game until his senior season. During that span, UCLA won 73 of its record 88 consecutive games — part of an incredible run of 107 wins in 108 games between March 1970 and January 1974 — and Wilkes says the weight of the streak grew heavier with each victory.  "When you're undefeated, No. 1, every team you play against, whether they're a highly ranked team or a lowly ranked team, they always play their 'A' game when they play you," Wilkes said in a phone interview with FOX Sports this week. "It's every game, and it builds. Every team tries really hard, they have good players, and they have career nights when they have to play you. So there's a noticeable difference in the pressure."  Fortunately, Wilkes says, having a great coach can make all the difference when it comes to adapting to that increased pressure, and Wilkes says Kentucky has that in John Calipari.  "The coach can have a lot of influence on how players react to the pressure, react to the media, react to other distractions in general — other things, the stuff that winning just seems to attract," Wilkes said. "Coach Calipari seems to have a fine handle on his group. But there is a noticeable difference as it builds and as you continue to win."  In Wilkes' case, he followed the lead of John Wooden, whom Wilkes says took the burden off of his team by helping the Bruins understand that being undefeated shouldn't weigh on their minds at all.  "Part of his whole philosophy, he never asked us to win games, he just asked us to give our best and he always encouraged us not to get too high on the roller coaster ride with the praise and excitement and not to get too low with the criticism," Wilkes said. "I think, looking back — of course, I didn't understand this at the time -- he prepared us before it ever started.  "It's hard to believe, but Coach Wooden never made a big deal out of undefeated seasons or winning streaks. Even long after he retired, he never made a big deal about it, amongst us, and I think that was part of his method of anticipating those issues."  Even so, the expectation that the UCLA dynasty would continue to thrive was always there, even before the likes of Wilkes and Walton arrived in Westwood. UCLA had also finished the season 30-0 in 1964 and 1967, and the Bruins had won six national championships in the seven years leading up to Wilkes joining the program.  "It didn't need to be said, and certainly, Coach Wooden never, ever said, 'OK, we want an undefeated season, we want to win this game or that game,' " Wilkes said. "It was more of not wanting to let Coach down but also not wanting to let the tradition down. No one talked about it, and no one needed to talk about it. No one said anything about it other than the media, but in our internal group, we just instinctively knew, and it was obvious what the expectations were and what the hopes and dreams were."  One might think that carrying those expectations would feel like something of an encumbrance, but Wilkes says that was never a major issue for him and his teammates, in part because many of the distractions that could derail a team like Kentucky today were nonexistent in the early '70s.  "Back in my day, there wasn't the Internet or social media, which makes things impossible today," Wilkes said. "Coach Wooden anticipated (the attention) and restricted media access to us, so they didn't have access to us all the time, and we could be prepared and say the right things and do the right things. But winning can become a burden because you still have fans and the expectations that the fans have and the alumni have and the local media has — if it's not handled properly, it's a huge burden."  That said, if Kentucky does escape the regular season, SEC Tournament and NCAA tournament unscathed, Wilkes doesn't expect that the Wildcats will challenge UCLA's 88-game record. That's because, in today's era of one-and-done stars, such a streak simply isn't realistic.  "Geno (Auriemma) and the Connecticut women, they broke our record, but his girls all graduate or at least stay a long time," Wilkes said. "But with the one-and-done (in the men's game), the current college culture, it would make it even more difficult than it already is.  "It's very hard to do, and I don't take it lightly at all. It's extremely difficult to maintain your focus and concentration and good habits, which we were fortunate to have Coach Wooden, who did much of that for us without us even realizing it was being done. But it would be very hard today, very unlikely and improbable that it could be duplicated given today's college culture."  “My first advice would be to play for yourselves and each other. Because this is an incredible opportunity to achieve these things, and you're not going to have a second, third, fourth, fifth chance.”  Still, Wilkes says he's eager to see Kentucky or anyone else try, and he urges teams on the brink of history to stay within themselves if they want to have a chance at going undefeated even once.  "My first advice would be to play for yourselves and each other," Wilkes said. "Because this is an incredible opportunity to achieve these things, and you're not going to have a second, third, fourth, fifth chance. So play for yourselves and each other, and each play, concentrate and play with a sense of urgency. Let the coach coach the team, don't worry about all that, and just play."  You can follow Sam Gardner on Twitter or email him at samgardnerfox@gmail.com.
Jamaal Wilkes played at UCLA in the school's glory days. The ultimate college basketball dynasty. The former Bruin star understands what comes with being undefeated as Kentucky currently is.