For 20 minutes Saturday night in Lexington, Ky., it was riveting.
It was like old times.
The Arkansas Razorbacks and Kentucky Wildcats fought their way through six first-half lead changes at Rupp Arena, and one couldn't help but recall the days when Nolan Richardson and Rick Pitino strolled the sidelines.
The Wildcats eased to a 41-38 halftime lead, and it was doubtful anyone was changing the channel with what would surely be 20 minutes of heck in the second half.
Only there would prove to be too many Cats and not enough Hogs.
On a night when the wildly talented Malik Monk pressed too hard against his home state boys, Kentucky still had the firepower to dominate Arkansas 56-33 in the second half for an easy 97-71 victory.
It was the third time this season the Wildcats have outscored a conference opponent by more than 23 points, and they haven't opened a season like that since 1953-1954 when the Cats went undefeated but weren't eligible for postseason play.
The Wildcats appear to be a sure-thing to win another SEC title, but that's not the same as winning the national championship, although they shouldn't be counted out either.
Kentucky's two losses have been to 16-1 UCLA (which lost to 15-2 Oregon by 2) and at archrival Louisville 73-70.
This is the kind of team John Calipari loves. He's starting four freshmen, three are his leading scorers, including Monk who is the top scorer, and he has two seniors giving him big minutes off the bench.
He's already into his midseason strut; Calipari and Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson barely acknowledged each other after the game.
Kentucky looked like a Final Four team, and the Hogs looked like a March Madness team, especially in the first half when their defense was intense and they shot the ball fairly well.
But Arkansas' best shooter, Dusty Hannahs, is having to run his legs off trying to get away from the opponent's best defenders right now.
Mostly, the Wildcats seemed content to be a finesse team in the first half, not mixing it up in the paint too much.
In the second half, it was obvious Cal told his team to play tougher. To protect the ball and take smarter shots.
The Razorbacks scored nine points off turnovers in the first half; they had two in the second half to Kentucky's 10.
One indication of how much more fight the Wildcats had in the second half was fastbreak points. They had 18 in the second half, and a total of 24. The Hogs had four fastbreak points in the first half and none in the second.
Granted, the officiating seemed to favor Kentucky as the Wildcats went to the free-throw line 40 times to 21 for Arkansas. But if you had reversed those stats, the Cats still would have won.
It seemed the Hogs were most effective when Anderson was going with four guards and Moses Kingsley.
What the Razorbacks have to do now is play every half with the same intensity it did during the first half against Kentucky. Let that be the benchmark as they march toward the tournament. Make every team hate to play you. Arkansas' early aggressiveness negated some of Kentucky's great talent, and they are talented.
All four of Kentucky's freshman starters were McDonald's All-Americans. As Richardson used to say, the Hogs have players who eat at Burger King.
The better team won, but for 20 minutes Arkansas looked like an NCAA Tournament team.
Sports on 01/10/2017