'CATS CONTINUE WILD SEC RUN.

Byline: BRIAN DOHN

Kentucky fell short of a national championship a year ago when it lost to Marquette in the Elite Eight, and because national championships are how the Wildcats are measured, yet another impressive season was overlooked.

So as Kentucky embarks on the Southeastern Conference regular season, opponents are gearing up to become the first league school to knock off the Wildcats in nearly two years.

Kentucky received a fortuitous bounce on an inbounds play and scored at the buzzer to beat Mississippi State 67-66 Tuesday, a victory that extended the Wildcats' regular-season conference winning streak to 19 games.

No. 20 might come Saturday against Georgia, and ``I would think it would be (motivation) to break our streak, but I would hope they would be focused on their streak,'' Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said. ``If you need that type of motivation, it's something you can utilize.''

Kentucky last lost a regular-season conference game Feb. 27, 2002, a seven-point defeat at Vanderbilt. But Smith is adamant about not looking at the streak.

``If you start thinking about the past and future, you forget about the present,'' Smith said. ``We want them focusing on the here and now.''

Smith is focused upon Kentucky's turnovers, which have been a problem. The Wildcats turned the ball over 23 times in beating Vanderbilt last week, and they are averaging more than 16 a game.

``It can be a big problem later in the season, so we just have to take care of the ball better,'' Kentucky forward Erik Daniels said. ``Other teams are getting a lot of easy baskets off turnovers.''

In starting the season 11-1 and 2-0 in the SEC, the Wildcats also have found someone to shoulder the late-game pressure that fell squarely on Keith Bogans last season.

Gerald Fitch has shaken off an early-season knee injury to lead Kentucky in scoring (18.1 points) and become its best outside shooter. He is making 43 percent of his 3-point attempts.

``He enjoys and cherishes and thrives in pressure-type situations,'' Smith said. ``I think the players recognize that, and they sort of look to him to make those plays.

``Maybe it's a shot, maybe it's a defensive play, maybe it's a pass. But to be a part of that group of that mentality to find a way to win. Gerald is as competitive a player as I've had the opportunity to coach.''

--Tops in the Pac: Everyone figured Stanford and Arizona would battle for the Pacific-10 Conference title, just not in that order. But after the Cardinal easily handled the Wildcats 82-72 last week in Tucson, Ariz., it appears Stanford is the class of the conference.

The victory, which moved Stanford to 13-0, also brought talk about whether the Cardinal, now operating at full health with Josh Childress (foot) and Chris Hernandez (back) playing significant minutes, can go undefeated.

``I hope the kids handle that,'' Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. ``It is an issue as time goes on. The only problem is when the question is asked. So far the kids have prepared themselves well. They relish the challenge.''

Arizona coach Lute Olson, who has lost four consecutive home games to Stanford, was impressed on many levels.

``They must have to have a pretty high GPA to get in there or something because they really play with poise and intelligence,'' Olson said. ``Mike has a lot to do with it, too.''

--Tournament talk: It is never too early to start looking at possible NCAA Tournament teams, and Conference USA already is pushing for a fifth team to join likely participants Louisville, Marquette, Cincinnati and Memphis.

UNC-Charlotte, which is 10-3, has a big week coming up with games at Memphis and against Marquette. A pair of victories sets up nicely for the final six weeks of the season.

If the 49ers slip up, losses to Rhode Island and George Washington might not be easily explained away later, when the committee starts talking about bubble teams.

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- Brian Dohn