Hoop Thoughts: Trying to make sense of the season's chaotic start

The nation’s No. 1 team, Kentucky, suffered its first loss of the season Thursday at UCLA. The score was 87–77, a stunning reversal from the meeting between those two schools last season, when Kentucky led by 34 points at halftime en route to an 83–44 win. More important, it was a stark turn for UCLA , which began the season by losing at home to Monmouth, a team that went on to lose at Canisius, which lost on Saturday at home to Quinnipiac, which is currently ranked 299^th out of 350 teams in the RPI.