Losing an early non-conference game against a mid-major can be an early death sentence for some teams, but for others it can just be a blip on a radar soon forgotten.

Kentucky's recent disasters under Billy Gillispie are the easiest examples to point out as ways an early-season upset can derail a season.

In each of the past two seasons, the Wildcats went down early against Gardner-Webb in 2007 and Virginia Military Institute in 2008.

The SEC also suffered several other significant upsets when Mercer knocked off not one, but two SEC West teams, Auburn and Alabama.

Neither recovered, and the Tigers may have been a mere one game away from making the NCAA Tournament. That loss to Mercer have doomed Auburn to the...

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