Steve Alford/USA TODAY Sports

CHICAGO — UCLA coach Steve Alford wasn’t sugarcoating his team’s abysmal 83-44 loss to Kentucky, a performance that saw the Wildcats start 24-0 and lead 41-7 at halftime. Instead, he was quick to praise John Calipari’s deep, loaded roster.

“I don’t know in my 20 years coaching at the Division I level that I’ve coached against a better team that what this team looks like,” Alford said in a postgame news conference. “They have everything. …They’re long, they’re athletic, they present so many problems for you because they’re so deep.”

Alford played at Indiana in the 1980s for Bob Knight, the last coach to lead a team to an undefeated season (32-0 in 1975-76).

Alford added, “If they continue to play at that level defensively, I’m a firm believer they’ve got a chance to run this thing out. They’re that good. They’re that talented.

“When you talk about a dream team, a team that — other than (Tyler) Ulis, they can basically switch five ways, and Coach Knight, I think that was always his dream, that he could get five guys 6-7, 6-8 and just switch everything. That’s hard to score on. …You don’t see that kind of size and I think that affects you, and that’s hard to prepare for.”

UCLA freshman Kevon Looney said of the Bruins’ difficulty maneuvering against Kentucky’s vaunted frontcourt, “Hopefully we see them again, because that was embarrassing and we want another stab at it.”

“Not right now,” Alford quipped. “I appreciate Kevon’s enthusiasm, but not right now.”