Kentucky's Path to the Championship

As a Cats fan I was hoping the bracket would look like this: Robert Morris (1st), UConn (2nd), Michigan State (Sweet 16), Duke (Elite 8), Wisconsin (Final 4).  For the Final game: Kansas, Arizona, Gonzaga, Villanova, UNC would all make excellent opponents.

The Robert Morris matchup....come on, its perfect whether you like the Cats or not.  How the committee skipped over that is kind of a mystery to me.

If UConn had won the Big East (or whatever the Big East is called these days), they likely would've gone in as a 7-9 seed, allowing for an early rematch of last year's Final.  But more than that UConn is responsible for UK's last two losses in the tourney: 2014 final, 2011 semi-final.  (UK won in 2012 and didn't even make the tourney in 2013)  Getting revenge on the way back to the championship is sweet but in this case it would've been double sweet for Calipari.

Michigan State and UK have played many many many times over the years, its never a bad idea to get them together again.  For Mich St coming in as a 4 seed, hey, you were gonna have to beat Kentucky at some point, might as well be early on.  And for UK, no specific revenge (2005, 1999 Elite Eights were losses to Sparty), just a good test along the way.

Duke v Kentucky in the Elite Eight.  That should probably happen every year IMHO.  Duke has nice W's throughout the year but I think putting them as #2 overall is a bit rich, no?  They just went out in the semi-finals of the ACC tourney, how good are they playing right now?  The television loves Duke, the media loves Coach K, just how it works I guess.  We could have a Duke-UK final...though I don't think Duke's good enough to make that happen.  We'll see.  Okafor is a badass but otherwise it doesn't look like a strong Duke side to me.

Wisconsin in the Final Four would be a rematch of last year's semi-final and Wisconsin is one of the few teams out there that gives me pause this year as a Cats fan.  They've had success, they're older and wiser, they're tough players, Bo Ryan is a helluva coach, they frankly shoulda beat UK last year and I don't think they'd have any fear or any quit in them at all.  That said, I think Kentucky is still better and would be better on that night but Wisconsin would make UK work for it in a way the Cats haven't had to do much this year.

UK's bracket does feature Cincinnati (don't remember the last time we played the Bearcats), Notre Dame (defeated UK in Billy Clyde-led NIT bid and beat UK soundly last year in the regular season), Maryland (not a fierce rivalry but UK-Mary have played many times in the regular season over the years), West Virginia (one of the most crushing defeats of my Cat-watching life was the 2009 Elite 8 losing to WVU and then DUKE won the whole frickin' thing!  Oooohhhhh, man, that one still hurts), and Kansas (they...uh...unh, can't remember the last time we lost to Kansas, one of those crappy Rajon Rondo years maybe?).  (I think Notre Dame beats Kansas with UK beating Maryland in the Sweet 16 and Notre Dame in the Elite 8)

I knew UK was a Final Four team long before the season began. I watched all 6 of their scrimmages last summer in the Bahamas and I was impressed from the very start--and that was without Willie Cauley and Lyles, with Hawkins and Willis playing big minutes.  Their first opponent was the Puerto Rican national team gearing up for their appearance in last year's FIBA World Cup.  They came in as a veteran squad of professional basketball players that had been playing national level elite competition for several months going into this scrimmage against Kentucky.  The Cats were a fine collection of young talent, coming off a troubling but ultimately overachieving year sprinkled with some kids fresh out of high school and a coupla veteran role players that hadn't really played much.  And the very first time these UK players stepped on the court together they smoked a national team on its way to the World Cup.  They smoked 'em.  No hesitation, no doubt who was the better team.  And two days later they came back and smoked 'em again (though admittedly the Puerto Ricans were clearly mailing it in the 2nd time around).  I've loved Kentucky basketball all my life but I must say as a basketball fan I was impressed.  Even more impressed than the first time I saw the Anthony Davis/MKG/Kyle Wiltjer Cats that glided to a championship 3 years ago.

Personally I've been queasy about the undefeated thing all year long, I was glad when the 2012 team lost at Indiana (thought it was the perfect outcome: a loss at the buzzer on the road at a high ranking rival), it gave them just enough humility to comfortably pummel all comers.  This year's team probably should've lost a few games but this team is so deep--soooooooo deeeeeeeep--that even when they tried to give away games, they couldn't do it!  This team just couldn't lose.  And UK doesn't get to have any defeats any more so I guess I'm all in on the undefeated season now.

What UK is susceptible to is losing focus.  If UK comes out lackadaisical and the opponent gets hot (I mean 3's, FT's and fast break points) and stays hot for 40 minutes, then UK might could fall apart.  If we're not getting the calls (like against Arkansas the other day--how many times did a Harrison get smacked straight in the face without a foul call in that game?), we're not hitting 3's, not getting into our transition defense or gambling too much on defense or if we just turn the ball over too many times to keep pace, then UK might get beat.

Yeah...I really don't see any of that happening.  This team is so beautiful to watch, they are so reliant on each other, opportunistic because they trust each other, they get hot because everybody wants each other to get hot and make plays and the talent and size are rich at every position.  They have way too much talent, size and depth to be over matched by anyone.  This team is so good defensively (there's no one out there that can fill it up against UK), that even though this is hardly a vintage offensive machine, they slow everyone else down to where they just naturally outscore everyone they play. And they really get up for the big games, which is why I had hoped for more rivalry games.

I'm not trying to be a gloater and I'll be crushed if the Cats lose but I don't think they're gonna lose.  I think they're gonna play their best basketball for the next 6 games and no one is gonna come close to hanging with them.  They're not gonna lose focus now, they're too close to getting it done.