I didn't get to do my usual post game article due to work the next morning, but I'm glad I didn't. Taking a couple of days to think about the season this team had gave me a chance to get past the disappointment and realize what we had witnessed.
We were all witness to one of, if not the greatest post season runs by a Kentucky team in history yes, even over all of the championship teams. You see, for the most part, every team that has won a championship for Kentucky, was supposed to win a championship. They were one of the top four teams going into the tournament, so it was no real surprise when they hung a banner. What this team did is well beyond a surprise.
When you look back on this season and consider the preseason "hype" that this class brought with them, anything less than a championship would be considered a failure. Then we watched as the Cats limped their way through the biggest part of the regular season while losing to teams that they should have dominated. But, after suffering through ten losses, nothing came as a surprise to BBN, in fact, we got more excited over victories against say Ole Miss and LSU than we really should have. But again, we were grasping to anything that would show us that this team had finally figured it out and turned the curve. Then came the SEC Tournament and the now infamous "TWEAK".
Heading into the SEC Tournament, Calipari made headlines when he said he made a "tweak" in the offense that made all the difference. In fact, he was so confident the "tweak" would be a success that he blamed himself for not doing it sooner and taking full responsibility for the lack luster season. Then came Kentucky's first game in CATlanta. Right away you could tell something was different, you could even see a difference in the players' faces. They looked relieved, happy and confident, something they had not shown at all during the course of the season. Kentucky destroyed LSU 85-67 in their first SEC Tournament game, a team who had beaten them once (87-82), a team the Cats had to go to overtime to beat 77-76 in Rupp Arena. Was it a fluke or was it the "tweak", no one knew for sure, they only thing fans knew was, FINALLY, THEY'RE STARTING TO LOOK LIKE THE TEAM WE EXPECTED.
Up next was the Bulldogs of Georgia and again came another impressive performance by the Cats winning 70-58 to reach the SEC Championship game against the Florida Gators. Going into the game against the Gators, no one gave Kentucky much of a chance, not even some of their own fans and they had a reason not to. You see, just eight days before this match-up, Florida throttled the Cats by a score of 84-65 in the last game of the regular season, so there was no reason to expect a different result. However, John Calipari and his young team expected something different thanks to the "tweak".
When the game started, again things just looked different about this team, but you couldn't quite put your finger on it. Even when Florida took a big lead in the first half, the Cats didn't panic, something they had done so many games before. Instead, they came out of halftime and played some of their best basketball of the season. They looked as if they had grown up right before our eyes, it was almost like you could actually see it happen. They took Florida to the wire eventually losing to the #1 team in the final regular season rankings by a score of 61-60. It was after this game that Kentucky fans started to feel good about their team and their teams post season chances if given the right match-ups. Apparently the NCAA Selection didn't think too much of the Cats' late season surge or Calipari's top secret "tweak" and awarded them an eight seed in the most loaded region that I and many others have ever seen.
When the brackets were announced, Kentucky found themselves in the Mid-West region as the eight seed with the toughest road to the Final Four that any team would have to travel in tournament history. Looking at the region it almost seemed like the committee didn't want the Cats to get through if even by accident. Their first game was against a very physical number nine seed, Kansas State.
The Cats seemed to take a step back in this game however, showing some of their old habits that had led to the ten loses in the regular season, but wound up winning 56-49 setting up a match-up with the lone remaining undefeated team in the country, number one seed Wichita State. The day before the Cats/Shockers face-off, everyone who had a keyboard wrote about how Wichita State does it the right way, with seniors and veteran leadership while Kentucky and it's band of freshman "who are only looking to get to the league" were everything that was wrong with college basketball. Wichita State's coach (can't remember his name and don't care) done it the right way, recruit solid players, get them to stay four years and build a quality team. John Calipari on the other hand, was billed as the villain, the guy who does it the wrong way.
Up until this game, all you heard about was how Calipari's system of recruiting one-and-done type players would get him no where. No one can win with all freshman, especially when facing the likes of Wichita State who had mostly juniors and seniors. Well, you know what happened? Kentucky's freshman took it to the veterans, you know, the ones who had been to a Final Four the previous year and would draw on that experience to send the young Wildcats packing. Kentucky wound up winning that game in a barn burner of a classic, 78-76. And it was their poise and ability to not crack under pressure that helped them win this game, unlike the older more experienced Shockers of WSU.
Up next, a Sweet Sixteen match-up with inner-state rival, number four seed Louisville. Despite the fact that the Cats had won the previous match-up against the Cards 73-66 back in December, they were the underdog. Louisville was a five point favorite and when Willie Cauley-Stein injured his foot, an injury that wound up ending his season, it looked as if UofL had caught a break. But, despite being down by as much as 15 and missing their best defensive stopper, Kentucky fought back, took the lead and again, out lasted a veteran team that was favored to march onto the Elite Eight and continue their quest for back-to-back National Titles.
Then came the match-up in the Elite Eight with the number two seed, Michigan. The headlines basically wrote themselves considering the last time a team full of freshman had made this kind of run, it was Michigan with the "Fab Five". This was another game against a quality opponent only this time, Kentucky was favored by two. I guess the guys in Vegas started to buy into the "tweak" Calipari and BBN had been screaming about the last couple of weeks. This again would turn out to be an instant classic as Kentucky would earn a trip the their 16th Final Four by a score of 75-72 thanks to a last second, heroic three by freshman guard, Aaron Harrison. The same freshman who hit a last second three in his previous game to send Louisville home as well. Keep count, that's TWO last second game winning threes by a inexperienced FRESHMAN that had gotten the Cats to another Final Four.
This Final Four run was the most unlikely and enjoyable that I had ever had the pleasure of witnessing. These kids accomplished the impossible, they beat a tough nine seed, an undefeated one seed, a very good four seed and an admirable two seed to make it this far, so anything else is pure joy from here on out. Win or lose in the semifinals, this has been one helluva season.
Kentucky's opponent in the semis would be another veteran team in the Badgers of Wisconsin. This Wisconsin team came into the game as, of course, the favorite and the attitude to boot. During the entire course of the game, you could sense the arrogance coming off of these kids, they thought they had the game won before they had even laced up their shoes. But, who could blame them for having that thought, especially when you sat and watched as they raced out to double digit leads on several different occasions during the course of the game. There was a moment when one would have thought, "well, it was a good run. We shouldn't have even made it this far".
I hope you weren't one of those who was having that thought, with what we had watched these kids pull off over the last week, nothing but confidence should have been running through your head. Let me stop there and say, it wasn't only Wisconsin's players who had an attitude problem, their coach, Bo Ryan did as well. During their pre-game press conference, Bo made more than one joke about the fact that Kentucky was loaded with freshman and made fun of the way John Calipari recruits one-and-done type players. Now, back to the game, a game in which mister Bo Ryan, the man who had the veteran team, sit on the sidelines and watched as a group of "freshman" had cut his veteran teams' lead which at one point was as high as ten down to two. With nearly ten or so seconds left on the clock, Kentucky and freshman point guard, Andrew Harrison had the ball. Calipari calls out the play, Harrison drives the lane and tries to kick it to Dakari Johnson, but Johnson had to return the ball to Andrew. With no other option, Andrew passed it to twin brother Aaron, you know, the guy who had already hit two game winning three point shots.
With 5.6 seconds left on the game clock, the team, the bench, the entire state of Kentucky held their breath for what seemed like an eternity as Aaron Harrison released another, this time beyond NBA three point range shot attempt and watched as it snapped through the net sending Kentucky to the National Championship game to face UConn by a score of 74-73. He had done it, a freshman, a freshman had hit three crucial, season saving last second three point shots that kept Kentucky alive and advanced them onto the next round. Maybe next time when Mr. Bo Ryan comes up against a team full of freshman in the NCAA Tournament someone should tell him that by that time, they are no longer inexperienced freshman.
We all know what happened in the finals so I'm not going to make you suffer through that again, but what I am going to do is tell you that this team has NOTHING to hang their heads about. Sure it hurts to get that far and lose, but just the simple fact that they defied all odds and accomplished what most said was impossible is enough for them to be able to hold their heads high knowing that they proved everyone, including this guy wrong. I've never been more happy in my life admitting is was wrong than I am right now.
No matter how many people doubted them, no matter how many people wrote them off, no matter how many people tried to steal their spot light on the eve of the championship game (I'm looking at you Mr. Rex Chapman), they never wavered. They never lost faith in their abilities, their coaches and most importantly, they never lost faith in each other.
I for one can positively say, this has been one of the best seasons I have ever seen and I wouldn't change one damn thing about it...
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