Spotlight: Kentucky Wildcats

Kentucky has cruised through the first two rounds of the tournament and is playing the best basketball they have all year. And with Kansas out of the tournament, the wildcats are clearly the most talented team left in the field. They also have the red carpet laid out for them to reach the final four with potential match ups against a twelfth seeded Cornell and then an eleventh seeded Washington. Not to take anything away from Cornell (whose team has given hope to short, white kids everywhere) or Washington, but neither team has a chance of defending Kentucky’s size, talent, and speed. This trend of superiority will continue in the final four no matter which team Kentucky plays. As long as wildcats continue to shoot the 3-ball and rebound as effectively as they have thus far, then they should be cutting down the nets in Indy.

A lot of analysts think that Kentucky will get tripped up on their road to a national championship because of their free throw shooting woes and lack of experience. Everyone talks about how free throw shooting is extremely important in the tournament because the majority of the games are decided by just a few points. This shouldn’t be a problem if the wildcats continue to steam roll over opponents. Even if it came down to a last second free throw, which is as likely as Lost ever making sense, the wildcats shoot a very respectable 69% from the free throw line.

Others believe that the wildcats will fail to win it all because of their overall lack of experience. Although Kentucky is driven by freshman and other young players, with either very little or no tournament experience, the team is bulging with incredibly skilled players in an otherwise down year for talent. Yall can take any fifth year senior you want… I’ll take this guy:

John Wall will most likely be the number one overall pick in the upcoming NBA draft, and he leads a Kentucky team that features at least three other lottery picks. No other team in the tournament even comes close to the amount of talent Kentucky has. The last coach to lead his team to a national championship in his first year at the school was Tubby Smith in 1998 at none other than the University of Kentucky. And I will put big money down that John Calipari will be the next coach to accomplish that feat this year. However, knowing Calipari’s past, Kentucky will have to vacate these wins in a few years once the NCAA proceeds with the inevitable investigation. And no matter what happens to Kentucky in the tournament, at least they will still have the smoking hot Ashley Judd on their side.



-The Southern Gentleman