Kentucky Wildcats Advancing to a Championship

Darius Miller came off the bench and provided some veteran relief with 13 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals. Jeff Goodman praised the senior Wildcat who will be breaking Wayne Turner’s career record when he plays in his 152nd game on Monday night.

But his unselfishness has rubbed off on his younger teammates. He’s not a vocal guy, but his maturity — as the only senior who gets any significant playing time, has been key for this team reaching the national title contest. Miller has come a long way from the guy that couldn’t make clutch shots to one who now clearly thrives in that role.

Anthony Davis was the first player since Danny Manning to put up the numbers he did during the Final Four. Davis scored 18 points, brought down 15 boards, and blocked 5 shots in a period of 39 minutes. Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel notes:

He just plays. There were the feathery little jump hooks that Louisville had no chance of ever stopping. There were the transition baskets. There was the mere thought of his long arms haunting the Cardinals around the rim, causing misses even when he wasn’t in position to block shots.

Let’s go back to Kansas for a moment. The Wildcats played them already but John Clay takes a look back at the November game. This was a time when Marquis Teague had yet to really become the Marquis Teague that we know him as today.

UK shot 51 percent in that first game. The Cats made seven of 15 three-pointers. Lamb made three of five from behind the line. But John Calipari’s club was just 16 of 29 from the foul line (55.2 percent) and committed 19 turnovers.

In that last match-up, four Wildcats were in foul trouble. Of the six Cats that had been averaging double digits, Darius Miller was the only one that did not score double figures. Something tells me, though, that that will change come Monday night. Win or lose, it is his final basketball game in a Kentucky Wildcats uniform. He’ll want that final send-off. If I’m John Calipari, I’m starting him on Monday night.

Finally, John Clay notes that the Cats will have to out-rebound on Monday night and do the one thing that the 2008 Memphis team was unable to do: hit free throws. The same thing haunted them at MSG, where the Cats shot 55.2% to the Jayhawk’s 77.8% from the line.