Kentucky Basketball: In It To Win It
By Terry Brown
The University of Kentucky Men’s basketball team is preparing to participate in the 16th Final Four in its storied history. Of the previous 15 teams, the 2013-14 team may be the most unlikely participant. Despite having the top recruiting class and being a preseason number one ranked squad, the Wildcats and head coach John Calipari stumbled through the majority of the regular season. The Cats lost to Arkansas twice, to South Carolina and even in wins didn’t look as formidable as many, both inside and outside and outside the BBN, had anticipated. But, something happened. Calipari called it a “tweak.” Whatever it was, the Cats have looked every bit as formidable as had been hoped throughout the postseason. They’re peaking at the right time. They’ve learned how to close out games. They’re playing with a fire that simply wasn’t there early in the year. And now, the Kentucky Wildcats, these young men, have found themselves in the Final Four.
Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Have all this season’s ups and downs, disappointments and frustrations been worth it? Yes. These Cats, these highly ranked and recruited Cats have put themselves on the same level as the famed Michigan “Fab 5,” the recruiting class of old that finished as national runners-up staring all freshmen in the 1992 NCAA Tournament. This Kentucky team has already made history being the only team to defeat three of the previous year’s Final Four participants in one tournament. In the last three games, the Wildcats eliminated 2013 Final Four participant and previously unbeaten Wichita State, defending national champion and in-state rival Louisville and 2013 NCAA runner-up Michigan. It wasn’t just that the young Cats defeated these teams, the young Cats out executed the more experienced teams down the stretch to do it.
The narratives for this Kentucky team, win or lose against the University of Wisconsin on Saturday and win or lose in the national championship game, is already set. A loss indicates a moral lacking by head coach Calipari. He of the two vacated Final Fours (at UMass and Memphis), is the sole person responsible for the downward spiral and decline of college basketball. A Kentucky loss will allow writers from all over to opine that Kentucky fans are out of touch. That the Big Blue Nation is full of foaming at the mouth, illiterate hillbillies that don’t realize that it’s “just a game.” A Wildcat loss indicates that Calipari’s “One and Done” recruiting style doesn’t work and doesn’t produce any meaningful results (nevermind 3 Final Fours in his 5 years at Kentucky). A Kentucky loss will give the Calipari and Kentucky naysayers just enough ammunition to further the narratives that they already have in mind.
To quote the great WWE Superstar, The Rock, “it doesn’t matter.” It just does not matter what they say. I have already written that now is not the time to let anyone steal our collective Big Blue Joy.
Kentucky Basketball is not about one and dones. It’s not solely about Coach Cal. It’s about the young men that have strapped on the Blue and White and about the people, the fans, that have supported them. It’s about the Baron of the Bluegrass in his brown suit. It’s about Kyle Macy’s socks. It’s about Kenny Walker’s goggles. It’s about the Goose being Golden. It’s about Rupp’s Runts. It’s about the Fidlin’ Five. It’s about the Untouchables.
Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Kentucky Basketball is Tony Delk hitting 7 three-pointers. It’s about Jeff Sheppard being the most outstanding. It’s about Anthony Davis shooting 1-10 and still dominating. It’s about Sam Bowie leading the Cats to the Final Four on one good leg. It’s about the Unforgettables giving the fans everything they had on a night in Philadelphia, falling short and still giving the Commonwealth a tremendous amount of pride.
Kentucky Basketball is about the names that have come before to pave away for the names yet to come. Dan Issel. Wah Wah Jones. Bill Spivey. Vernon Hatton. Cotton Nash. Jamal Mashburn. Pat Riley. Kevin Grevey. So, yes, Kentucky Basketball is special. Yes, the Big Blue Nation cares. Yes, we want the Wildcats to win. Yes. Yes. Yes.
So, when the Cats take the floor against the Badgers, they should know that they have the men of the past that have shown them the way and an entire Nation on which to depend. As the late Al McGuire once said regarding Kentucky Basketball: “They had it before you, they had it during you, they’ll have it when you’re gone.” We are Kentucky. We are the Wildcats. Go Big Blue. It’s time to get #9!