by Paul Jordan
Embrace the hate, Wildcat fans. It’s going to be a long two days.
Is it possible that the evil empire, the Kentucky Wildcats have surpassed Duke as the most hated team in the NCAA Tournament? For Thursday’s game at least, we certainly will be as the fans of every other school in the country will be pulling for a Cornell upset of our beloved Wildcats.
It’s something we have been dealing with all year, right? So what is one more game? But you have to admit, the Cornell Big Red is pretty hard to root against. America loves an underdog and where is there a bigger “David vs Goliath matchup” that Cornell of the Ivy League versus the seven time National Champion Wildcats. It’s the evil empire, Kentucky, the team that spent $40 million on a basketball coach against Cornell, a team that (supposedly) could not affored to print media guides. Keep in mind that all of Kentucky’s key players are well recruited and Cornell’s stars are scrappy real life Rudies that could not get a nibble from the power conferences and found their way to Cornell.
It’s the evil empire against the kids from “Hoosiers”.
And from now until Thursday night, every columnist or blogger with a grudge will be jumping on the Big Red bandwagon. never mind the fact they know virtually nothing about the school or the players. It’s just another chance to hate on Kentucky and Calipari. And do it through the guise of “rooting for the underdog”. It’s started already.
It actually started April 1 when UK officially became the evil empire by hiring the dark lord John Calipari, so we are quite used to the slings and arrows that have been shot at us already. Fact is, the incessant “hator-ade” that UK fans have endured already this season has bonded the Big Blue Nation unlike at any other time in the last decade. Kentucky fans have embraced the “us against the world” mentality and judging by the team’s performance the last five games, so have the players.
Cornell has earned their way into the Sweet Sixteen, but in doing so, they have lost their element of surprise. Kentucky will not regard them as the underdog opposition from the Ivy League, but as a well coached opponent that plays solid defense and can shoot the lights out. And Kentucky will have had right at five days to devise a game plan for this Cornell team and will have seen plenty of film of their nuances. John Calipari has already afforded them the respect card in plenty of interviews today, so the “disrespect card” is out of play.
So does the Big Red have a chance of upsetting the Wildcats? Yes, of course. Is it a big chance? No, not really. Am I disrespecting Cornell by saying that? No, not at all. Cornell is a great story and if they have a perfect game and cause Kentucky to play like they did against Tennessee (the second game), it will be upset city. If Kentucky plays their best game and Cornell plays their best game, Kentucky wins by about 15. If Kentucky plays well and Cornell comes out slow … it could get ugly.
At this point, we all know the backstory and all the drama involved in this game. What this game comes down to is “x’s and o’s” and pure athleticism at this point. And when reduced to that, Kentucky has all the cards in their hand and is as determined to advance to the Elite 8 even if it means churning out the Big Red like a teddy bear through a shredder.
Does that make Kentucky the most hated team if they knock out America’s sweetheart? Yes, definitely. But it’s a roles that we are used to and face it, the hate is going to come regardless. May as well give everyone a reason to hate us.
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