Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: Coming Together as One
Mar 23, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; Kentucky Wildcats celebrate as the defeated the Wichita State Shockers 78-76 in the third round of the 2014 NCAA Men
23 days ago it looked like the Kentucky Wildcats had hit rock bottom. Losing on the road to a less than mediocre South Carolina team, and they weren’t just losing…they were getting obliterated. This was the game where the Wildcats looked to be falling apart with no chance of trying to reconnect themselves. There was a lack of trust and communication that was ruining the Wildcats, the sense of selflessness had been completely removed from the team.
Then Calipari mentioned a tweak. A tweak that this team needed from the beginning that he missed. A tweak that could change the outcome of the year for these young Wildcats. Fans were so excited and focused on the tweak heading into the SEC Tournament, it’s all they could talk about. No one knows what the tweak was, but after the LSU win, the tweak exists.
The tweak could be Andrew Harrison getting more assists in rather than taking the ball to the basket himself. Or James Young’s pump fake to the basket rather than settling and taking merely outside shots. It could be Julius Randle focusing more on defense and letting offense come as it comes, rather than forcing it. Or it could be Aaron Harrison suddenly becoming a strong shooter, although Calipari claims that the twins feed off one another, when Andrew started playing better, so did Aaron. Whatever the true definition of the tweak was…it’s working.
Looking at the bracket on Selection Sunday, it looked like the Wildcats were a long shot at reaching the Final Four. Coming off a one point loss to the country’s number one team, the Florida Gators, seeing the Wildcats were faced with a strong Kansas State team in the beginning just seemed unfair. Then seeing that Michigan, Duke, Wichita State and Louisville were all in Kentucky’s region, it looked like whoever came out of this region alive deserves the crown.
The Wildcats handled Kansas State remotely well, then they had to face the undefeated Wichita State Shockers. Many were saying the Shockers weren’t a legit threat for the title because they hadn’t really played anyone. The game against the Wildcats proved otherwise. The Shockers are a strong team that can shoot from downtown, with VanVleet, who counts to figure out the timing of the opposing point guard. Early, who is one of the best forwards in college basketball and Baker, who can shoot from anywhere in the arena and it still go in. There was a reason they went 35-0. The Wildcats had trouble with the Shockers, they were down 6 at halftime. They would have been down 9, had James Young not made a game changing 3 as time was expiring.
It wasn’t until the second half where the Wildcats came alive. Whatever Coach Calipari talked about in halftime, whether it was the amount of turnovers they already have and need to control, the idea of drawing fouls or playing stronger defense, it got the Wildcats rolling out of the gates for the second half. And they didn’t look back.
This is going to go down in history as one of the best college basketball games played to date. A two point win for the underdogs, who didn’t play like underdogs against an underestimated, undefeated team. The Wildcats are coming together as a team at just the right time. They’re showing that they have the capability to be the team everyone thought they could be. 23 days ago, it looked like rock bottom, today, it looks like they can reach the stars.