Kentucky Wildcats win NCAA Title
They could have started to play ‘My Old Kentucky Home’ way early last night. Ashley Judd could have turned to Jay-Z and planned the after-party in the first half.
What Kentucky did not dunk, it blocked. What the Wildcats did not affect, they at least sent a signal that trouble was looming.
Kansas coach Bill Self had a resigned look on his face way before halftime. He had stolen his championship against John Calipari’s Memphis team 4 years before. He would always have that. He wasn’t getting this and he knew it when UK started raining in threes.
Kansas’ defense had been great during its last four second halves, holding Purdue, North Carolina State, North Carolina and Ohio State to just 24,2 percent shooting. The Jayhawks were going to have to pitch a shutout in the last second half of this season.
When Kentucky started playing the clock instead of the game, Kansas had a chance, closing to within five points as the clock ticked toward 60 seconds, the Mario Miracle lingering out there.
Alas, there would be no seminal Superdome championship moment like Michael Jordan’s jumper from the corner, Keith Smart’s baseline game-winner, Chris Webber’s timeout or Hakim Warrick’s block.
This looked for a long time like Secretariat in the Belmont Stakes, Chic Anderson’s proverbial ‘tremendous machine.’ This was Kentucky’s season from November to April. When it was over, it was the school’s eighth national championship, second only to UCLA’s 11. If this team stayed together, which it definitely will not, you could mark up No. 9 next season.
Kentucky Wildcats.
Throughout the NCAA men’s basketball tournament the prevailing question was: Can anyone beat Kentucky? The answer arrived Monday night at the Superdome: not this year.
The Wildcats (38-2), who started five underclassmen and dominated most of their opponents this season, outlasted Kansas 67-59 to win their first NCAA championship since 1998. Kentucky did it all with only six points from superstar freshman Anthony Davis—though he did contribute 15 rebounds and six blocks. Doron Lamb led Kentucky with 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting.
“I was struggling offensively and told my team, ‘Y’all score the ball’” – Davis said. “‘I’m just going to defend and rebound.’”
Kansas (32-7) performed several escapes in the NCAA tournament but couldn’t clamber out of Monday’s early hole. The Jayhawks had the ball at Kentucky’s end with one minute left and a chance to score. But point guard Tyshawn Taylor threw away the ball on an errant pass, then was forced to foul. Kentucky’s Marquis Teague sank both free throws, putting the Wildcats up 65-57 with 54 seconds to go.
The Wildcats’ victory sealed their status as one of the elite teams in college basketball history, and one that will stand as a successful test case for talent trumping inexperience. Kentucky coach John Calipari has made a practice of recruiting the nation’s very best high-school players despite several of them moving on to the pros after just one season. The Wildcats’ entire starting lineup—three freshmen and two sophomores—is expected to enter June’s NBA draft.
Calipari won his first NCAA title in his fourth Final Four appearance over tenures with three teams. The Final Fours at Memphis and Massachusetts were later vacated due to NCAA sanctions.
As he stood amid confetti, Calipari called the championship trophy he was holding for the first time “kind of heavy, to be honest with you.” The same could be said of leading Kentucky to its eighth title – behind only UCLA’s 11 for most in the nation.
No matter where Anthony Davis and his buddies go to make their millions, their ol’ Kentucky home will long remember this championship season.
The Wildcats hit the jackpot with their lottery picks Monday night, ignoring Davis’ bad shooting night and parlaying a roster full of NBA talent into a 67-59 victory over Kansas for the team’s eighth national title. And its first since 1998.
The one-and-doners did it in a wire-to-wire victory (a little dicey at the end) to cap a season in which anything less than bringing a title back to the Bluegrass State would have been a downer. They led coach John Calipari to his first title in four trips to the Final Four with three different schools.
“This is not about me. This is about these 13 players” – Calipari said. “This is about the Big Blue Nation.”
Doron Lamb, a sophomore with first-round-draft-pick possibilities, led the Wildcats (38-2) with 22 points, including back-to-back three-pointers that put them up by 16 with 10 minutes left.
The Jayhawks (32-7), kings of the comeback all season, fought to the finish and trimmed that deficit to five with 1:37 left. But Kentucky made five free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
Davis’ fellow lottery prospect, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, was another headliner, creating space for himself to score all 11 of his points in the first half.
Davis, meanwhile, might have had the most dominating six-point night in the history of college basketball, earning the nod as the most outstanding player. He finished with 16 rebounds, six blocks, five assists and three steals — and made his only field goal with 5:13 left in the game. It was a surefire illustration of how the 6-foot-10 freshman can exert his will on a game even on a rare night when the shot isn’t falling.
“Well, it’s not me, it’s these guys behind me” – Davis said after his 1-for-10 performance. “They led us this whole tournament. This whole game I was struggling offensively, and I told my team, every time down, you all score the ball; I’m just gonna defend and rebound.”