OK, let’s lay the facts right on the table. It’s never a good year for Kentucky basketball when it’s one and done in the NCAA Tournament. Or we can even take it a step further -it’s never just good enough for the Wildcats to make the field of 65.
This year is different and I’m here to tell you why.
After the way UK started the season under first-year coach Billy Gillispie the thought of making the big dance seemed as distant as a climb up Everest. The Cats weren’t just bad in nonconference play they were unwatchable. The team was out of synch, they looked disinterested and most importantly they appeared to be getting worse.
Something happened, however, between the losses at home to Louisville, which closed out the nonconference slate and the win at home over Vanderbilt, which opened SEC play. At some point Billy Clyde broke through to his team and the Cats finally began to look like the preseason Top 25 team fans expected to see this year.
After a 12-4 conference run the Big Blue had did enough to secure one of the final remaining at-large spots in the tournament. Despite an abrupt loss to Georgia in the SEC Tournament the team had forged an identity. With that said, not even the bluest of the blue could have held Final Four expectations going into this tournament. A win over Marquette would have been nice, but much more than that would have been straight gravy.
To get to my point, even with loses at home to Gardner-Webb, San Diego and blowout defeats to rivals like Louisville, North Carolina and Indiana – this year was a success.
What Wildcat fan will soon forget the heroics of Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford? I know I will not. Following the San Diego loss, when UK sat with a dismal 5-6 record, Bradley said the team would make the fans proud by season’s end. At the time, it just rolled off my back. Now, a day after the season ended, I’m proud. Proud of Ramel and Joe for finishing their careers with their heads up. Proud of a team that finally seemed to embrace their new coach. Proud to say that I truly believe the future of the program is headed in the right direction under a coach that could bring the program back to its rightful place atop the college basketball world.
So yeah, on paper this year was a disappointment. At Kentucky you have to be a national title contender. You can’t win a title every year, most people understand that, but you better have a team that your fan base can at least envision being able to compete for a championship.
With a steady flow of recruits in line, it does appear that Gillispie has the team headed in the right direction. Although it may not happen next year, it’s hard to imagine the 2009 Wildcats stumbling out of the gate like they did this season. It may take a while to restock the talent pool, but once Gillispie gets the players he needs for his system the Big Blue nation can rest assure that the program will once again be back on top.
