Kentucky 71 - 63 West Virginia (Final) (NCAA Tournament) (No. 2,050)

A very, very long time ago, I was a junior at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky. I was a pretty smart kid, and when my teachers asked me if I wanted to attend the Kentucky United Nations Assembly in Lexington, I was pretty confident I would do well. And I did OK in turns of making speeches and getting attention. But the more time I spent up there, the more I realized that being from West Paducah was a big disadvantage; there were all these kids from the Bluegrass whose teachers seemed to be really wired in with the administrators who ran the program, and who all knew each other from various events that they had been attending for years. So when it came to actually running the organization, these kids had a much deeper understanding of the unwritten rules that governed everything. Over time, I was able to work my way closer to that inner circle, but I never felt as confident as the kids who had been there all along.

All of this came back to me today as I watched Kentucky play the first half of their game against West Virginia. Our guys basically fall into two categories: freshmen and guys who spent most of their time on the bench last year. They know a lot about basketball, but for most of them this is their first experience with playing serious minutes in the NCAA tournament. And for most of the first half, they had to feel as though West Virginia's point guard was a fourth official on the floor. The West Virginia guys knew when they could use a flop to get fouls called on UK, and knew when they could push our guys without getting called for a foul. And when they got yet another foul call with 0.4 seconds left in the half on a scramble for the ball at half court -- and made two free throws to go up 41-33 at the half -- I was really afraid our guys would be too discouraged by the blatant unfairness of the whole thing to fight back.

But while I was thinking about high school assemblies from the early 1980s, they were thinking about their comeback a few weeks ago at Tennessee. In that game, they were down 7 at the half, came roaring back to take a quick lead, watched the game see-saw back and forth, and eventually pulled away at the end. The exact same pattern repeated itself here. UK took a 42-41 lead, then West Virginia staked itself to a 55-51 advantage, then UK outscored West Virginia 20-8 down the stretch for the victory.

The great hero of the game, of course, was Brandon Knight, who scored 30 points in what has to be considered one of the all-time great UK performances in the NCAAs. But he was not alone. Josh Harrellson had another great game with 15 points and 8 rebounds. Jones had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Liggins played exceptional defense -- especially in the second half.

I want to particularly note two plays where I thought UK took control of the game. These days, because basketball is played so rough and because shooting ability is so limited, many games in the NCAA Tournament seem to come down to two types of plays. One is a play where a team misses a shot, but someone comes out of nowhere, grabs the rebound, and bats the ball back in. The other is a desperate scramble in the middle of the lane from which the ball is suddenly whipped out to someone who nails a three. With the score tied at 55 and 5:38 to go, Knight missed a three-point shot -- but Harrellson grabbed the rebound. Surrounded by Moutaineers (and with no hope that a foul would be called no matter how many times they bumped him), he tried a hook shot, which missed, reached in, slapped the ball up off the glass, grabbed it again, and put it in -- all this with two of three guys banging him the whole time. A minute later, with the score still 57-55, the ball came flying out to Miller -- who had not scored in the whole game. He buried his only 3-pointer of the day to give UK a 60-55 lead and put West Virginia in a hole from which they would not recover. In my opinion, those were the two most important plays of the game.

I also want to note that this was perhaps the most violent game I have ever seen Kentucky win. West Virginia made 7 three-pointers -- more than they usually do -- but their game is mainly to bang you around, force you into making stupid plays, and generally intimidate you. This worked to perfection in the first half -- but in the second half, UK (led by Liggins, Jones, and Harrellson) gave as good as it got. In fact, the Wildcats actually outrebounded West Virginia 34-29, which is a great accomplishment.

And so now the Cats have won eight straight and their record sits at 27-8. A few weeks ago, when UK was 19-8 and had just lost to Arkansas, I gave up on any hope that UK would reach the Final Four. My only goals were that UK win the SEC Tournament and at least reach the Sweet 16, where they would have a chance against a big power. And now, if Ohio State takes care of George Mason tomorrow, that is exactly what will happen. It has been a great, great run -- and whatever happens, we will at least be able to enjoy it until Friday night.