Kentucky 81 - 66 W. Kentucky (Louisville) (NCAA Tournament) (No. 2,085)

I did not want this game to be played, and I was very annoyed with the NCAA for pairing up Western and UK. Ever since I was a kid, I've always thought of UK, Murray State, and Western as a sort of Justice League of college basketball. Together, these programs are supposed to show the rest of the country how to play and watch the world's greatest game. Like super heroes in the comic books, each team covers its own area and has its own responsibilities. Flash isn't supposed to leave Central City to help Batman, and vice versa. So whenever UK has to play Western, it always seems gimmicky and wrong -- like one of those special edition comic books where the cover shows a battle between Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four.

I realize that there is a sub-group of Western fans who doesn't see it this way, and who would love to see UK and Western have the same sort of rage and fury toward each other that exist between UK and U of L. I disagree. The difference between the generally rural and Protestant culture of UK fandom and the urban and Catholic culture of U of L fandom is much bigger than the gap between the UK fans in the rest of the Commonwealth and the Western fans in and around Bowling Green. The world of college basketball contains enough villains outside of Kentucky for all of us to fight.

But the NCAA loves to match up the Kentucky schools. UK had to play Eastern in the 2005 tournament, U of L had to play Morehead last year, and now we were forced into a Western/UK game. The game was incredibly unfair to both teams. UK had earned a number 1 seed, and the number 1 seed is supposed to have the chance to ease into the tournament with a first-round game against a team that's just happy to be there. Furthermore, the Sun Belt champion generally gets a seed somewhere in the 11-14 range, and almost never falls to 16. Besides, Western was clearly better than its record indicated: the Hilltoppers had a new coach, they were a young team that had come together late in the year, and they were on a seven-game winning streak. And of course, the Tops -- like Kentucky -- believe in taking basketball very seriously, and in playing every game all out. Western is never just happy to be there; they want to win -- and they especially want to beat UK.

So I was in a bad mood about this game all day. My mood eased somewhat when UK jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but then Western roared back to make it 12-10. For the next few minutes, the teams went back and forth, with UK trying to take control but Western refusing to go away. With 9:18 left in the first half, UK led by only 23-19.

But by this point, Kentucky was ready to give Western what so many angry Western fans have always wanted -- the respect of taking them seriously. After 10 minutes of trotting up and down the floor with Western, and letting them go where they wanted with the ball, the UK players decided to show the Hilltoppers that their reputation wasn't just hype. They started playing much better defense, and on offense, they started attacking the rim instead of settling for jump shots. This surge was led by two guys who know how to get to the Final Four: Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb. At halftime, Jones had 15 points and 5 rebounds, while Lamb had 14 points and 4 rebounds. The Cats closed the half on a 22-7 run, and they led 45-26.

Now Western has a young, athletic team, and -- now that they are back to playing basketball As It Should Be Played -- they scorn the slow-down tactics so popular outside the Commonwealth. They kept attacking and pushing the pace. This made life tough for Kyle Wiltjer, who never looked right in this game (he finished with 0 points, 3 fouls, and 3 turnovers in 8 minutes). But it was exactly what the rest of the Cats wanted to see. UK doesn't get too many chances to play a transition game, and the Cats put on a spectacular series of dunks of the sort we haven't seen since they entered SEC play. With 8:42 left in the game, the Cats were up 74-42 -- they had put on a 51-23 run.

I thought UK might score 90 points for the first time since their game against Marist to begin the year, but they eased up after that. Western, being Western, scorned to ease up, and played hard all the way to the buzzer. The results showed that UK was wise to take Western seriously, and that things could have been very different if UK had not given a full effort. Over the last 8 minutes of the game, Western outscored UK 24-7 to create the final margin and to give Hilltopper fans confidence that they had fought the good fight, and that they would be even better next year.

Meanwhile, Kentucky still has unfinished business this year, and they looked very ready tonight. They didn't waste possessions, they didn't take a lot of bad shots, and for the most part they played solid defense. Jones finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds; Davis had 16 and 9; Lamb had 16; and Teague pitched in 12. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist only took eight shots, but he played solid defense, and he put up 9 points and 7 rebounds. And Darius Miller looked very active in his 26 minutes, finishing with 6 points and 4 boards. So everyone (except for Wiltjer) will be feeling good about his play tonight.

Shooting note: The Cats were right on average from the line; they went 18-25, for 72 percent. Lamb had his typical 2-4 from three-point range, but the non-Lambs went only 1-6 (the one game from Terrence Jones). The non-Lambs will probably have to do better than that before the tournament is over. But we know that they can do so.

Up next: Iowa State, which looked very solid in its win over UConn. Cyclone fans will hope that UK overlooks them. We'll see. The Cats looked pretty focused tonight.