I know I'm a few days late, but I still can't believe that UK won its first National championship since I have attended UK. I was a freshman during the 2003 - 2004 season when we were the #1 of #1 seeds in the tourney and then were upset by UAB. It ripped our heart out and the whole campus was just in shock for the remainder of the tournament. Unfortunately, over the next few years, we struggled to make it to the final four. In 2005, we had that thriller with Michigan St in which we lost in OT. Then in 2006 & 2007 we were the #8 seed. That is unheard of for UK basketball but we struggled during the year so we were happy to make the tourney. We hired a new coach in 2007 (big mistake) and he didn't even get us into the NCAA tourney in 2008. Fortunately, Calipari came to UK in 2009 and with him, we brought in DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall along with a few other studs. That year was AMAZING for UK fans as the last 3 years of UK basketball were horrendous. We had a fabulous team and were one of the top teams in the tourney. We were upset by West Virginia in the Elite Eight and that was as heart breaking as the 2004 tourney loss. I can't remember, but I believe we were the favorite to win and we didn't even make it to the Final Four. Then we lost 5 players to the first round of the NBA draft, which we kind of expected, but were hoping to only lose 3 - 4. The 2010 - 2011 team gave us what we wanted. The team didn't seem to be as good as the year before but they got us to the Final Four. We had a terrible SEC regular season as we lost most of our games on the road. But once we got to the tourney, we upset OSU in the Sweet Sixteen on a last second shot which was one of my top 5 moments as a UK fan. Then we went on to beat UNC in the elite eight before losing to UConn in the Final Four.
This year we had a extraordinary team and were just unstoppable. To have a player like Anthony Davis, and to have great support players for him is what made our team so great. Teague developed throughout the year along with MKG and Jones. Miller played a fabulous role coming off the bench. Lamb knocked down some big shots for us and played pretty consistently all year.
We played terrible and still almost beat Indiana at Indiana (if it weren't for that last second shot) and then we played like we were unbeatable during the SEC tourney and we almost lost the first 2 games before losing to Vandy in the final. I believe this was key for us to win the Championship as it reminded the boys what its like to lose and put a little first in them before the NCAA tournament. We played great the whole tournament and won a title.
Unfortunately, our fans acted like they did after we beat Baylor (Elite Eight), Louisville (Final Four), and the big game against Kansas. We were the heavy favorite to win so why would you celebrate like that after beating a Baylor team who wasn't THAT good and then again against Louisville. We were expected to win those games so there is no need to burn couches, flip cars, and shoot guns while destroying all kinds of other property. I feel that the celebration after the Nat'l Championship game was almost the most acceptable as most people just went to the streets and enjoyed the company of other UK fans as opposed to doing a bunch of stupid stuff like after the Baylor and Louisville games.
I'm super happy to be both a UK fan and a St. Louis Cardinal fan. I don't know if I have ever had my 2 favorite teams win a championship in the same year. And on top of that, the Cards won their opening night game last night. Baseball is a LONG season, but I'm always ecstatic when the season starts.
Now that the triathlon season has officially started with some big races this past weekend, it made me wish I had signed up for one of those 70.3 races and traveled to either Texas or Cali. I'll have to look into it next year, but I'm gearing up for NOLA 70.3 here in about 2.5 weeks.
T-Bird
