Kentucky coach John Calipari was none too pleased back on Selection Sunday.
Not only did his Wildcats end up with a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but the selection committee sent them across the country to Boise, Idaho. That was out of easy reach for their army of blue-clad fans.
Also, Kentucky’s bracket quadrant seemed perilous with first overall seed Virginia, an Arizona team loaded with NBA-ready talent and a hot No. 3 seed in Tennessee.
Then March Madness occurred, with Virginia, Arizona, Tennessee, No. 1 seed Xavier, No. 2 seed North Carolina and No. 2 seed Cincinnati all suffering stunning upsets. Schools like No. 16 seed UMBC and No. 13 Buffalo stole the first weekend show.
Now that the Wildcats are back in the Sweet 16 and playing close to home in Atlanta, Calipari has reframed his complaint. He accused experts are setting up the impressionable Wildcats for a letdown by noting how much easier their path to the Final Four has become.
He doesn’t want to hear how the South Region is the Kentucky Invitational.
“Sometimes you wonder why they’re trying to paint that picture with my team,” Calipari complained to reporters during his team’s news conference. “Probably because they’re young and they know they don’t know better. But the teams here, veteran coaches, and their teams are all playing well.”
First up for Kentucky is No. 9 seed Kansas State.
“My challenge is making sure these kids don’t drink that poison, that poison being we have an easy road,” Calipari said. “There are no easy roads in this tournament. If they drink that poison, we’ll be done Thursday. If they don’t drink the poison, it’ll be a dogfight on Thursday, and let’s see what happens.”
IGNORE THE SEEDING
While Calipari is famously sensitive about seeding, he admits it don’t matter much once teams get past the first weekend. All opponents are dangerous at this point.
“We’ve all advanced,” he said. “There’s 16 of us, and the four in this region is the only four I care about. And really I only care about Kansas State right now. Where they’re seeded, who cares. If they come out and play well, do you think I’m thinking about, they’re an 8 seed or a 7 or a 9, whatever it is? It doesn’t matter. This is a basketball game of two teams that are still standing that will fight until the death to win a basketball game. And that’s going to happen in every one of these games.”
While fatalities are unlikely to occur, this weekend will offer compelling entertainment and difficult investment choices.
In addition to Kentucky- Kansas State, Thursday’s games feature No. 11 seed Loyola against No. 7 seed Nevada, No. 7 Texas A&M against No. 3 Michigan and No. 9 Florida State against No. 4 Gonzaga.
If you bet on all those teams to get this far, you made a lot of money. But while many of them lack a bunch of NBA-bound players, they are all playing good basketball now.
So Loyola coach Porter Moser doesn’t believe the Sweet 16 stage will be too big for his team, a long shot out of the Missouri Valley Conference.
“These guys have been preparing for it and the reason why we can do it is these guys are winners,” he said. “It’s been noted a lot that we have seven kids on our team that won state championships. They’re winners and they’re together. They’re a connected team. They hang together off the court. They’re talking in the hotels about the moment. Every film session, they lock in on the scouting. They’re enjoying the ride, and I’m happy as heck they’re enjoying the ride.”
HEAVYWEIGHT SHOWDOWNS COME FRIDAY
Friday’s action is more conventional, featuring several high seeds. No. 5 Clemson plays No. 1 Kansas, No. 5 West Virginia faces No. 1 Villanova, No. 11 Syracuse challenges No. 2 Duke and No. 3 Texas Tech battles No. 2 Purdue.
“This thing is unpredictable,” Calipari said. “Who is playing well at the time? It’s not — like seed, who cares about seed now? Seeds don’t matter. It’s who’s playing well. If you’re playing well, you advance. If you’re not playing well, guess what; you don’t advance.”
