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Celebration in Bluegrass Country

© Chris Lin

Yes, March Madness is over. The Big Dance, Road to the Final Four- whatever you call it. The bags have been packed, the Alamodome has long been emptied, and the Kentucky Wildcats have already cased their trophies. Yet, did something go wrong this year?

The 1998 Final Four sure left many memorable moments behind. Who can forget Homer Drew and Valparaiso, who somehow wound up in the Sweet Sixteen? And how about West Virginia's Jarrod West, who made the game-winning trey at the buzzer against Cincinatti and almost did the same against Utah. Sure, those are some of the ones that come to mind first. But there are many more. For example, the looks of dejection on the faces of All-Americans Raef LaFrentz and Paul Pierce indicated another early exit from the Round of 32. And don't forget the UConn Huskies, whose young team will surely be a force to be reckoned with in the future. Are we missing anything? We sure are. The Princeton Tigers showed that high SAT scores did not stand for BAD BASKETBALL. Player of the Year, Antawn Jamison, and the North Carolina Tar Heels entertained crowds with razzle-dazzle dunks and alley-oops, and at one point seemed invincible. That was, until Andre Miller, Mike Doleac, and the Utah Utes sent them back to Greensboro with a huge upset in the first round of the Final Four. (That was the game after Utah had crushed the heavily favored defending champs Arizona Wildcats, who were led by Mike Bibby and Miles Simon.) Then there's Kentucky, led by Nazr Mohammed and Jeff Sheppard. First, they were able to knock off Roshown McLeod and top-ranked Duke. Then they edged Stanford in a thrilling overtime win. Finally, trailing by ten at the half, they rallied to defeat Andre Miller and the streaking Utes 78-69 to win the championship and deny a Cinderella in San Antonio. Wow, is that March Madness or what?

Was there anything wrong this year? Maybe. Where were all of the Number One seeds? Kansas was eliminated early, and both Duke and Arizona were knocked out in the Elite Eight. The only top seed to reach the Final Four was North Carolina, and even the Tar Heels were sent packing in the first round. Who was left? Utah and Kentucky? Who would have ever thought that Rick Majerus's squad would reach the Final Four without the former All-American, Keith Van Horn? And Tubby Smith, the successor of widely popular and successful coach Rick Pitino, had a squad which many thought was not nearly as powerful as Wildcat teams in the past. Surely, the threesome of Nazr Mohammed, Jeff Sheppard, and Scott Padgett was not nearly as dominant and talented as Antoine Walker, Walter McCarty, and Ron Mercer. This was a solid team that was a contender, but needed a bit more talent to win it all. Yet players like Sheppard and Padgett, as well as Heshimu Evans, stepped it up during the tournament and showed that Kentucky was no pushover.

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