Kentucky Basketball: Wildcats Head to Final Four as the Favorites

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Kentucky Basketball Could Be On Their Way to Unlikely Championship

We have seen juggernauts ousted and contenders upset. Ohio State is long gone. Duke said their farewells as well. That leaves the Kentucky Wildcats in the unlikely role of Final Four favorite.

They take on UConn and have a slight edge over the Huskies according to Vegas. The four-seeded Wildcats took to this tournament with a younger crowd than they contended with last season. They had John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins to take them through lesser opponents.

This team may not have the star power, but they have been tested much more than last year's group. Mark Viera of the New York Times echoes this sentiment:

"With three new freshmen in Kentucky’s lineup, Calipari benefited from Knight’s hitting big shot after big shot and Jones’s versatile play. At each turn, he dismissed questions about youth and inexperience. Now there are no more questions."

Indeed Brandon Knight came up huge in his most recent game against North Carolina. He will have to continue his antics a while longer if they hope to get past the Huskies.

What makes Knight such a special player is that he does not shy away after failure. He may miss a shot, that just makes him want the ball more.

Mark Story of the Lexington-Herald Leader writes:

"What made Knight's plethora of clutch shots under one-and-done tournament pressure even more impressive is that he had several late-game misses during the season in close UK losses at Alabama, at Florida and at Arkansas.
After missing two shots that might have beaten the Razorbacks, Knight said he "got back in the gym and worked extra hard on my shot," he said. "I really didn't lose confidence that I could make those (pressure) shots. I just told myself, 'I'll hit the next ones."

That is exactly how the Wildcats have played in this tournament. They have acted like they deserve to be in the final game. That confidence has allowed them to be one of the last big dogs standing.

The tourney started with 68 teams, we are now down to four. Kentucky could very well be the best team left in the tourney. We all know how far that will get you in this wild bracket busting tournament.

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