March Madness 2012: Kentucky Wildcats Are Doomed to Fail

The Kentucky Wildcats are not going to be champions of the 2012 college basketball season. And anything short of that will be a disappointment for the team ranked No. 1 in all the land. 

They finished the 32-2 and didn't pick up that second loss until the championship game of the SEC Tournament. 

They finished 20th in points, 15th in rebounds and 10th in field goal percentage. They clearly have the goods to win it. But enough about why they have the talent to win. 

Here is why they won't. 

History

The nature of the NCAA Tournament is what makes it so unpredictable. Teams play just one game on a neutral court. Anything can happen in one game.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the next stat. The team that has entered the Big Dance as the No. 1 team in the nation has only won three of the last 27 tournaments. 

That means only 11 percent of the time has a team that has proven to be the best in the country over a long season has survived to win this grueling tournament. 

So while Kentucky enters this tournament as the strongest in the nation, it means very little to their chances of success. 

Experience 

Talent is a wonderful thing in any basketball setting, But in the setting of this tournament, experience is often equally important. 

That is something the Wildcats have little of. Their starting lineup consists of three freshman and two sophomores. 

There is no doubting the talent of any of these guys, but when games get close and the pressure is cranked up these guys don't have the luxury of college basketball experience to draw on. 

This can lead to turnovers, missed free throws and sloppy frenetic play. 

The Wildcats are the most talented team in the country, but they are not the team that is best suited for this tournament atmosphere. They will run into a team playing lights out, and they will not be able to pull out a close game.