Kentucky Wildcats Must Battle Their Past in Order to Make History

Ask any Kentucky fan if he was ever really, truly nervous during the Wildcats' 13-point victory over Cincinnati on Saturday. If he's being honest with you, he'll say yes, even though they never trailed in the second half and never led by less than double digits in the final eight minutes of the game.

That's because in the NCAA tournament you are never safe. The best team does not always win. Anything can, and often does, happen. That's where the "madness" in "March Madness" comes from. It's exhilarating yet terrifying. It gives every team the "anyone can win it" hope, and it gives every favorite the "anyone can be beaten" fear. 

Kentucky fans have a reason to harbor that fear. In 2010 as a No. 1 seed, a UK team composed of John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe and Patrick Patterson was defeated in the Elite Eight by the No. 2 seed West Virginia.

Kentucky's four-player core from that season just made a total of $48.3 million this year alone. Only two players from that Mountaineers team played in the NBA as recently as 2013, and neither of them averaged more than 4.0 points per game. Yet it was the Wildcats that walked off the court losers five years ago. Nine times out of 10 they win that game. But it was only the one that mattered.

With that reality in mind, now a 36-0 Kentucky team will face none other than West Virginia in the Sweet 16. A living embodiment of that "anyone can be beaten" reminder right at its doorstep.

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Up to this point, Kentucky has been literally perfect. Any missteps or failings it has overcome. It adapts. It fights. As cliche as it sounds, it simply finds a way to win.

More accurately, possibly, is nobody has yet found a way to beat it. Which isn't to say nobody has come close. Plenty have, and it's not like Kentucky has played perfectly every time either. That's exactly why fans were nervous even against a fairly benign opponent such as Cincinnati. Kentucky hasn't been so dominant that there isn't some lingering doubt: "Have we been overconfident?"

And if Kentucky does in fact get past West Virginia, there's a very good chance it could set up an Elite Eight matchup with Wichita State, the team whose perfect season Kentucky ruined just last year. The wound is fresh, and the team would be out for blood. Whereas the West Virginia game is a reminder that anyone can be beaten, a game against the Shockers would serve to point out there is something to be said about a good team with nothing to lose going up against a team with everything to lose. 

This year, the tables are flipped; now Kentucky is the team with everything to lose and history weighing heavily on its shoulders. Wichita State has no such burdens this year. A No. 7 seed in the Elite Eight is basically playing with house money at that point. Not only that, but Wichita State has the added motivation of beating a Kentucky team that took away its chance at history.

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And if you're under the impression added motivation doesn't make much difference, I dare you to tell me it didn't play a part in the Shockers' beatdown this weekend of a Kansas team that had been ducking them for years. Wichita State is a team that gets up for the games that really matter.

I'm not trying to get way ahead of myself, but it's also not too far-fetched to envision a scenario where Kentucky, if it gets there, would end up facing Wisconsin in the Final Four. And it's not like Wisconsin would have any reason in particular to really want to beat Kentucky, would it?

This sort of thing is not particularly new, especially to Kentucky. The best Wildcats teams have overcome their past in one way or another en route to a championship. 

In 1996, The Untouchables had to beat a UMass team in the Final Four that took them down early in the season. In 1998, The Comeback Cats beat Duke in the Elite Eight in a cathartic game that finally gave some sense of redemption against The Shot. And in 2012, the Wildcats had to defeat the same Indiana team that beat them on a last-second shot that season.

This Kentucky team, this team right now, it's not just chasing history. It's going to have to vanquish history along the way to do it. 

The great ones wouldn't have it any other way.