UK Squeaks Into Sweet 16 By A Hair

If this is what Cal means by "landing the plane", then this team looks ready for the challenge of a shorter runway, or maybe even an aircraft carrier. What a fine manifestation of basketball that was in the first two rounds for Kentucky.

That's how you put away lower seeds, Dorothy. You eviscerate them. With prejudice.

ETSU: not really surprising. Should have beaten them pretty good, and the Cats did just that. Wake Forest: slightly different story.

Wake was a power conference team, had legitimate talent, and had won a lot of games this season. Yeah, quite a few people had picked Texas over them in the opening round, and the Deacs needed some extra time to advance, but not in my wildest dreams did I think that Saturday game would be such a rout.

First off, let me summarize the "electric postseason atmosphere" of New Orleans Arena as I experienced it this weekend. I think I can sum it up for you in one word: Eh.

The lower section was filled, of course. And yes, the crowd was predominantly made up of Big Blue fans. But man, there was plenty of space available. So much space, in fact, that Mrs. Whisperer and I took advantage of some empty seats much closer to the court, very near the tunnel where the team entered and exited-- and very close to the always effervescent CD, a fellow alum who recently relocated to Beaumont.

(The original upper level tickets won't even make a great souvenir, as they get printed so far in advance that they are unable to show which teams will be playing. Nice hologram, though. And yes, I'll keep 'em.)

So we did our share of yelling and clapping at the appropriate times, and there was a steady buzz of support for the Cats, but the place just was not exactly cracklin'. Even the ODU-Baylor game, which was much tighter, did not have that intense, hold-your-breath kind of frenzy that you expect in a tournament climate. Perhaps everyone was completely spent after hanging out too long at Pat O-Brien's.

But we could see Ashley from where we were sitting, and we could also see the life draining out from the Wake Forest team as UK opened up the margin-- and the triple XL can of you-know-what-- all over their entire squad and its ACC pedigree.

A magnum opus by the Cats, really. You've read all about the statistics and the reaction and the press conferences by now.... and I'd describe the Bledsoe jam for you if I had gotten a great view of it, but you would only accuse me of further dunk envy. (Guilty.) I've only watched it about 3 or 4 times online.

Instead I'll tell you how cool it was to see the guys leaving the court triumphantly. (Warning: more crappy cell phone pics to come.) I was even in a pretty good position to catch Boogie's sweaty headband as he tossed it into the crowd, but it went to some guy about 8 feet away from me who apparently judged the wind direction and angle of descent better than I did. I also spied Brandon giving Coach Cal a high five on his way off the court. CORRECTION: he now also claims to have given high fives to several team members as well. Whatever. If they win the Kentucky's 8th championship, he'll probably be telling people 20 years from now that he was the walk-on who earned a scholarship.

But perhaps one of the things I'll take away most from the weekend is how, as many have mentioned, the Big Blue Nation seems like a family. No, not dysfunctional and inbred. You know what I mean. There were the ubiquitous C-A-T-S cheers on the walk back to the French quarter. Other UK fans asking about your thoughts on the game, or whether you were going to Syracuse (I wish.) Fist bumps from people you've never met from places like Mercer county. I don't know, just the way sports brings people together in a good way and all that rot. It was just cool.

So naturally, we wound up on Bourbon Street to celebrate. And more strangers were telling us that they had seen some of the guys on the team out there the day before. It was raining pretty good in The Big Easy on Saturday night, but I can't say it bothered me. As we headed back to the hotel, we left our man CD with his hard-earned Jagermeister hat on backwards (don't ask) and a smile on everyone's face.

Of course, there was the one hater (there's always at least one) who spotted my UK gear and just had to ask me a smart-alecky question. I just tried to roll with it....probably a sore loser Wake Forest fan...

Loser: "So how much money did you guys have to pay John Wall to get him to come to Kentucky?"

WW: (very slight pause) "I have no idea, but he's worth every penny."

So that's pretty much my take on the Cats in "Blue Orleans." Thanks so much for reading. And I'll leave you with one last snap (since I know you really care), of my delicious Sunday morning breakfast, courtesy of the beignet capitol of the world...you've got to admit, that's more than enough powdered sugar for a Sweet Sixteen.