I will absolutely, wholeheartedly agree, if it wasn't Kentucky - I would have been all aboard the Cornell bandwagon. The same thing happens when Notre Dame plays Kentucky, I'm an Irish fan - until they play Kentucky. Everyone cheers for the underdog until that David's Goliath is their team. It's that simple. Kentucky is everyone's Goliath this year, before the Billy Clyde Era (yes, I know the debate on if it was an Era), Kentucky was always everyone's Goliath. Kentucky fans need to get used to everyone rooting against them again.
It wasn't Cornell's fault that the national media made this into a race thing - smarts thing - a graduation rate thing. The kids are smart - Kentucky kids are likely less smart, hell It was Cornell. But at the same time, it was Kentucky. As the Big Red would be favorites in a spelling bee, astrophysics exam, or as Demarcus Cousins recognized even a spelling bee... Kentucky was the favorite in basketball. That's all that mattered last night.
The game itself: one of the most boring games I've seen this season. It's what I would expect to see if I watched the Big10 and didn't fall asleep. The first half ended 32-16. Any normal game, Kentucky would have been down 8 at half. But Cornell's 3's weren't falling at an acceptable rate (24%). Blame Cornell or Credit Kentucky, whichever you prefer.
The missed three's lead to long rebounds, which lead to fast break points. In the first half, Kentucky went on a 30-6 run after seeing the Cornell basket go cold from long range. The second half, Cornell took less threes, limiting UK's transition baskets, keeping the game within range. But Cornell didn't fare any better in the interior either.
Kentucky's length closed in on their shots quickly. Cornell when they took it inside the arch, where they met taller more athletic players with longer reaches and take more difficult shots.
This was a defensive game and as the cliche goes, defense leads to offense and wins games. Three more games won with D, will win an 8th championship.
Now, it's (2)West Virgina in the Elite 8 Saturday at 7:00pm.
I never really understood why there was so much talk about NBA vs. MBA, Athletes vs. Mathletes, and so on. I know it is Cornell and it was a big shock that an Ivy League school made it to the sweet sixteen, but I think we are overlooking something here. Kentucky wasn't supposed to beat Cornell last night because it was an Ivy League school, they were supposed to beat them because they were a one seed playing a twelve seed. I think that boiling last night's game down to a nerdy Cornell team is just overlooking the fact that Cornell had a decent team with some real talent. It is the sweet sixteen, and every team in it deserves to be there. They don't have UK talent, but I'm also sure that Cal didn't go into last night's game like a win was a foregone conclusion. Cornell being an Ivy League school has nothing to do with the tournament, and I blame this on the national media doing anything they can to glamorize a game instead of just talking about basketball.
ReplyDeleteYou are exactly right T-Ferg. ESPN and the media turned it into something it was not.
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