Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 28, 1993 TAG: 9303280163
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
The Wildcats' charter flight to Charlotte on Tuesday for the NCAA's Southeast Region was struck by lightning.
That obviously was more scary than Rider and Utah, Kentucky's first two tournament victims.
Then, the Wildcats had a longer-than-expected bus ride from their hotel to the Charlotte Coliseum on Saturday.
"The bus driver said it would be no more than a 15-minute trip," Kentucky coach Rick Pitino said.
The Wildcats sat in traffic for most of their 45-minute trip, arriving only 33 minutes before the region final tipoff against Florida State.
"It seemed like we were on there forever," Wildcats point guard Travis Ford said.
In a 106-81 mashing of a very good and well-coached ACC team, the Southeastern Conference champions didn't start as strongly as they had in recent tournament games. Then, they may have been just warming up.
Going back to a 101-40 shredding of Tennessee in the SEC Tournament opener, Kentucky has outscored its opposition - make that fodder - by 213 points. In four NCAA games, Pitino's team has won by 44, 21, 34 and 25.
The record in 55 NCAA Tournaments for average margin of victory is 23.8 points, by UCLA in 1967, when the Bruins needed four wins in a 23-team field. Kentucky's average margin is 31 points entering its 10th Final Four appearance, next weekend in New Orleans.
Considering that Pitino's fourth Kentucky team suddenly has become the manufacturer of the Big Blue-out, isn't "The Big Easy" an appropriate site for the championship to be decided.
The last time the Final Four was played in the Superdome, in 1987, Pitino had a divine Providence entry. If those Friars were stunning in one fashion, these Wildcats are in another.
"This is the most talented team I've coached," Pitino said.
Presumably, that doesn't include his two seasons as the New York Knicks' boss, sandwiched by his college days on the sideline.
There's no one more shocked by Kentucky's season than the Wildcats themselves. They lost four seniors from the team that took national champion Duke into overtime before being Laettnered in the East Region final last year.
Still, this is the deepest team that will play in April. Kentucky's use of the 3-point shot, even in transition from a pressure defense that wears down foes with shorter benches, is what makes the Wildcats so dangerous.
"If anyone had told me before the season this team would be 30-3, I'd have called them crazy," said Kentucky's 5-foot-8 point guard Travis Ford.
Florida State coach Pat Kennedy said the team that beats Kentucky will do it because the Wildcats' smart bombs miss their target or because someone finds a way to slow down the subcompact Ford.
"First, you have to break their pressure," Kennedy said, offering a scouting report to Kansas and the other two of the Final Four. "Second, you have to do a great job on [All-American Jamal] Mashburn.
"The most important thing, I think, is you have to control Ford. Kentucky has a lot of veterans who know how to play, but Ford's the difference for them. He's very good at penetrating and completing plays, and he seems to have unlimited range and confidence in his 3-point shot."
In two Southeast Region victories at the Charlotte Coliseum - over ACC members Wake Forest and Florida State in the league's backyard - Kentucky hit 27 of 47 3-point attempts.
"If they keep shooting their threes like that, they will be very hard to beat," Kennedy said.
Florida State guard Sam Cassell considered other highly ranked teams the Seminoles faced this season, and he said the Wildcats have one piece of the puzzle that others don't.
"They have more athletes who are 6-8 or 6-9 who can not only play inside but handle the ball and hit the three-point shot," Cassell said. "That's going to be hard for anyone to handle."
In the four victories in the NCAA Tournaments, Kentucky has trailed for only 30 seconds - when the Seminoles scored 11 straight points to go up 28-27 in the first half Saturday.
Although the Wildcats are averaging nearly 95 points in their seven SEC and NCAA postseason wins and the Kentucky fans scream "three" every time Ford or someone else cocks an arm behind the arc, Pitino likes best what's happening at the other end of the floor.
"Our defense is what's winning for us now," said Pitino, who becomes only the 10th coach in Division I history to take two schools to the Final Four. "You can play the kind of defense we do when you have the kind of depth we have.
"We're having fun. We don't have any fear of failure. Things have just snowballed for us."
He's just hoping the spring thaw doesn't come in New Orleans next weekend.
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB