THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 25, 1996 TAG: 9603250146
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
The focus of this March Madness thing, on Kentucky for so long, keeps coming back to the Wildcats.
With Sunday's surprising development in the Southeast Regional, Rick Pitino's favorites will be joined in East Rutherford, N.J., by not one, but both of the teams that beat them this season.
In the World According to Kentucky, Massachusetts represents more than the No. 1-ranked team, conquerors of Georgetown, and the unqualified Beast of the East.
Most pertinent to avid Wildcat watchers, the Minutemen were the first team to shock Kentucky this season.
That Mississippi State was the last team to knock off Pitino's Posse lends the team from Starkville a degree of celebrity it otherwise couldn't create for itself simply by beating Cincinnati.
On television Sunday, UMass coach John Calipari was asked about playing Kentucky in one Final Four semifinal, easily the marquee game of the season's final fling.
``They'll use the revenge factor,'' he said matter-of-factly.
What would that make a possible Kentucky-Mississippi State title game? ``Pitino's Revenge, Part Deux''?
Of course, Syracuse might have something to say about that. Syracuse?
While Mississippi State may be a complete mystery to America, basketball junkies know all too well of Jim Boeheim's post-season misadventures.
Over the years, Syracuse's maligned man in charge has never been accused of overachieving.
Until now.
Lest you forget, Boeheim took Syracuse to the Final Four in 1987, the year the Orangemen lost to Bobby Knight's Indiana on a last-second jump shot by Keith Smart.
Boeheim's brush with the championship was considered nothing more than an accident.
Well, he's back. He's back with a team that played all season in the shadow of Connecticut, Georgetown and Villanova.
He's back with a fourth seed that took advantage of its place in the soft West Region. Boeheim's detractors just will have to deal with that.
Syracuse's upset of Kansas made for some good theater, as did John Wallace's winning shot against Georgia. Still, the Turnpike to the Jersey Swamps was not exactly bumper-to-bumper with memorable games.
Kentucky beat Utah and Wake Forest by a combined 51 points; UMass walked all over Arkansas and Georgetown; Mississippi State methodically took apart Connecticut and Cincy.
Georgia's victory over Purdue was less of an upset than a confirmation that the Big Ten is overrated. And North Carolina was just waiting for some team to put it out of its misery. Texas Tech happily obliged.
For the first time since '87, the ACC is out of the Final Four loop. Also left by the side of the road are Allen Iverson, Ray Allen, Kerry Kittles and Tim Duncan, four-fifths of the All-American team.
The year's most decorated player - UMass's Marcus Camby - will be there, though. And Kentucky's Tony Delk and Mississippi State's Erick Dampier are worth watching, too.
Most eyes, though, will be on Pitino and Calipari. This is their moment in a season that has been dominated by their teams.
And should the Wildcats get by tough, resourceful UMass, Mississippi State is likely to be waiting.
Time to see if Kentucky can get its revenge. by CNB