It wasn't supposed to happen like this

Before today, it had been 1,082 days since Kentucky Basketball’s last NCAA Tournament appearance. Not since the Emery package scandal of the late 1980s has the Big Blue Nation gone so long without its favorite sporting event, but the best fans in the world (you) endured a pandemic and the worst season in school history to get to March 17, 2022, the long-awaited return to the Big Dance for the Gold Standard™.

It felt so good to be back.

Earlier in the week, the BBN was assured a tweak had Kentucky ready to fire on all cylinders as the Wildcats did earlier in the year at Kansas and against Tennessee (the first time). The embarrassing loss to Tennessee in the SEC semifinal last Saturday? Don’t sweat it. It was a “godsend” for what was ahead, we heard. Never mind the fact everyone hates Tennessee, and fans love the SEC Tournament, the message was to accept it because it was actually best for the long run. We even had to hurry back home from Tampa to get to the dogs.

OK, sure. Just get us to New Orleans.

Then when the bracket came out, the committee hooked Kentucky up with the easiest path on the board. Not my opinion, it’s fact. Kentucky got a lovely draw. Did you hear Calipari complain on Selection Sunday? No, you did not, because he too knows Kentucky was awarded the clearest path to get to the Final Four, to return to the place The Greatest Tradition In College Basketball™ hadn’t reached since 2015.

Fans weren’t just excited to be back in March Madness; they were ecstatic. Throw in one of the most lovable rosters to ever suit up for Kentucky and this. was. the. year. A first-round game against Saint Peter’s was only a dress rehearsal for the Go-Big-Blue chants we were to hear for the next three weeks, all the way to a ninth title.

Instead, we’re sitting here wondering how the hell the winningest program in college basketball lost to an 11-loss team from the MAAC and how a John Calipari team isn’t in the second round. How?! Saint Peter’s is ranked in the 300s in offense and the Peacocks were cooking Kentucky’s defense late in the game when the Madness was on. Offensively, Kentucky completely quit scoring with a six-point lead with four minutes to go, yet another scoring drought for the record book.

Still, Kentucky had the ball with a chance to win it in regulation. Tie game and ball in hand. Let’s get a timeout, right? No. No timeout. Those timeouts are going back to the timeout pile in Lexington. Kentucky dribbled around and settled for a jump shot that didn’t fall, similar to all of the other possessions that weren’t working.

In overtime, Kentucky got up two right away, but surrendered 14 points from there, resulting in an early exit home in the worst loss of this tournament and the worst for Kentucky Basketball, maybe ever. Saint Peter’s, man. A 15-seed.

Calipari said afterward, “I’m disappointed for our fans, because I know they are here en masse and they were shellshocked like we all were, but I would tell them, we have got the greatest fans; that they travel, and we hate letting them down. I do as a coach and I know these players do.”

“Don’t take away from what these kids did,” he added. “This was really disappointing, devastating. But this team brought a lot of joy to a lot of us. Just hate that it ends this way.”

The fans hate it too, and tomorrow the ones in Indianapolis will drive home with Saturday tickets in hand to wait another year to, maybe, get back to Kentucky’s winning ways. Hotel rooms are being canceled, plans for Philadelphia and New Orleans gone to crap. The tournament run everyone needed, over on Day 1 in a shocking upset.

It didn’t have to be this way, but here we are, still clinging to memories of life before Wisconsin broke everything in 2015. It’ll be another 365 days before BBN gets another shot, at which point it will have been four calendar years since a tournament win.

Disappointing.

Devastating.

And right now while it’s still fresh, completely surreal and beyond belief.

Saint Peter’s, man. A 15-seed.