It's TyTy Washington Time at the SEC Tournament

March is essentially a second Christmas for the BBN. In lieu of gifts, we unwrap brackets, often resulting in unadulterated joy in the form of Kentucky basketball postseason wins. If Santa Claus is taking wish lists this spring, there are a few items I’d like to request that could help the Wildcats bring home the ultimate gift: a ninth National Championship.

1. A Healthy Postseason
2. National Player of the Year Honors for Oscar Tshiebwe
3. Momentum for TyTy Washington

Through 31 regular season games, this Kentucky basketball team has proved it has everything you need to win a National Championship. The Wildcats can win by playing defense and scoring 55 points, or by running and gunning to 95 points. Oscar is the best basketball player in America, Kellan Grady is the best three-point shooter in the SEC, Sahvir Wheeler has the third-most assists in the country and Davion Mintz might be the best Sixth Man in America. There’s one final piece of the puzzle that will complete John Calipari’s Thanos-esque gauntlet: TyTy Washington.

Time for TyTy to Build Momentum

The NCAA Tournament is a guard’s tournament. You don’t need to have a scoring playmaker on the wing to win it all, but it only takes one of those cheat codes to make a long run (See: Johnny Juzang, Shabazz Napier, Kemba Walker, etc.).

TyTy has what it takes to become an NCAA Tournament superstar. His 28-point performance against Tennessee was effortless. Unfortunately, two games later he suffered the first of two injuries. Slowed down for last six weeks, Washington has received enough rest. Now it’s time to build momentum for March.

In 2012 Kentucky could seemingly do no wrong entering the postseason, with one exception. Sixth man Darius Miller was slumping, held scoreless through the first two games of the SEC Tournament. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist took himself out of the starting lineup in the SEC Championship Game to empower UK’s senior leader. UK lost to Vanderbilt, but Miller scored 16 points. He took that momentum and turned it into back-to-back 19-point performances against Iowa State and Indiana.

Winning the SEC Tournament will secure a one-seed for the Wildcats, but in this humble writer’s opinion, it is not UK’s most important goal in Tampa. Kentucky needs TyTy Washington to shake off the cobwebs and play like a future lottery pick this March.