The Play That Defined A Team

Going into the game last night, few people believed that this Kentucky team had a legitimate chance.  Fortunately for us, those few all happened to be in the Kentucky locker room.  Most thought that this ‘freshman dominated team,’ (actually much further from the truth than you would expect,) Kentucky would be pushed around and dominated by their older counterparts from Ohio State. Sullinger would abuse the Kentucky front court, the freshmen would be lit up by OSU’s three point specialists, and Aaron Crafts defense would prove to be too much for Kentucky.

And to begin the game, it looked like that might just happen.  Ohio State wasn’t finding much success against the Cats, but they looked poised to break out.  But then Josh Harrellson got a rebound or two.  Players started diving on the floor for loose balls.  Despite early foul trouble, Kentucky continued to play aggressively and rack up blocked shots.

Ohio State still stayed in front.

But while other teams hung with OSU for a bit before succumbing to their strength, Kentucky wouldn’t do it.  Late in the first half, Harrellson was going for a rebound when he got a bit of a push from behind.  He corralled the ball, but the push sent him heading out of bounds.  Not being one to roll over for Ohio State, he slammed the ball off his Freshman counter parts chest, let out a scream matched only by every Kentucky fan that witnessed it, and we knew the game was on.

You see, this Kentucky team was not going to roll over.  They had been pushed around all season by the NCAA – first with Enes, second with seeding – and they were tired of getting the raw end of the deal.  With a hurl of a ball the tone was set, and Kentucky didn’t back down the rest of the game.

Kentucky swarmed.  The rebounded.  They blocked shots.  The drove the lane.  They made all the effort plays they could, and in the end, it was enough to top the number one over all seed in the tournament.

Interestingly enough, much will be written about how the three veterans that weren’t Cal’s recruits carried the team last night – and it was because of their toughness.  The Billy Gillispie hold overs that were once looked at as tainted goods due to his strange mind tricks in attempts to make them ‘tougher.’  While I won’t go so far as to give credit to Billy Gillispie for ingraining the sense of toughness in our Cats (I’m a firm believer that 6 am conditioning is a better punishment than sitting in a bathroom stall,) it was the toughness of the veterans that won the game last night.

And it started with one play.

Jared Sullinger?  “You’re Out!”