NEWARK, N.J. – The weather isn’t nearly as beautiful as Tampa, Fla. (it’s sleeting in the Northeast), but the stakes are even bigger in Newark, N.J.It took a little while to get there, but the Kentucky men’s basketball arrived in Newark on Wednesday night for the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. After a rather lengthy delay in Lexington due to inclement weather, the team departed BlueGrass Airport around 6 p.m. and touched down in Newark at 7:45 p.m.I noticed a very loose team before takeoff. The guys were joking around with each other and talked with some of the cheerleaders and band members that were along for the ride. I’m not sure how much that translates over to the court, but these guys seem to be enjoying the NCAA Tournament ride.The team has a rather quiet night in store. The Cats went straight from the airport to the New Jersey Nets’ facility for practice. The team will eat dinner after that and then call it a night. On Thursday, it gets a little busier.UK will have an open practice from 1-1:50 p.m. on Thursday at the Prudential Center. Fans are invited to attend. After that, the media will have their turn with head coach John Calipari and the players before dinner and another practice Thursday night.Just like last week, I’ll be along for the ride with some updates, written features, live blogs and video interviews. We’ll get everything started on the blog Thursday afternoon, but in the meantime, here are some stories to read from the media on the UK-Ohio State matchup.
Jay Bilas breaks down UK vs. Ohio State (Kentucky Kernel)
Audio of the Bilas teleconference (John Clay, Lexington Herald-Leader)
Sweet 16 team rankings, plus a scoring comparion between Knight and Wall (Luke Winn, SI.com)
Freshman point guards play major role in UK-OSU matchup (Jerry Tipton, Lexington Herald-Leader)
Veteran trio key for Kentucky (Will Graves, Associated Press)
John Calipari, Thad Matta two of a kind on one and done (Brett Dawson, Courier-Journal)
UK has a lot of worries for Ohio State coach (Larry Vaught, Vaught’s Views)
Defending Ohio State will not be easy for Kentucky basketball (Rick Bozich, Courier-Journal)
Kentucky will depend on Harrellson even more against Sullinger (Jerry Tipton, Lexington Herald-Leader)
