‘It Be’s What It Be’s’: Cats Unfazed by Tough Path
Continuing a recent tradition, Selection Sunday was a whirlwind for the Kentucky Wildcats.
Per usual – the fourth year in a row and sixth time in John Calipari’s nine seasons – it began with UK triumphing in the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game. Once the confetti had fallen, the trophies were handed out and nets were cut, the Cats hustled through postgame media obligations and to the airport.
Once back in Lexington, UK made its way to Coach Cal’s house to watch was left of the Selection Show, in which yet another difficult path to the Final Four was revealed.
The main difference this time around was a new phrase coined by Calipari in his post-bracket reveal interview.
“It be’s what it be’s,” Calipari said. “Now it’s time to regroup, talk to the team.”
Coach Cal’s team is the No. 5 seed in the South Region, set to face off against 12th-seeded Davidson (21-11) in Boise, Idaho, at 7:10 p.m. ET on CBS in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The second round would bring a potential matchup with perennial power Arizona, while UK’s Sweet 16 opponent would be No. 1 overall seed Virginia, should seeds hold.
“We knew it would be a tough journey,” Hamidou Diallo said. “We knew we’d have to play some great teams. Right now, we’re just looking forward to playing Davidson and just trying to get us prepared for them as much as possible.”
UK’s players seemed to have that sentiment in common. Sure, the bracket brings its challenges, but advancing in the NCAA Tournament isn’t supposed to be easy.
“First impression was that we got put in a tough bracket,” Wenyen Gabriel said. “I looked through the bracket and it’s a tough bracket. But then again, it’s March. You gotta play a tough game every day and we just have to focus on the game at hand.”
Prognosticators and pundits will surely be looking ahead to that possible matchup between preseason top-five teams UK and Arizona, but the Cats already have a healthy level of respect for Davidson. The Wildcats – the ones hailing from North Carolina – won the Atlantic 10 Tournament championship on Sunday to claim their league’s automatic bid.
“We got Davidson coming up,” Gabriel said. “That’s a good team we gotta focus on right there and I’m not trying to look too far down the bracket after we play Davidson. Hopefully we win, then we’re going to look on to the next game.”
Davidson has won 11 of its last 13 games since starting the season 10-9. Included in that stretch are two wins over Rhode Island and another over St. Bonaventure, both in the NCAA Tournament. Bob McKillop’s team is shooting 39.1 percent from 3 on the season and has dynamic scorers in senior forward Peyton Aldridge (21.5 ppg) and freshman guard Kellan Grady (18.0 ppg).
“They run good stuff,” Calipari said. “They run a lot of—Tennessee and their coach, Rick Barnes is a good friend, so a lot of stuff Tennessee runs they run. I remember a game early in the year they had 30 3-pointers made, so they’re a 3-point shooting team. But I have not watched them. I have not watched tape.”
Actually, it was only 26 3s in Davidson’s season opener, but the Wildcats have hit 13 or more 3s in 12 games this season. Is it any wonder, then, that this opening-round game has UK’s undivided attention.
“We let you guys look ahead and we focus on the task at hand,” Gabriel said. “We know obviously from the four-game losing streak that we’ve been through we can’t overlook any team. Any team, they have the ability to beat you. If you don’t come in with the type of focus that you need to win the game, you can eventually lose. So we gotta focus on winning the game, each game one game at a time.”
