Wow!

Wow, that was pretty much the reaction to the Madness that occurred today. Before I get into Kentucky's wowing performance, I have to talk first about the story of the tournament. Kansas going down like Frazier at the hands Ali and Northern Iowa. For jinxing purposes, I was not able to tune into the game. I was all over it on my iPhone, but was afraid to tune in and mess up Cinderella's chances. You have to stick with works this time of year, and watching Harry Potter with my sister was working. (By the way, she knows more about wizardry than I do about Kentucky... Unless she was just making up all the stuff about what was going on.. In that case, well played.) I know, March makes me into a crazy person.

From what I can gather from the highlights, this Ali kid from UNI has a ton of intestinal fortitude for taking that shot with 30 seconds to go. That shot is a perfect example of the mentality you need when you are David going up against Goliath. Instead of letting Kansas control his fate with their trapping defense, Ali stepped up and knocked out the Jayhawks with the biggest shot of the tournament. It is good to know that Self is respectful of Kansas history of Rock, Choke Jayhawk basketball. Still, credit to UNI for controlling their own destiny and finding the temple on the side of Goliath's big fat head.

I am not going to lose my mind talking about Kansas. It was an exciting victory for the little guy, but I find reveling in such losses beneath the status of a Kentucky fan. We have more important matters to consider, like our own team's March to glory. It is fine to crack a smile about Kansas' misfortune's, but it is best to leave the Hatorade to other more pitiful fan bases. (I am looking squarely at you Louisville. All you have is to root against UK, and that is just sad.)

Speaking of only worrying about our team, they looked pretty good today, huh? We let Wake hang around for a few minutes, but it didn't take long for UK to break their will and win going away. Was one of the more dominating performances you will see in the NCAA second round. You have to love Cal calling out the talking heads after the game. Dicky V looks very smart right now, but we all need to be very careful. We are the best team left, but we have to keep our head in the game. Northern Iowa showed today that anything is possible. As Cal says, we can't drink the poison. Last time we rose to the top of the polls, we laid an egg against the Gamecocks.

I don't want to see all my Facebook friends crowing about how great we are until we cut down some nets. Keep your game face on people. I know we have the best talent left in this tournament, but games aren't won on paper. Our toughest opponent from this point on will be ourselves. If we continue to buy in and play suffocating defense, we are nearly unbeatable. If we revert, are lackadaisical rebounding, and don't make easy plays we can still get ourselves in trouble. I love our chances, but lets try to take some advice our Coach, and stay humble people. We have not played anybody yet. Wake Forrest is terrible, as is ETSU. The only way to play with UK is slowing us down, and Wake's strategy was to play an up tempo game. We won't face another coach that bad the rest of the way, and we are going to be tested from here on out.

Now that is out of the way, UK can't be beat when we make shots like we did in the first two rounds. A lot of that has to do with the pathetic defense we have seen, which is why I am trying not to lose my mind just yet. If we get this kind of production from our secondary players like Miller, Orton, Bledsoe, and Dodson, we are going to be EXTREMELY difficult to beat. We are firing on all cylinder's at the right time of the year, and everybody on the team is playing with confidence. Extremely exciting time to be a Wildcat fan. I still say we are own biggest opponent. If we stay away from the poison, you have to like our chances right now.

Shout out to Murray State, who went down to Butler today by two in a heart breaker. I wish they could have at least got a shot up at the end of the game, but there is no shame in losing to that team. The Butler did it to Murray in the second half, just like they did to UTEP. The Racers were a very worthy opponent, and that game could have gone either way late. Wish we got the shot up, but not anything to be ashamed of. Proud of the second best team in the Commonwealth this year. They have a lot of talent returning and have a chance to build on this year if they can keep everything together.

One more shout out to Demarcus Cousins. The big white kid from Wake was clearly trying to get to him, and he didn't let it happen. What do you think might have happened in that exchange three months ago? Chas might be going to his own funeral in a couple days, because Cuz would have taken his head off. He recognized what was going on, and didn't do anything to hurt his team. So, so proud of how he handled the whole situation. I also liked that Orton wasn't putting up with that stuff and let ole Chas know with a little love tap. Couldn't have been happier with how that whole scenario played out. You might see Orton get similar treatment to Cuz, as he has shown a propensity of losing his cool as well. If that is our biggest worry, I like our chances.

Check back here tomorrow for more coverage, and until then... Go BIG BLUE!!