On the left side of the bracket, we have a familiar matchup in Kansas vs. Kansas State. Look for both team's fans to make the trip to see this rivalry game play out on the big stage. Kansas has won all three games this year, but it's the Final Four now, so none of those really matter. Kansas St. was definitely not expected to reach this point, so they will really be playing with nothing to lose. Kansas would be disappointed if they don't have a chance to get back to the title game, with all the preseason hype and them being the #1 overall seed. All these factors that put the pressure on Kansas point to the potential for a K-State upset right? Wrong. Kansas is not going to get nervous being on the big stage, having been in the same situation two years ago, and having gone through a humbling experience losing to Michigan St last year. They are ready to seal the deal once again, and look for them to come out fighting and jump on Kansas St. before holding on to win.
The second matchup is also not without it's share of intrigue. Kentucky's diaper dandies have relied on talent and not experience to get to Indianapolis, while Baylor is in completely uncharted territories. Baylor can match Kentucky's three-some of Wall, Cousins, and Patterson with it's less heralded, but immensely talented trio of Tweety Carter, LaceDarius Dunn, and Ekpe Udoh. And the Bears also have some frontcourt depth to bang with the Wildcats, having two other seven footers on their roster that get playing time. But as we saw yesterday in the Kentucky game, Kentucky has so many more scoring threats such as underrated guard Eric Bledsoe (who made 8 three-pointers yesterday) and Darius Miller. Baylor doesn't have the ammunition to keep up for a full fourty minutes in this one. It should be a close game until the end, with Kentucky pulling away to seal the win and meet Kansas in the final.
Kansas vs. Kentucky. Two of the most storied programs in the history of college basketball. The top two teams this year. Self vs. Calipari part 2. Future NBA draft picks all over the floor. It's the game that everyone has been waiting for. Honestly at this point, you'd have to nitpick pretty hard to extract any kind of difference in talent between the two teams. So the deciding factor has to be experience. Kansas has this, while only Kentucky's coach has it. The Baby Wildcats have grown up mightily throughout the tournament, but this is the biggest of big in college basketball. They are too talented to not keep the game close, but I see this game being eerily similar to the Kansas-Memphis game two years. Look for suspect free-throw shooting from Kentucky down the stretch to put Kansas over the top.
Must be nice to be a Kansas basketball fan.
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