Looking Back - The Things That I Regret Saying About Kentucky Before The 2014 NCAA Tournament

Note: This is a post that I began to write after the brackets for the 2014 NCAA Tournament came out in March and Kentucky was placed as a 8 seed in the extraordinarily difficult Midwest Regional with Wichita St., Louisville, Duke, and Michigan. Thankfully, I did not post it and forgot about the article (kinda like how everybody in the world has forgotten about Jimmer and his shooting ability, which I am still holding onto), but it is pretty funny to look back at and see how ridiculously wrong I was about Kentucky (never become skeptical of Big Blue Nation, Kevin Love's capacity to miss out on the playoffs, Chris Bosh's three point shooting capabilities, the power of Game of Thrones to shock you, or Jack Bauer's ability to escape certain death every episode). I was making fun of the Wildcats for having such a bad season after such high expectations (they had the worst regular season for a team ranked pre-season number 1 since either the UConn team in 1999-2000 with Khalid El-Amin that finished 25-10 and lost in the second round to Tennessee or the 1979-1980 Indiana team with Isiah Thomas, Butch Carter, and Mike Woodson that is the only club other then this Kentucky squad to fall out of the top 25 after being the pre-season number 1) and then they of course made a run to their second NCAA Championship Game in the last three years and their third Final Four under John Calipari since 2009-2010. Kentucky also became just the fifth 8 seed to reach the Final Four along with North Carolina and Wisconsin in 2000 (lost in the National Semifinals to Jason Richardson, Mateen Cleaves, and Michigan St. and Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem, and Florida respectively), Butler in 2011 (lost to Kemba Walker and UConn in a very poorly played title game), and Villanova in 1985 (beat Georgetown and Patrick Ewing in the famous championship upset by Rollie Massimino). The Wildcats are also now only behind North Carolina and UCLA in terms of Final Fours by school (Tar Heels have 18, Bruins have 17, UK has 16) and are tied with the Bruins for the most National Championship game appearances in college basketball history (both teams have 12). To summarize, I couldn't have been more wrong (this is a statement that Billy King, Ernie Grunfeld, and Reggie McKenzie must have felt like saying over and over).

It seems like yesterday that the college basketball season was just about to begin and some people actually thought that Kentucky could become the first team since the 1975-1976 Indiana Hoosiers team of Scott May, Kent Benson, and Tom Abernethy to go undefeated. Across the Bluegrass state, fans everywhere outside of Louisville and the KFC Yum Center were buying 40-0 t-shirts in honor of the Wildcats (people also thought that the Falcons could finally break through and win their first Super Bowl in franchise history after three straight seasons with more than 10 wins and yet they finished 4-12 in 2013, their fewest wins since 1996, so don't ever listen to pre-season predictions). Obviously, the Wildcats had a really strong recruiting class coming into the season with the likes of Julius Randle (a mix of Zach Randolph and Chris Webber), James Young, Darkari Johnson, the Harrison twins, and Marcus Lee. In the history of college basketball, there have been a lot of really great recruiting classes that have changed the course of the game for the next couple of seasons. In 1965, UCLA brought in Lew Alcindor, Lucius Allen, Ken Heitz, and Lynn Shackelford (a class so good that they beat the varsity team that went 18-8 by 15 in a scrimmage at Pauley Pavilion when freshmen were not allowed to play in their first year in college) and in 1979, Isiah Thomas, Jim Thomas, and Randy Whittman all came to Indiana to play for Bob Knight. Cincinnati's recruiting class when they brought in Oscar Robertson in 1956 or LSU's class when they got Pete Maravich in 1967 are right up there with the best of all-time because those two guards were just that good on their own. Other great classes in the modern era include Michigan's Fab Five of Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson from 1991, the 1999 Duke class of Carlos Boozer, Jay Williams, and Mike Dunleavy, Jr., the 2002 North Carolina class of Sean May, Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants, and David Noel, Florida's group of Corey Brewer, Al Horford, Taurean Green, and Joakim Noah from 2004, Ohio State's class of 2006 of Greg Oden, Mike Conley, David Lighty, and Daequan Cook, and finally Calipari's own class of Anthony Davis, Michael-Kidd Gilchrist, Marquis Teague, and Kyle Wiltjer from 2011. No matter how good Kentucky's 2013 recruiting class was made out to be by the high school recruiting experts or the pressure that would be taken off their backs by the return of the super athletic Alex Poythress and the shot-blocking Willie Cauley-Stein, to put them in that conversation without even stepping foot on the floor in Lexington was more absurd than The Plague by Albert Camus. In fact, Kentucky's pursuit of perfection lasted as long as Billy Donovan's coaching career with the Magic, or more aptly, Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries's marriage.

(You can't even feel bad for Kris Humphries. Why didn't he look at Reggie Bush? From 2007 to 2010 when the USC Heisman Trophy winner - excuse me, the 5-year Heisman Trophy winner before he gave it back - was with Kim Kardashian, Bush never even reached 600 rushing yards in a season with the Saints despite being just the second running back along with Ronnie Brown to go in the first two picks of the NFL draft since 1996. Without the Kardashian syndrome in the last three years, Bush has finished each season with more than 975 rushing yards, one of only six running backs to do so along with Adrian Peterson, Matt Forte, Marshawn Lynch, Frank Gore, and Chris Johnson. I'm calling this the Kardashian effect, which is the adverse repercussions that an athlete can face from dating a high profile celebrity, a list that includes Tony Romo, Amar'e Stoudemire, Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi, and Diego Forlan. Bush's improvement likely has more to do with the fact that he left the Saints and their group of running backs that is as big as the Spanish Armada and has gotten more than 215 carries every year since then with the Dolphins and Lions, but I refuse to believe that Kim doesn't factor into this equation. However, you can feel bad for Kris Humphries for getting completely Mozgoved by Blake Griffin earlier this season in January, which is a list that now pretty much includes Humphries, Mozgov, Gasol, Perkins, Ibaka, and is expending as fast as the NFL playoffs. The best part about watching Blake's dunk over Humphries over and over is looking at DeAndre Jordan's reaction to the dunk because he looks like he just saw Lincoln get shot by John Wilkes Booth).

Anyway, not only did Kentucky lose in their third game of the season to Michigan St. in the Champions Classic, and end their very short flirt with perfection that so many fans predicted, but they then lost 9 more times after that game in Chicago in the regular season. Their defeats included two losses to Arkansas (the first time Calipari has lost to one team twice in a season at Kentucky before the Wildcats fell three times to Florida later on in the season), once to a team in South Carolina that may have finished six games under .500 because their coach is so scary that they are probably afraid to do anything on the floor, and finally to a LSU team that the Wildcats had not lost to since they had Billy Gillispie as their head coach in 2008-2009 (any Kentucky stat that comes with the line since Billy Gillispie is just destined to not end well unless you consider their most losses in one season since 1989-1990 a step in the right direction). To make matters worse, the Wildcats were 1-6 against ranked opponents with losses to Michigan St., Baylor, North Carolina, and Florida three teams, had only one victory over a team inside the RPI top 40, which came against Louisville at Rupp Arena in December, and were a dismal 5-6 in true road games with their first loss in Columbia, South Carolina since the 2009-2010 season. Even after the Wildcats knocked off Pitino's Cardinals for the 5th time in their last 6 meetings, which is sometimes viewed as more important than the season itself (just ask Bill Curry about the importance of rivalries to a head coach, as the former Alabama coach had to leave Tuscaloosa to coach at Kentucky because despite having a 26-10 record with the Crimson Tide in three seasons and leading them to their first SEC title since Bear Bryant was the coach of the team in 1981, Curry was 0-3 against Auburn in the Iron Bowl, the worst streak against the Tigers since they lost 5 games in a row all the way back from 1954 to 1958), there was a vibe of dissatisfaction and almost sulking coming out of the Kentucky team.

You can look at so many different reasons why this Kentucky squad became just the 15th Wildcats team in the last 83 years dating back to when Adolph Rupp took over the program in 1930 to lose at least 10 regular season games in a season (just for fun, in comparison, Northwestern has had 73 regular seasons with at least 10 losses since 1930 including every year since 1958-1959. I'm not sure what is worse for the Collins family: Doug losing the Gold Medal to the USSR in that very controversial 1972 Olympic Game in Munich or Chris having to coach Northwestern).  Obviously, this season was the year of the freshmen with everybody falling in love with the standout first year players from across the nation including Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid, and Wayne Selden from Kansas, Jabari Parker of Duke, Aaron Gordon and Rondae-Hollis Jefferson from Arizona, Tyler Ennis at Syracuse, and Noah Vonleh from Indiana, which may have factored into people overrating just how good Kentucky's freshmen really were from the start of the season (other freshmen classes that can compete with this year include the 1979 class of Isiah Thomas, James Worthy, Ralph Sampson, Dominique Wilkins, Byron Scott, and Quintin Dailey, the 1981 class of Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, Ed Pinckney, and Sam Vincent and the 2007 class of Kevin Love, Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin, James Harden, Eric Gordon, DeAndre Jordan, and Michael Beasley).

Aside from Julius Randle, whose college basketball leading 24 double-doubles as a freshmen has only been surpassed by a first year player once since 1980 when Michael Beasley had a NCAA record 28 double-doubles for Kansas St. and Bob Huggins in 2007-2008, Kentucky's freshmen class was nowhere near what most people expected from it. For as much hype as the Harrisons got for being the best twin combination since the Sedins, the Barbers, or the Bryans, Andrew and Aaron played much more like the Morris or Collins twins than the Arsdale brothers with Kentucky this season. Andrew does more of the ball handling for the Wildcats at point while Aaron plays more so on the wing, but the Wildcats back-court pairing was often exploited by top guards like Keith Appling and Gary Harris from Michigan St. (scored a combined 42 points against the Wildcats), Marcus Paige from North Carolina (scored 23 points versus the Harrisons), and Scottie Wilbekin and Michael Frazier II from Florida (held the Harrisons to 18 combined points in their game in Gainesville). Andrew had the lowest assist-to-turnover ration among any player in a major college basketball conference and averaged nearly 3 turnovers per contest, and Aaron was not very assertive and refused to attack the rim in becoming purely an outside shooter, as in the 11 games where he scored 10 points or less, he shot a terrible 8-44 (18.1%) from three. Although the Harrisons both possess tremendous size for perimeters players and their 6-6 frame allows them to be disruptive defensively when they set their minds to it, they were often times not explosive enough to get by players and make plays offensively. Meanwhile, James Young is a good three point shooter for the Wildcats, but only Marshall Henderson from Ole Miss, Sean Kilpatrick from Cincinnati, Michael Frazier from Florida, Brady Heslip from Baylor, Ben Brust from Wisconsin, and Trevor Cooney from Syracuse took more threes than Young this season from teams in major conferences, which is somewhat concerning because Young morphed into solely a jump shooter, much like Aaron. Although Young does have a quick release to get his smooth looking jump shot off before defenders can close down on him, he can't really create his own shot, which hurts the Wildcats because Andrew often struggles to put his teammates into good positions to make plays. Marcus Lee dunks everything he can get his hands on off the backboard, but he has not seen a lot of action this season and Darkari Johnson is a big 7-footer that does have a basis for a good post game, but he is still developing and is only 18 years old.

It also seemed as if the Kentucky players thought that they would just roll through teams during the season and that when that didn't happen, they lost confidence because the Wildcats did not have the same fight that Calipari's 2011-2012 team so often showed and that was more reminiscent of the disaster that happened in Lexington last season with the unreliable Archie Goodwin leading the way. The thing that made the Anthony Davis team just so good, aside from the fact that they had Davis and everybody else didn't (there were some real good teams that year if you remember with Scoop Jardine, MCW, Dion Waiters, C.J. Fair, and Kris Joseph on Cuse, Kendall Marshall, John Henson, Reggie Bullock, Harrison Barnes, James McAdoo, and Tyler Zeller down in North Carolina, Aaron Craft, Deshaun Thomas, Jared Sullinger on Ohio St., and the Kansas team of Thomas Robinson, Tyshawn Taylor, and Jeff Withey), was that everybody in that UK group worked so hard defensively for one another. Whether it was defensive rotations, MKG switching onto a big man and having to guard him in the post, or Darius Miller taking on the opposing teams best player every night, that Kentucky team did whatever it had to do. However, this year's Wildcats squad has some real defensive deficiencies, as James Young is not particularly quick on the perimeter or strong enough to guard players inside at the four position and for as good as Julius Randle is offensively and in his mid-range game, he does not have real good ball awareness and he is not the best interior defender. The Wildcats rely to much on Willie-Cauley Stein and their length to block and change shots around the lane, which can work on occasion because Kentucky is just flat out more athletic than every team they play (the Wildcats are 10th in the nation in blocks per game with almost 6 each contest), but constantly letting guys into the paint is not a recipe for success no matter what. LSU is the only team in the SEC that allows more points from 2-pointers than Kentucky and despite their unmatched athleticism and size, Kentucky is 300th in the nation in forcing their opponents to turn over the ball, ahead of only Tennessee and Missouri in the SEC.

It has been an incredible college basketball season, one of the best in recent memory (I feel like I say this every year, but I actually mean it this time. Nonetheless, I guarantee you I will say the same thing next season when Coach K has his best Duke team since the days of Jay Williams and Carlos Boozer with his recruiting class of Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones, Justise Winslow, and Grayson Allen, Kansas brings in Cliff Alexander and Kelly Oubre to go with Wayne Selden and Perry Ellis, Kentucky reloads with whatever freshmen come back along with recruits Trey Lyles, Karl Towns, Devin Booker, and Tyler Ulis, SMU brings in a player that is better than anybody Larry Brown coached with the Bobcats from 2008-2010 with 6-5 point guard Emmanuel Mudiay, and Arizona and Wisconsin return loaded cores). We were able to see the individual greatness of players across the nation, including Doug McDermott, who now ranks behind only Pete Maravich of LSU, Freeman Williams from Portland St., La Salle's Lionel Simmons, and Alphonso Ford of Mississippi Valley State in career points in division I history, and also the outstanding play of freshmen like Jabari Parker, Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid, and Tyler Ennis. We were also fortunate enough to watch a team like Virginia win the ACC regular season and post-season titles and have their best year since the days of Ralph Sampson and Wichita St. become the first team since the 1990-1991 UNLV squad of Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, Greg Anthony, and Elmore Spencer to enter the NCAA tournament with an undefeated record. It was a great year for college basketball fans across the nation, except for in Lexington, where pre-season expectations of a 40-0 season have changed to people not being surprised if the Wildcats lose to Kansas St. in their first game of the tourney, and Calipari falling for the first time in the big dance since his Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones, and Doron Lamb squad lost in the Final Four to Kemba Walker and UConn back in 2011.

Note: After spending around 2,500 words bashing Kentucky for their disappointment of a season in going 24-10, they of course proved me wrong and taught me to never count out a team that has a starting line-up where every player is at least 6-6 and a McDonald's All-American. I should have known better then to think that Kansas St. could actually beat UK because the Wildcats have only won more than one game in the tournament once since 1989 when they made the Elite Eight with Jacob Pullen in 2010 (even the Mets, Jets, White Sox, and Michigan St. think that Kansas St. is a pretty obvious little brother to Kansas). I'm still not sure how Kentucky beat Wichita St. in their second game of the tourney in the 1-8 match-up, a game that was undoubtedly one of the best played NCAA tournament contests over the past few decades (Kentucky's win marked the fourth year out of the last five that a one seed has lost before the Sweet 16 with the others being when Northern Iowa knocked off Kansas in 2010, when Butler beat Pittsburgh in 2011, and when Gonzaga fell to Wichita St. in 2013). UK somehow knocked off the undefeated Shockers despite the fact that Wichita St. shot 55.1 percent from the floor, the 4th highest for any opponent against Calipari since he came to Lexington in 2009-2010, made 10 of 21 three pointers, averaged a ridiculously high 1.215 points per possession, the 2nd highest rate against Kentucky's defense all season long, and had Cleanthony Early score a season high 31 points on 12 of 17 shooting. Kentucky then turned to Aaron Harrison, who somehow morphed into Bryce Drew/Christian Laettner/Kenton Paulino/Drew Nicholas overnight and not once, not twice, but three times saved Kentucky with late three point clutch jump shots, all of which came from nearly the identical spot on the left side of the floor. Against Louisville in the Midwest Regional semifinals, down by one point with under a minute left, Russ Smith left Harrison open in the corner and he took a pass from Randle and knocked down the three to give UK the victory. In the elite eight against Michigan, with the game tied at 72, Aaron took a hand-off from his brother and hit a three over Caris LeVert with 2 seconds left to send the Wildcats to the Final Four. Finally, in the National Semifinals versus Wisconsin and with Kentucky down by two with 5 seconds left, Aaron hit literally the exact same three pointer to give the Wildcats the lead and the eventual win (if you want to see deja vu, don't watch the movie with Denzel Washington, but watch the final minute of Kentucky's games against Louisville, Michigan, and Wisconsin). The Wildcats run did come to an end when they were not able to get enough offense in the title game against a deserved National Champion in Shabazz Napier, Ryan Boatright, DeAndre Daniels and UConn, but they proved to never count a team out until they have been knocked out. With that knowledge in mind, I think the Pacers growing dysfunction will be the reason why they will lose in the winner-take-all game 7 against the undermatched Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference first round, but there is a pretty good chance that I will be writing a piece in June with the title, "Looking Back - The Things I Regret Saying About The Indiana Pacers Before The Eastern Conference Semifinals Even Began."

NCAA March Madness - East Regional Podcast Part 2

Rory's East Regional Bracket:

Round of 64:
1. Virginia
16. Coastal Carolina
8. Memphis
9. George Washington
5. Cincinnati
12. Harvard
4. Michigan St.
13. Delaware
6. North Carolina
11. Providence
3. Iowa St.
14. NC Central
7. UConn
10. Saint Joseph's
2. Villanova
15. Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Round of 32: 
1. Virginia
8. Memphis
5. Cincinnati
4. Michigan St.
11. Providence
3. Iowa St.
7. UConn
2. Villanova

East Regional Semifinals: 
1. Virginia
4. Michigan St.
3. Iowa St.
7. UConn

East Regional Finals:
1. Virginia
3. Iowa St.

NCAA March Madness - East Regional Podcast Part 1

Cory's East Regional Bracket:

Round of 64:
1. Virginia
16. Coastal Carolina
8. Memphis
9. George Washington
5. Cincinnati
12. Harvard
4. Michigan St.
13. Delaware
6. North Carolina
11. Providence
3. Iowa St.
14. NC Central
7. UConn
10. Saint Joseph's
2. Villanova
15. Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Round of 32: 
1. Virginia
8. Memphis
12. Harvard
4. Michigan St.
6. North Carolina
3. Iowa St.
7. UConn
2. Villanova

East Regional Semifinals:
1. Virginia
4. Michigan St.
3. Iowa St.
7. UConn

East Regional Finals:
4. Michigan St.
3. Iowa St.

The Los Angeles Kings Championship Proves That A Hot Team Is The Most Dangerous Team In The Postseason

Let me say one thing before I begin, I unequivocally hate the BCS and I am hoping that the proposed four team college football playoff will go into affect by the 2014 season.

I hate how the champion of each of the power six conferences (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC) receives an automatic bid to one of the BCS bowl games. Just look at 2011 when the Big East Champion Connecticut, who had a 8-5 overall record, got to play in the Fiesta Bowl, while Boise St., who had a 12-1 record during the season and a win over ACC Champion Virginia Tech, had to play in the Maaco Bowl Las Vegas because the WAC didn't have an automatic bid. I don't think anybody would argue that Connecticut was anywhere near as good of a team as Boise St. was that season.

I dislike that the different bowl committees determine which team will play in their bowl as the at-large selection because they often chose the team that will guarantee the most revenue and fan support, rather than the team that had the best season. Just look at last year when Virginia Tech, who didn't beat one team ranked in the top 25 at the end of the season and lost in the ACC title game by 28 points to Clemson, was selected over Kansas St., whose only two losses were to the highly ranked Oklahoma schools (Oklahoma and Oklahoma St.), as well as Boise St., who had a 11-1 record and beat the SEC East Champion Georgia Bulldogs, for the Sugar Bowl. Sugar Bowl CEO Paul Hoolahan referenced the fact that Virginia Tech's fan support was "extremely important" in their inclusion in the game, showing the extreme flaws in the BCS, as the Hokies were picked largely because their fan base travels well and the game would sell more tickets than if Kansas St. or Boise St. were playing.

With all that being said, unlike most other sport, almost every season the best team in college football walks away National Champion because the BCS National Championship game slates the number 1 ranked team vs the number 2 ranked team. Of course, some years there is debate over the teams in the title game, but often times the top two teams meet for all the marbles.

However, when you look at some of the other sports, the team that gets hot during the playoffs often wounds up champion rather than the best team during the length of the season.

We all love the upsets that come with March Madness, but the tournament winner is not always the best team, as it is often the team that gets hot coming into the big dance.

For instance, just two years ago, the Connecticut Huskies finished the regular season outside the top 20 and had a 9-9 mark in the Big East, which was only good enough for 9th place in the conference. In fact, the Huskies had a record of 0-7 against the top 5 teams from the Big East that year during the regular season (0-1 vs Pittsburgh, 0-2 vs Notre Dame, 0-1 vs Syracuse, 0-2 vs Louisville, and 0-1 vs St. John's).

However, the Huskies went on an incredible run en route to their Big East tournament title, as they became the first ever team in Big East history to win 5 games in 5 nights. On the back of their conference tournament championship, where they beat four straight highly ranked teams, the Huskies came into the NCAA tournament flying high with a ton of momentum. They used that momentum to mount a run through the tourney, where Kemba Walker led the Huskies to the program's 3rd ever National Championship. It is pretty obvious to see that the Huskies were the hottest team in college basketball coming into the big dance, and they rode their wining streak all the way to a National Championship.

A similar phenomenon has happened the past two years in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants Super Bowl runs. Both the Packers and the Giants were forced to fight for a playoff spot through the last week of the season, as they each had to win their final two games just to make the postseason.

Two years ago, the Packers were entering week 16 with a 8-6 record and had been thoroughly struggling, as they had dropped 3 of their previous 4 games. Coming into their final two games, only 1 of the Packers 8 wins had come against a team with a winning record at the time of the game.

Despite their struggles against quality opponents through the first 14 weeks, the Packers found a new gear in their final two outings of the regular season. In week 16, the Packers destroyed the playoff hopeful New York Giants, who had been a game ahead of the Packers in the NFC Wild Card standings entering the game, 45-17. The following week, in a must win game to hold off the Giants and Buccaneers against the NFC North division winning Chicago Bears, the Packers won in an ugly battle, 10-3.

The Pack used their late season momentum with wins over two very good teams to make a run through the postseason en route to their 4th Super Bowl in franchise history. The Packers had been in playoff mode since week 16 and were ready to go for the postseason, while the Eagles, for example had been resting their starters the previous week and looked rusty in their Wild Card loss to the Packers. The Pack also used the confidence from their win over the Bears to once again knock off their arch rivals in the NFC Championship game.

Last year's New York Giants are another example of a team that got hot right before the postseason and used their strong play entering the playoffs to propel themselves to a title.

Following a week 15 loss at home to the Washington Redskins, who had just 4 wins at the time, the Giants were sitting at 7-7 having dropped 5 of their previous 6 games. The Giants were really struggling defensively, especially in the secondary, as Drew Bress, Aaron Rodgers, and Tony Romo each threw for more than 320 yards against them in three consecutive losses.

However, the Giants turned their season around with two do or die wins at the end of the year. They topped their crosstown rival New York Jets in a huge game for both teams playoff chances and then won a winner take all NFC East divisional game against the Dallas Cowboys.

The wins sparked the Giants playoff run to the Super Bowl, as they came alive following their successful end to the regular season. Not only was the Giants confidence soaring, but they also were much sharper than other teams, like the Green Bay Packers, who had been resting their starters for the last week of the season.

This same pattern of not necessarily the best team winning the title, but rather the team that gets on a winning streak and is the hot team in the postseason, also showed itself during the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, as the Kings got on a roll and never looked back.

Everybody knows that in postseason hockey a hot goaltender can lead his team to a Stanley Cup title and that is exactly what happened with the Los Angeles Kings. Jonathan Quick had the most unbelievable stretch of 20 games of his life and his incredible play between the pipes were the main reason that the Kings became the first ever 8 seed in either conference to ever win the Stanley Cup. In fact, the Kings were just the second ever 8 seed to even reach the Stanley Cup finals, as the 2005-2006 Edmonton Oilers reached the Cup finals as an 8 seed, but ultimately fell in 7 games to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Quick had one of the greatest postseason stretches for a netminder in NHL history and his hot play gave the entire Kings team confidence that they could pull off a run through the postseason.

When the Kings joined the 1991 Minnesota Wild, the 2000 San Jose Sharks, the 2006 Edmonton Oilers, the 2009 Anaheim Ducks, and the 2010 Montreal Canadiens as just the 6th team to knock off the Presidents' Trophy winner in the first round, Jonathan Quick was the difference maker in the series. He held the Vancouver Canucks to just 5 goals in the Kings 4 victories and had a shutout in game 3 to put the Kings up 3-0 in the series.

In the Western Conference semifinals, the 2nd seeded St. Louis Blues scored just 6 goals in the entire 4 game series, as the Kings swept the Blues 4-0. The Kings used the strong play of Quick to become the first ever team to knock off both of the top two seeds in their conference during the playoffs. En route to their 2nd Conference Finals appearance in franchise history, the Kings had won 8 of their 9 playoff games and were riding high with confidence and momentum behind the out of this world play of Jonathan Quick.

In the Western Conference Finals against the Phoenix Coyotes, Quick had .939 save percentage and led the Kings to their 2nd Stanley Cup Finals appearance in franchise history and their 1st since 1993 when Wayne Gretzky and crew lost to the Montreal Canadiens in 5 games. Entering the Stanley Cup Finals the Kings had an overall postseason record of 12-2.

Finally, in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Kings jumped out to a 3-0 lead and Quick allowed a total of just 2 goals in the team's first three victories. Although the Devils won the next two games, as the Kings scored just 1 goal in both Game 4 and Game 5, Quick finished out the series with a dominant performance and his hot play led the Kings to their first Stanley Cup in their 44-year franchise history.

Deservedly so, Quick won the Conn Smyte Trophy and added on to the long line of goaltenders who were awarded the playoff MVP award after they led their team to an appearance in the Stanley Cup. Quick became the 5th netminder in the past 11 postseason since 2001 (no postseason in 2005 due to the NHL lockout) to take his team to the Cup Finals and win the Conn Smyte award, showing that a hot goaltender often leads to success in the playoffs.

Kings center Colin Fraser said, "I've said to my buddies, we've got the right team, but we just have to get hot at the right time. The last six weeks of the regular season, we were in a dogfight just to get into the playoffs and we got hot at the right time. We just started rolling."

UNLV Is Going To Be A Very Dangerous Team Next Year

After leading Oklahoma to a poor 15-16 record and an 8th place finish in the 10 team, Big 12 with a 5-13 conference mark, Lon Kruger has to be looking back at his former job and envying that he isn't in Dave Rice's position. Kruger, who left UNLV to take the Oklahoma job last year, left the door open for Rice, who was a former Jerry Tarkanian player with the Rebels when they won the National Championship in 1990, to take over the job.

Rice's first year at UNLV began with a bang after his Rebels knocked off the top ranked North Carolina Tar Heels in the Las Vegas Classic. It was the first time that the Rebels had beaten a number 1 ranked team since 1989 when they toppled number 1 overall seeded Arizona in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. UNLV finished the season 26-9 and earned themselves a trip to the big dance, as Rice became the first coach in UNLV history to lead the Rebels to the tournament as a first year head coach.

After a successful first year at UNLV, bigger and better things are going to be expected next year from the Rebels. Not only does the team return their monster rebounder and double-double machine Mike Moser as well as their all-around playmaking guard Anthony Marshall, but Rice has also been able to load up this off-season by luring in top recruits and transfers from other schools.

Unlike other post-Tarkanian UNLV coaches, Rice has been able to compete with other top flight college basketball programs in terms of recruiting. Under Lon Kruger, the Rebels were unable to keep players from high school powerhouse Findlay Prep in-state. From 2009 to 2011, 5 Findlay Prep players were top 25 recruits according to ESPN 100, and the Rebels were unable to land any of them.

However, Dave Rice was able to secure one of UNLV's best recruiting classes of all-time when the number 7th ranked recruit according to ESPN, Anthony Bennett, announced that he would stay in Vegas and commit to UNLV instead of going to play for Florida, Washington, Oregon, or Kentucky. Bennett, a 6'8'' McDonald's All-American power forward, can step out and shoot the three-ball as well as use his size and strength down low in the paint. Bennett will also be joined by shooting guard Katin Reinhardt from Mater Dei in California, who is the number 47th ranked recruit according to ESPN. The signings of Bennett and Reinhardt will likely make an impact right away as both players will see a lot of playing time. UNLV's recruiting class was ranked number 13 by ESPN, above powerhouse programs like Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Florida.

But the fun doesn't end there for the Rebels, as Rice has been able to lure high quality tranfers to the UNLV program.

Former USC guard Bryce Jones and former Pittsburgh center Khem Birch will both be apart of the Rebels plans for a major season next year.

Bryce Jones, who was ranked 69th in the 2010 recruiting class according to ESPN, was unhappy with his lack of playing time at USC after Jio Fontan became eligible to play for the Trojans, while he also had off the court issues with teammate Garrett Jackson. Jones is going to be a very important piece to UNLV's success next year, as the 6'5'' guard is extremely long and athletic and can shot the ball from three. In the Trojans first 8 games, Jones averaged nearly 13 points per outing.

Khem Birch will be one of the most interesting stories to watch around college basketball next year. The 6'9'' big man will be eligible to play for Dave Rice's squad around Christmas time and the Rebels will be hoping that they will be able to get the most out of the former McDonald's All-American and 12th ranked recruit (in ESPN's 2011 recruiting rankings). Birch, who left Pittsburgh mid-season last year after being disgruntled with his teammates and the team's playing style, has a tremendous amount of ability and talent. Birch is a very good rebounder and shot blocker, as shown by his 6 block game in just 29 minutes against Robert Morris last year, and will only continue to improve on the offensive end of the floor.

Finally, former Connecticut power forward Roscoe Smith has decided to transfer to UNLV from the Huskies as a result of UConn's 2013 postseason tournament ban. Connecticut is unable to play in next year's NCAA tournament because the basketball program didn't reach the NCAA's academic standards from 2009 to 2011, as they had a low Academic Progress Rate. Usually the NCAA only grants waivers to players whose postseason bans span over their entire eligibility, but Smith is going to ask the NCAA for a wavier to not have to sit out a season although he has two years of eligibility remaining and UConn's ban only spans one year.

Nonetheless, Smith is a very nice transfer to land, as the big man is a solid rebounder and also a very good defender. Smith is able to impact the game without taking a lot of shots and his productivity will increase with the added minutes that he will get in the Rebels frontcourt.

UNLV is not going to be just a dangerous mid-major team, but they are going to be in the picture as one of the best teams in the country. They are loaded in both the backcourt with Anthony Marshall, Justin Hawkins, Katin Reinhardt, and Bryce Jones, as well as in the frontcourt with Mike Moser, Anthony Bennett, Khem Birch, and possibly Roscoe Smith if he is eligible to play.

UConn vs Butler Reaction

NCAA Tournament Final Score: UConn 53 - Butler 41 (Lowest score for the winner of an NCAA tournament championship game since 1949 when Kentucky beat Oklahoma A&M 46 to 36)

• Butler had a horrible night shooting from the floor. They were 3 of 31 from inside the arc, which is six fewer buckets, not from three, than any other title game participant. Butler was 12 for 64 from the field, which is the least field goals in a championship game since Oklahoma St. only converted 12 in 1949 against Kentucky. Butler's 18.8 percent shooting from the field was the lowest ever in an NCAA championship game topping when Washington St. shot 21.5 percent in the 1941 championship game. It is the third lowest shooting percentage in NCAA tournament  history. Butler was also only 27.3 percent from behind the arc, making just 9 of 33 threes.
• Butler had extremely long stretches during the second half when they couldn't score and went on long droughts. They didn't score from the 12:32 mark until there were 6:13 remaining in the second half. With 12:32 remaining in the half, UConn was leading 33 to 28. With 6:13 left in the game, UConn had a 41 to 30 lead.
• Butler's leading scorers, Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard, both struggled from the floor. Mack finished the game 4 for 15 from the floor including only making 4 of 11 three-point attempts. He was the only Bulldog in double figures with 13 points. Howard was 1 of 13 from the floor including 1 of 6 from three. He only had 6 points and was frustrated by the size of Alex Oriakhi the entire night.
• Andrew Smith also struggled down in the past, only scoring 5 points on 2 of 9 shooting.
• UConn had 10 blocks including four from Roscoe Smith and four from Alex Oriakhi, tied for the most in a NCAA championship game.
• After sitting out much of the first half with 2 fouls, Jeremy Lamb scored all 12 of his points in the second half. Lamb scored five early second half points, including a three to give UConn a one point lead, which they never surrendered. His length on the defensive end frustrated Shelvin Mack in the second half, as he only scored six points.
• Alex Oriakhi may have had the best title game of anybody on the court. He had his first double-digit scoring game of the tournament with 11 points. He had his first double-double since the semifinals of the Big East tournament adding 11 rebounds to go along with his 5 of 6 shooting. His size on the interior forced Matt Howard and Andrew Smith to a combined 3 of 22 shooting. Oriakhi had 4 blocks, his most since February 5th as well.
• Although Kemba Walker struggled shooting from the floor, only making 5 of his 19 shots including going 0 for 4 from three, he added 9 rebounds and still scored 16 points to lead UConn to the victory. Kemba and the boys are now national champions.

UConn vs Butler First Half Reaction

NCAA Tournament Final Halftime Score: Butler 22 - UConn 19 (The lowest scoring first half in a championship game since 1946 between Oklahoma A&M and North Carolina)

• Both teams showed early game jitters in the first few minutes. Kemba Walker was 0 for 5 from the field for the first 7 minutes of the game and Shelvin Mack began the game 0 for 4. Butler began the game 0 of 6 on two point shots and was 2 of 16 from the field. Their third field goal came with 10:18 remaining in the half.
• Jeremy Lamb's length bothered Butler's star guard Shelvin Mack. He was 0 for 4 from the field including 0 of 2 from three through 16 minutes.
• Butler did a great job of hedging and double-teaming Kemba Walker off screens. Walker was 3 of 11 from the field and only scored 7 points. 
• UConn's freshman including Jeremy Lamb, Roscoe Smith, Tyler Olander, and Shabazz Napier had a total of 2 points in the first half.
• Matt Howard struggled with the size of the UConn frontline. He was 1 of 6 from the field and only had 5 points in the first half. He had more success when he stepped out on the perimeter and made the UConn big men guard him outside the paint.
• UConn had 26 rebounds including 10 on the offensive end. They had 9 field goals in the first half and 8 of them were in the paint. UConn outscored Butler 16 to 0 in points in the paint.
• UConn was hampered by foul trouble, as Butler was in the bonus with 9:02 remaining in the half. Jeremy Lamb, Alex Oriakhi, Kemba Walker, and Roscoe Smith all picked up two fouls. 
• Mack began to score in the second half when Lamb went to the bench. He hit two threes and finished the half with 7 points after Lamb left the game with two fouls.
• Both teams struggled to score on the offensive end of the court and went on long periods of droughts. Butler didn't have a field goal form the 4:17 mark until Shelvin Mack hit a three at the buzzer. Butler had 6 field goals the entire half and shot under 20 percent from the floor. They were 5 of 14 from three in the half. UConn didn't score from the 18:23 mark until 14:54 remaining in the first half. They also went from 12:34 to 7:51 without scoring.

Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb lead UConn into the elite eight over San Diego St.

Over the past 17 days, the Connecticut Huskies played five games in the Big East tournament and three games in the NCAA tournament. Many people questioned weather UConn could continue to play at such a high level because of the fatigue of playing so many games in such a short time span. Kemba Walker answered that question by saying, "The one thing I don't want to beat us is fatigue. Do I get tired? Yeah, after the game. Not during it. I tell myself, I'm not tired … If it's 40 minutes, I might as well play 40 minutes." Walker has backed up what he said by playing 304 of the teams 324 minutes in his last eight games including missing only one minute in the teams last two games. The Huskies needed all 40 of Walker's minutes to beat the San Diego State Aztecs 74 to 67 and advance to the regional finals. 

Walker had another great game by scoring 36 points. He made shots from all different angles and areas on the court going 12 for 25 from the floor. San Deigo St. coach Steve Fisher said after the game, "We were going to vary who guarded him, go with Chase [Tapley] to start with and either fatigue or success by Walker, we had it planned all along that Billy was going to guard him for a good portion of the game. And it didn't matter who was guarding him, he was pretty effective today." Walker was helped by freshman Jeremy Lamb who combined with Walker to score 60 of the teams 74 points. Lamb only missed two shots the entire game and added 24 points. UConn needed all they could from Walker and Lamb because all the other Huskies went 6 for 27 from the field and the bench scored only 2 points. 

The game changing play may have been with more than 9 minutes remaining. After a D.J. Gay layup gave the Aztecs a two point lead, James Franklin stole a sloppy inbound pass from Alex Oriakhi and dished to Billy Whte for a layup. The frustrated Jim Calhoun called a timeout and as the teams were going back to their benches James Franklin picked up a technical foul for bumping Kemba Walker. Walker defended the call by saying, "The contact was definitely enough to go down. That's why I was able to get the free throws. I was on my way to the huddle, and he ran into me." After the technical foul, UConn went on a 16 to 4 run the next 5 minutes and change. During the run, Kemba Walker scored 14 of his 22 second half points. Although San Diego St. cut the UConn lead to one with 2:57 remaining in the game, Jeremy Lamb and Kemba Walker scored UConn's final 9 points to secure the victory. 

The loss is a tough one for the Aztec, who finished the season 34-3. Steve Fisher said, "When your season comes to a screeching halt, like it will for every team with one exception, it hurts. It should hurt, regardless of when, where and how. For our team this year, for what they've accomplished, it hurts exponentially more. I could not be more proud of how we competed, how hard we played, and unfortunately we came up a bit short." San Diego State's leading scorer and rebounder and second team All-American Kawhi Leonard could only play 29 minutes because of foul trouble and finished with 12 points. Leonard shot more threes in the NCAA tournament than free throws, which isn't a stat that Steve Fisher would like to see. He settled for jump shots instead of attacking the lane and using his great athleticism to score. The Aztecs struggled from three only shooting 31.8 percent including Chase Tapley, who went 1 for 7 from behind the arc.

Kemba Walker said, "I'm just trying to do the best I can do. Whether it's scoring, talking, getting their confidence up or giving an assist, I'm just trying to do whatever is possible to enhance this team." If the Huskies continue to play well on defense and ride Kemba on offense, they have a great chance of knocking off the Arizona Wildcats and heading to the final floor. Jim Calhoun said about his team, "I couldn't have asked for a better gift than this team, and then we get this. I don't remember anything quite like this. This is different. This team genuinely believes in themselves and each other."

A Key to San Diego St. vs Uconn

How San Diego St. will defend Kemba Walker: Steve Fisher, the head coach of San Diego St., said about his team having to guard Kemba Walker in the sweet sixteen, "We have some experience guarding top notch players like Kemba. We are going to use the athleticism of Billy White mostly but all our guys sometime will take a shot at him. The one thing you have to do to a player like Kemba is switch off on him and not show him the same defense every time down the court. We had a lot of success doing this against Jimmer Fredette so we hope we can do it against Kemba Walker." In San Diego State's two losses to BYU, Jimmer Fredette scored a combined 68 points and had 9 assists one game. When the Aztecs got their third crack at Fredette, he was stifled and frustrated on the offensive end, going 10 for 25 from the field including 2 for 7 from three. The Aztecs hope that Billy White's size at 6-8 and length complemented by his athleticism will force Kemba Walker into difficult shots much like how Jimmer had to settle for tough jumpers. San Diego St. will try to keep Kemba off the free throw line, where he went 14 for 14 in Uconn's third round win over Cincinnati. It is key that White will not slow down and begin to show fatigue as the game goes along, as he doesn't normally guard players on the perimeter. This is key as Kemba plays nearly every minute of every game, as long as he isn't in foul trouble. White usually only plays about 27 minutes per game but may have to be on the floor for the entire game to make sure that Walker doesn't get hot from the field. San Diego St. may also try to guard Kemba with a quicker guard like Chase Tapley. The Aztecs will have to double Kemba off screens, put some full court pressure on him, and also play some zone to switch up the defenses on Walker. This formula helped contain Fredette and will hopefully for Aztec fans, contain Walker.