[Stardust]

This loss is a tough to pill to swallow for Kentucky.

I want to make something very clear right now. Kentucky did not in any way lose this game because of youth or inexperience. When you shoot that poorly from the free-throw line/three-point line, you will get beat; especially to a team as good as West Virginia. WVU should have won this game by 20+ the way UK was shooting. I think Coach Cal was outcoached tonight, but I am in no way about to turn on him. He is the man for the job and there will be more opportunities in the future such as these. The thing is, why take so many three's? I seriously don't understand. I mean, dribble into 15-17 feet and shoot a mid-range jumper. You don't have to shoot 30+ three's, especially if they're not falling.

Bob Huggins played a very effective 1-3-1 zone to keep the ball out of the paint. This made our guards think (they only thought they had to shoot these three's, they should have penetrated the zone) they had to jack up three's to force WVU out of the zone. I'm not sure why our guards couldn't figure out that penetrating the zone was the only answer. UK had the size to get offensive rebounds. It's a lot easier to offensive rebound when you're shooting shots that are closer to the basket. The thing about this was rebounding wasn't the problem. UK outrebounded WVU 51 to 36. It's pretty sad when you dominate the glass like UK did and get beat.

Free throws also killed UK tonight. This is the only thing I put on Coach Cal. I have said all year that when there is a tight game and the game is on the line, I really don't trust our guys to knock down shots from the charity stripe throughout the game. Overall, a pitiful performance from the line and there is absolutely no excuse for it. Don't think free-throw shooting won't get you beat and it's not important, because it can and it will. Why Coach Cal (and all coaches for that matter) don't emphasize that more, I will never know.

WVU wasn't really that impressive on the offensive end. They were hot and knocked down a few three's in the first half to get an early lead. They maintained this lead throughout when UK literally let Joe Mazzulla have four or five layups. I mean, Mazzulla literally had layups that were easier to make than when in warmups before a game. WVU kept running a play where UK's defensive players (usually Cousins or Dodson that I seen) went around the screen instead of under it and that led to the easiest of layups for Mazzulla.

Mazzulla pretty much had the game of his life at the right time of the year. He played pretty good defense and knocked down some key free-throws that made his 55% shooting from the line look like a misprint. All of WVU's players for that matter made their free-throws down the stretch and kept UK a distant 6-10 points away.

I will say this one more time: Kentucky DID NOT lose this game because of playing so many freshmen and they were inexperienced. I don't want to hear that garbage. Shooting beat this team tonight, NOTHING ELSE. Being young had absolutely nothing to do with it. I don't care what Jay Bilas, Pat Forde, Doug Gottlieb, or whoever says about it. It's garbage. This team had a whole season of experience and winning close games. Look what experience got Kansas: a big second-round exit. So, don't tell me anything about experience. It shouldn't even be mentioned. It's a bunch of horse manure.

I really hate to see this season end because of how incredible it was. John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, and Eric Bledsoe were a pleasure to watch and it will be tough seeing them go. Ramon Harris, Perry Stevenson, and Mark Krebs will be remembered as well for putting playing time aside and just accepting their roles on the team.

It was an incredible year and UK's "Glory Days" rebirth have just begun. Go Big Blue!

First Paragraph: I agree, UK was not beat because of their youth, they were beat by a better team. UK's Freshman were no longer Freshman once the SEC league play began. These players were the best players in the nation. Wall, Cousins, Orton and Bledsoe became top college basketball players, and youth did not play a factor from that point on. As for being outcoached, that was defintely a factor. Cal has never shown that he is a great X's & O's guy. He puts the best talent on the floor and rolls the ball out. His hsitory in the NCAA tournament against teams of equal caliber has proven my point though this will ruffle the fans of my team, UK, Cal is not in the same category as Coack K & Rick Pitino in game strategy. Too often, too many times, we have relied on talent instead of adjusting game plan. I am a huge UK fan and I am completely satisfied with this team, so say all you want, I'm telling it like it is. Cal is a great recruiter, but has had a history of not making the right game changes.

Second Paragraph: Bob Huggins IS a good coach. He has always take the games pariahs and turned them into a team. Having witness many of his games at UC, he relies on a M2M defense. yet, he will press, he will play a 3-2 zone, he will half court trap, and as we saw last night, play a 1-3-1. He will coach the game at hand. He will take the other teams strengths away. He will coach a very physical game and he will bark on the sidelines until he gets the calls that he wants. I typically hate the coach that barks and barks, but if the barking gets the calls for your team, well then I take my hat off, because he got the refs to call the game that MY COACH couldn't influence. As for rebounding, when you shoot 0-20 three pointers, you should be getting rebounds, thus I the rebounding factor meant zero. We did not get the kind of rebounds that made a difference.

Third Paragraph: You said it as well as I could have. We were terrible in FT shooting. It was no secret that this team over the last four weeks progressively got worse in FT% with each game. That is not typical of the great teams. FT% goes up down the stretch of the season. Ft% cost Memphis a National championship, I would have hoped our team would have put more emphasis on this down the stretch.

Fourth Paragraph: "WVU wasn't really that impressive on the offensive end. They were hot and knocked down a few three's in the first half...":igiveup: What? WVU made EIGHT three pointers in the first half. It was the only, I repeat only FG's they made in the first half. And we couldn't get out and defend it? That's the only shots they were taking, and our defense didn't know it was coming? At what point to you defend the three and make them beat you in the paint where we have the best frontline in the nation! And the Cats, at what point does someone on the sidelines say "We are 0-20", lets play the Dribble Drive". Yep, experience didn't lose the game, but maybe the experience on the sideline could have been more helpful.

Fifth Paragraph: Though Mazzula scored the most points in a game in his career, it was not the game of his life. This was the starting point guard for WVU his Sophmore year when he suffered career ending shoulder damege, but give it to this kids heart, he battled back and was actually getting more minutes per game than Bryant once the BEAST tournament started. This kid is a player, and yesterday, he outplayed the BEST point guard in the nation. My hats off to this young man, he was awesome. Lucky, no way. He stepped up to the challenge and WON!

You are absolutely right, experience did not lose this game for the Cats. But, it didn't win it for them either. Let's all face it, we were beat by the better team last night. Yeah, I go with the theory that play this game 10 times and UK wins more than they lose, but that's not how the National Championship is decided. You put all your marbels on the tabel, and may the best team, with the most heart, and best gameplan, and the most discipline win. That is exactly what happened last night. The most disciplined team won.

I wish WVU fans all the best in the Final 4. They deserve to be there, they earned it. Hate on them all you want my fellow UK fans, the Mountaineers came in with a better game plan, and they executed it!

As for the Cats, this was an awesome run. Not knowing if we will have much of this core back next year, I could really care less. This group put UK Basketball back on the National scene. This team started what will be the next UK Dynasty. Though we may never see four year superstars at UK for a long time, I'll take the telent and hope that they can get me dancing every March!