Out Smarted? Try Out Played

When the average SAT scores of the Cornell University basketball players was shown next to the average SAT scores of the Kentucky Wildcats, the difference of some 600 points was enough to draw a smile to everyone's face. Cornell, a 12 seed dancing in the Sweet 16, was along side Northern Iowa, St. Mary's, and Butler; a mid-major team playing with a unique style of basketball this March. Up until last night, the conservative style was a winning formula. Meet Kentucky. The strategy of playing strong zone defense in the half court, minimizing turnovers, and launching threes until even Dick Vitale gets tired of yelling was Cornell's plan. Kentucky downsized it. The Wildcats ripped the ball out of the hands of Cornell players, ran the fast break, and slammed the ball into the rim; leaving Big Red players standing at half court wiping the dust off their faces. What Kentucky did Thursday night was not only play their way into the Elite Eight, but proved that sheer athleticism still dominates a basketball court. But why are they alone?

Kentucky has done all it can to prove that the most successful style of College basketball is still run and gun. However their "running" mates are not helping the cause. Kansas, the nation's top team, fell to 9 seed Northern Iowa in the second round, while Villanova a 2 seed, lost by seven to 10 seed St. Mary's in the second round as well. And Thursday night, if that wasn't enough, Syracuse, another 1 seed, fell to 5 seed Butler in the Sweet Sixteen. Kentucky fended off the disciplined style basketball just fine. They ran whenever Cornell went for an offensive rebound, swiped at the ball every time a guard put it on the floor, and put pressure in the face of every player for every second of 40 minutes when they yearned to be comfortable. For all white basketball teams, comfortability is the name of the game. If you let a team that is one, hardly athletic, and two, purely living and dying behind the three point line, control the tempo of a basketball game, the score will stay close long enough for them to get hot; then it becomes hell trying to climb back in.

Every top seed's worst night mare is coming true this March; parody. Basketball "intelligence" is becoming a catch phrase constantly associated with winning. As more and more teams flood the news feeds of College Basketball with their cinderella stories, the only way to assure fans that the sport isn't changing is to shut them up. Kentucky did. They showed the NCAA Basketball world that mere talent can still win big. But the rest of the "elite" aren't helping the cause.

JD