Josh White
#1 Kentucky Wildcats vs. #16 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
Thursday, March 15, 2012, KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, KY
6:50PM Tipoff, TBS
You sat and watched the Selection Show, you silently wondered who we ticked off as a fanbase to draw the regional we did. You’ve did your brackets, redid your brackets, and just to be consistent you redid it once more. And now, it’s time for March Madness to go into full swing. Despite losing in the SEC Finals, the NCAA Selection Committee bestowed upon Kentucky the top overall seed, and they go into the tournament playing the winners of Tuesday’s play-in game, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.
It’s been a rough and tumble season for the Hilltoppers so far. There’s been more twists and turns in their season than an episode of WWE Raw. Remember back on January 5, when WKU lost to Louisiana-Lafayette in overtime when ULL played the last twenty seconds with six players on the floor? The refs didn’t notice (or care, who knows?) the discrepancy, and Lafayette was able to score the winning layup with little resistance. In what may or may not have been related, Western fired coach Ken MacDonald the next day after a 5-11 record. Since naming assistant Ray Harper the interim coach, they finished the regular season 10-7, including 8 of their last 9. They also pulled another miracle when they came back from 16 down with 5 minutes to go in regulation to defeat Mississippi Valley State, the biggest point differential overcome with five minutes to go in NCAA tournament history.
Western Kentucky also relies heavily on the play of Freshman, with seven playing meaningful minutes on the season. Freshman guard Derrick Gordon is Western’s leading scorer and rebounder at 11.8 points and 6.8 boards per game, and is also a high school teammate of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Freshman forward George Fant contributes 10.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. The Hilltoppers aren’t a particularly good shooting team, but their best shooting option is freshman guard T.J. Price, who shoots them at a 35.3% clip. He had been shooting 8-for-15 from downtown before going cold and missing all five of his treys against Mississippi Valley State.
PREDICTION:A sixteen seed has never beaten a one seed since the NCAA went to a 64-team bracket. Odds are it won’t happen this year either, but we shouldn’t count out the Hilltoppers just yet. After a horrendous start to the season, Western has went on to play some inspired basketball, winning their last seven and coming from behind to win each of those games, somewhat reminiscent of Tubby Smith’s 1998 team that won the National Championship. That’s not to say that the Toppers are going to shock the world and rumble on to New Orleans, but they’re not going to go gently into the night either. They’ll bring their very best to the table tonight, even if it’s in a losing effort. If I’ve learned anything from all my years of watching the NCAA Tournament (and my futile attempts to fill in a correct bracket), it’s that anything’s possible come tournament time. All that said, the oddsmakers have installed UK as a 25 point favorite, and I can’t say they’re wrong. Kentucky moves on to face UConn or Iowa State.
Kentucky 84, Western Kentucky 57
