It would be hard to imagine two teams that are more opposite then Kentucky and Cornell.
[B]Kentucky (34-2) vs. Cornell (29-4)[/B]
David, meet Goliath. Goliath, this is David.
When the Cats battle the Big Red late Thursday night (9:57 p.m. to be precise), it will be a game largely determined by which team is able to enforce its will on the other.
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Kentucky, with a roster that is loaded with freaks of athleticism, will look to speed the ball up and down the court and overwhelm Cornell with size, speed and talent.
The Big Red, with a roster that is filled with very smart kids that can handle the ball and shoot, will hope to slow the tempo down and take high percentage, open looks.
On-the-court plans are one of about a thousand ways these two teams differ, however.
The Wildcats, college basketball’s all-time winningest program, has 102 NCAA Tournament wins during its glorious history. Cornell has two – ever. In fact, the Ivy League as a whole hadn’t won a single NCAA Tournament game in over a decade until the Big Red got hot last week.
Cornell’s home arena seats almost 4,500 fans. Rupp Arena has held more than 24,000 fans for big games.
Kentucky’s third 5 group of players are bigger names in the college basketball world than Cornell’s starting 5, which has gone 29-4 to this point.
The Cats could host one heck of a dunk contest in their multi-million dollar practice facility. Cornell might be better suited to host an academic meet.
I could go on-and-on, but let’s talk about one similarity between the two teams. All kidding aside, Kentucky and Cornell will meet on the hardwood Thursday night for an opportunity to advance to college basketball’s Elite Eight.
Despite the differences between these two programs, this could prove to be a tremendous battle and make no mistake, Cornell is a good enough basketball program to advance. Ask Kansas how good this program is (you’ll have to contact the Jayhawks in Lawrence, by the way; you won’t be able to find them in St. Louis this weekend).
Regardless of who wins, one thing is for certain – Kentucky and Cornell will prove the old adage that “opposites attract” to be true this week in Syracuse.
[B]Note:[/B] This guest blog was written by Anthony Wireman, who operates [URL=”http://www.allkyhoops.com”]Bluegrass State Basketball[/URL]
[B]Twitter:[/B] [URL=”http://www.twitter.com/awireman”]www.twitter.com/awireman[/URL]
