For just a few moments Sunday afternoon, a Georgia Dome crowd of 24,035 fans got quiet, even with 90 percent of them in blue and buzzing that Kentucky had just wrapped up a return trip to the Final Four.
Just before the South Region trophy presentation, while CBS TV cameras waited idle for a commercial break, Kentucky’s players gathered on the NCAA logo at midcourt. Clad in region champion T-shirts and caps, they danced.
No music played from the public address system. Neither pep band started up. Not even a “Go Big Blue” chant could be had from the Kentucky faithful. But then again, this assembled group of Wildcats has been grooving to its own beat for a while now.
Kentucky, the No. 1 seed overall in the NCAA tournament, just advanced to the Final Four in a borderline snoozer, 82-70 over Baylor. It wasn’t nearly that close, and Baylor knew it.
“We haven’t played a better team than them all year, and I don’t know in the last couple years,” said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose Bears had a school-record 30 wins, were a No. 3 seed and playing in their second Elite Eight in three years.
Kentucky (36-2) advanced to its second consecutive Final Four and 15th in school history, matching Duke for third all-time behind North Carolina (18) and UCLA (17). Waiting in New Orleans are Louisville and former Kentucky coach Rick Pitino in the first ever Final Four meeting between the in-state rivals.
For the Cardinals watching Kentucky play on TV Sunday, the scouting report had to look daunting.
Baylor has one of the more athletic front lines in college basketball, but next to the likes of Kentucky’s Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Terrence Jones, the Quincy’s and company looked almost pedestrian.
“They’ve got some good dudes down there,” said 6-7 forward Quincy Acy, who led Baylor with 22 points and eight rebounds.
Quincy Miller finished with only three points. Perry Jones III had 17 points, but only two in the first half when the game was all but decided.
Davis, meanwhile, finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots for Kentucky. Kidd-Gilchrist scored 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the floor on his way to being named the South Region’s most outstanding player, after scoring 24 on Friday night. They were among four Wildcats in double figures Sunday.
The old adage that a better coach can take an opponents’ team and win with its players too? Kentucky played like it could turn its team inside out and still be equally effective. Davis, the freshman center, made more outside shots in the first half (a pair from 18 feet) than anyone else on the floor for either team. Terrence Jones, a 6-foot-9 power forward for Kentucky, finished with six assists. That led both teams.
Baylor didn’t find much rhythm until the second half when it used Brady Heslip’s 3-pointer to cut Kentucky’s lead to 63-50 with 8:53 remaining. It was only the sharp-shooter’s second shot attempt of the game. But Kentucky answered with six straight points including a dunk by Terrence Jones after he followed his own free throw miss.
The Wildcats are four games into their tournament run, and they give the impression they are just warming up.
“We haven’t achieved anything,” Gilchrist-Kidd said. “I expected (to make the Final Four).”
Kentucky won its first two games of the tournament by 16 points, gave up 90 points to Indiana and still cruised, and then beat Baylor up and down the floor for a 16-0 run in the first half Sunday that decided the game long before it was over.
Kentucky was up 21 points and still Coach John Calipari wasn’t having any part of his seat on the bench.
“There were some things that aggravated me today,” Calipari said. “…I sometimes forget. My coaches tell me, ‘We’re not shutting them out, Cal.’”
About the most suspenseful moment of the game came when Davis knocked knees with Perry Jones III on a drive to the baseline early in the second half and came down clutching his left knee. He returned to the game, though, after only about a minute of action had passed.
“I’ll make sure I take care of it,” said Davis, who pledged diligence to getting treatment the next several days. “…But I’m not going to sit out.”
As Kentucky’s fairly subdued celebration suggested, the Wildcats are gearing up for bigger and better things. And from the looks of it, they have a great shot at winning the school’s first national title since 1998.
The path got a little clearer a couple of hours after Kentucky’s win in the regional final when Kansas beat short-handed North Carolina, the No. 1 seed many figured to have the best chance of toppling the Wildcats.
On Sunday afternoon, Kentucky fans at the Dome were already feeling pretty puffed up. They went so far as to cheer “four more years” as the freshman Kidd-Gilchrist climbed to the top of the ladder to cut down one of the nets. That’s wishful thinking for a Kentucky roster that figures to crowd the NBA lottery come June with early-departing players.
But for now, and on into next weekend, Kentucky and its fans could have a lot more to celebrate.
“It’s a great feeling to be part of something special and go to the Final Four,” Davis said. “It’s everyone’s college dream.”
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