Just before 4:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, @KentuckyMBB introduced itself as the official Twitter of UK's men's basketball program. At the time, the account had just a few hundred followers.
A few (hundred) retweets and a challenge to the Big Blue Nation later, @KentuckyMBB already ranks among the top accounts of its kind.
As of 9:50 a.m. Friday, the account has nearly 18,000 followers, already good for 13th among men's college basketball teams on Twitter. The number is growing by the minute and it seems a matter of time before @KentuckyMBB cracks the top 10.
Bob Wiggins began his association with Kentucky basketball simply as a fan. But over nearly 66 years, he has come to symbolize what the most storied program in college basketball is all about.
Wiggins, now 85 years old, has attended more than 1,650 UK games in his life, building relationships with players and coaches over the years. Ken Howlett has a story on the UK super-fan at CoachCal.com:
When John Calipari was introduced as Kentucky's new basketball coach in April 2009, Coach Cal sought out Mr. Wiggins, pointed to him and said, "You're the guy I wanted to talk to."
During one unbelievable stretch, Bob Wiggins attended every Wildcat game for 19 consecutive years. His incredible streak ending because of a mild heart attack he suffered in 1997, only hours prior to the team leaving for a trip to Alaska to participate in the Great Alaska Shootout.
Although Mr. Wiggins did not attend road games during the 2012-13 season due to health reasons, he still makes the trek from Falmouth to Rupp Arena for every home game, dutifully taking his seat behind the UK bench in his trademark suit and tie.
"You talk about someone who is driven and passionate about Kentucky basketball, this man embodies the real Kentucky fan," said Winston Bennett, former UK player and assistant coach. "I can remember him in the '80s being at those games and being at some of the practices and being on the plane when we flew to different games (in the '90s). Talk about dedication and longevity ... this was a religion. People talk about Kentucky basketball being a religion; it was truly a religion with this man."
Most Kentucky fans haven't attended nearly as many games as Wiggins or rubbed shoulders with Doron Lamb and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, but he is an example of the kind of passion that has made UK basketball what has been for so long. Link: Kentucky basketball a religion for ultimate super-fan Bob Wiggins
Kyle Wiltjer and Willie Cauley-Stein will both return to UK next season. (Chet White, UK Athletics)
In 2012-13, Kentucky had arguable as little depth as any season during the John Calipari era, and there is no argument about the Wildcats of last year being his least experienced team to date. Those two areas created challenges all year.
It's already clear those two areas won't present nearly the same problems in 2013-14.
On Monday, Willie Cauley-Stein and Kyle Wiltjer announced they will return next season. Their decisions mean that Coach Cal will have two players who started games the previous year and played meaningful minutes all season, something he lacked as the Cats missed the NCAA Tournament just weeks ago.
"I'm excited that Willie and Kyle have decided to return for next season," Calipari said. "When we talk about a players-first program, our goal is for each player to reach his dreams. Willie and Kyle believe it is in their best interest to return to Kentucky next season to achieve those dreams, and I fully support their decisions."
Cauley-Stein impressed in his first season and was named to the All-Southeastern Conference freshman team after averaging 8.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and blocking 57 shots. He started 14 games, most of which came after a season-ending injury to frontcourt mate Nerlens Noel. Wiltjer was named SEC Sixth Man of the Year in 2012-13, averaging 10.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game as a sophomore.
In discussing their decisions, Cauley-Stein and Wiltjer expressed similar sentiments and a common theme was a desire to pursue a title.
"I'm looking forward to continuing to develop as an all-around player," Cauley-Stein said. "I'm also excited for the opportunity to try and win a national championship."
Wiltjer was a part of UK's championship team in 2011-12, averaging 5.0 points in 11.6 minutes of reserve duty, so he has an idea of the work it takes to win at the highest level. He also remembers the veteran presence provided by Darius Miller, Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb, who all played in the Final Four the previous season. Just like when UK won number eight, the nation's top-ranked recruiting class will join the team in the offseason.
"I'm so excited about the possibilities of next season," Wiltjer said. "I
love Coach Cal and the staff, the University of Kentucky and the Big
Blue Nation. After talking with Coach and the staff, I understand what I
need to do. I want to be a part of another championship. This summer
I'm going to work the hardest I've ever worked to come back next season
better and stronger to help my team fight for number nine."
With Cauley-Stein and Wiltjer, UK already returns 17.5 points, 9.8 rebounds and 44.5 minutes per game (adjusted for the four games Cauley-Stein missed due to injury). Last season, UK returned just 5.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 15.0 minutes per game.
Not returning next year will be freshman guard Archie Goodwin, who opted to enter the NBA Draft. He has not yet hired an agent.
"This is something I've dreamed about my entire life and I feel like the opportunity is there for me to play at the next level," Goodwin said. "I will stay in Lexington to finish my schoolwork this semester before continuing to pursue my dream. I've loved my time at UK and want to thank Coach Cal, the staff and my teammates for helping me get where I am. I especially want to thank the Big Blue Nation for all their support."
Excluded from Monday's announcement were Nerlens Noel, Alex Poythress, Jon Hood and Jarrod Polson. According to a release from UK, additional announcements about remaining players will be made at a later date.
Ryan Harrow averaged 9.9 points, 2.8 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 2012-13. (Britney McIntosh, UK Athletics)
On Sunday, UK confirmed that sophomore point guard Ryan Harrow has decided to transfer to Georgia State. His new school is near his home in Marietta, Ga., and his father, who suffered a stroke before the 2012-13 season. UK head coach John Calipari issued the following statement on Harrow's decision.
"Given the health of his dad, we fully support Ryan's decision to transfer to Georgia State to be closer to his family in Atlanta," Calipari said. "Ryan was a vital part of this year's team and an important player in
practice during our 2011-12 national championship run. I want to thank
Ryan for his efforts and hard work and wish him the best of luck at
Georgia State. I know the Big Blue Nation will keep a close eye on him
and wish him well as he continues his basketball career and his pursuit
of a college degree."
In speaking with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Harrow said he has already applied for admission at Georgia State and will petition the NCAA for a waiver to play immediately due to the health of his father.
Harrow spent his first season of college at North Carolina State before transferring to UK before the 2011-12 season. He redshirted and practiced with the Wildcats as they made a run to the program's eighth national championship.
In 2012-13, Harrow played in 29 games, starting 24 and averaging 9.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists.
John Wall is reminding everyone why he was the clear-cut No. 1 overall pick back in 2010.
The third-year Washington Wizard point guard is having the best month of his NBA career. He's fresh off of being named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the first time since entering the pros out of Kentucky. And after Monday night, Wall is making a pretty strong case to win it for the second time in three weeks.
On Monday night, he set a career high by scoring 47 points in an impressive 107-94 win over the playoff-bound Memphis Grizzlies. He needed just 22 field-goal attempts to do it, hitting 19 of 24 from the free-throw line. He also added eight assists, seven rebounds, a steal and a block along the way.
Wall is now averaging 21.8 points, 8.0 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.9 steals in 14 games this month. The Wizards (26-44 overall) are 8-6 during that stretch and now 21-16 since Wall made his return from an offseason knee injury.
A former teammate of Wall's had a career night of his own, as New Orleans Hornets rookie Darius Miller started at shooting guard in place of the injured Eric Gordon. He played 26 minutes as the Hornets ended the Denver Nuggets' 15-game winning streak, scoring a career-high 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range. Anthony Davis, meanwhile, battled foul trouble and posted 14 points and six rebounds in the 110-86 win.
Men's basketball - Kentucky fell 59-57 at Robert Morris in the opening round of the NIT, after advancing to postseason -play for the 22nd-consecutive year. - Freshman Archie Goodwin led the team in scoring with 18 points, while junior Jarrod Polson logged 10. - Goodwin went 8-of-8 at the free throw line, which was the second-most made free throws in an NIT game in UK history.
Women's basketball - DeNesha Stallworth scored 18 points and Jennifer O'Neill added nine of her 12 points in the second half to lead the second-seeded Wildcats to a 61-41 win over 15th-seeded Navy on Sunday in the opening round of the NCAA women's tournament. - After trailing by a point at halftime, UK outscored Navy 35-16 in the second half to move onto the second round of the NCAA women's tournament. - The 20-point win is the largest margin of victory for Kentucky in a NCAA Tournament game. - The 41 points surrendered by UK is the lowest total for an NCAA Tournament game in school history.
Gymnastics - The No. 19 Kentucky gymnastics team placed eighth with a 194.6 team score at the SEC Championship. - Kentucky finishes the regular season with a school-record regional qualifying score of 196.06. - The Wildcats now await their NCAA regional fate, which will be revealed on the NCAA Gymnastics Championship Selection Show on Monday, March 25 at 3 p.m. - UK tied its season-high floor score with a 49.125, a total which also tied for highest at session I. - Kayla Hartley's floor routine turned plenty of heads as she produced a career-high tying score of 9.9.
Softball - The No. 21 Kentucky softball team got back to its winning ways over the weekend with a three-game sweep of Mississippi State at home. The series win was the second of the season for UK, who is now 5-4 in Southeastern Conference play heading into its bye weekend. UK also earned a 7-1 midweek win over WKU on Tuesday. - The Wildcat offense was the difference in the weekend series, scoring 15 runs on 24 hits with two doubles and seven home runs against a MSU pitching staff that entered the weekend ranked 22nd nationally in earned-run average. Senior Alice O'Brien paced the Wildcats with a .500 average with one double, two home runs - one a walkoff, 10th-inning home run - and three RBI. Freshman Nikki Sagermann also hit .500 in the series with a home run and two runs scored. The other four home runs came from sophomore catcher Griffin Joiner, junior outfielder Emily Jolly and two from freshman Maisie Steed. - In Tuesday's 7-1 victory over Western Kentucky, Nikki Sagermann was the offensive star in the game for Kentucky, going 2-for-3 with two runs batted in, including her first collegiate home run. - True freshman pitcher Kelsey Nunley was impressive in the series, going 2-0 and not allowing a run the entire weekend. Nunley pitched nine innings in relief Friday night to get the win before throwing a complete-game shutout in game two Saturday. Junior pitcher Lauren Cumbess went 1-0 on the weekend with a 2.62 ERA after earning a no-decision Friday night and a win in game one Saturday, allowing two runs on five hits over seven innings.
Baseball - The eighth-ranked Kentucky baseball team completed a four-game week with a series win over No. 14 Mississippi State, spurred by a doubleheader sweep on Saturday. - Kentucky won its second consecutive series to open league play, also claiming the conference lidlifter at Florida last weekend. - Freshman outfielder Kyle Barrett hit .385 (5-for-13) with a pair of doubles and RBI, drawing two walks and stealing a base, starting all four games of the week. He contributed to UK's walk-off win in the rubber match vs. the Bulldogs, starting the bottom of the ninth inning with a double and scoring the game-winning and series-clinching win. - Jerad Grundy worked eight strong innings to lead UK to a series-evening win over No. 14 Mississippi State, in the front end of a doubleheader on Saturday. The senior worked into the ninth inning of UK's 3-2 win, allowing five singles and a solo homer, with two runs scoring - On the mound, UK has a 2.55 ERA, walking just 55 and striking out 176 in 205 innings.
Men's tennis - No. 31 Anthony Rossi picked up one of the biggest wins of his career on Sunday as he collected a 6-3, 6-3 win over No. 7 KU Singh as UK fell 4-2 to Georgia. The win for Rossi was his 98th-career win and he now is just two wins shy of becoming the 15th player in UK tennis history to eclipse the 100-win mark. - UK returns to action on Friday as the Wildcats take on No. 29 Alabama at 2:00 p.m. ET at the Hilary J. Boone Varsity Tennis Center. The weekend will continue on Sunday as Kentucky faces off against Auburn.
Women's tennis - The Kentucky women's tennis team went 0-2 over the weekend, falling to Ole Miss 4-3 on Friday before defeating Mississippi State 7-0 on Sunday. - Freshman Nadia Ravita won two singles matches in the No. 1 singles slot, improving her record to 15-2. - Sophomore Stephanie Fox and freshman Kirsten Lewis both went 2-0 in singles over the weekend.
Women's golf - The UK women's golf team competed in their third tournament of the spring, finishing eighth in the 14-team field at the 2013 LSU Tiger Golf Classic. - Senior Ashleigh Albrecht recorded her second top-10 finish of the year, placing tied for seventh at 9-overpar. She was 7-over after the first round before firing team-lows and back-to-back rounds of 1-over-par to climb the leaderboard - Kentucky returns to the links April 5-7 at the Rebel Intercollegiate in Oxford, Miss.
Swimming and diving - Sophomores Christa Cabot and Christina Bechtel each made their NCAA Championships debut over the weekend in Indianapolis, Ind. Cabot competed in all three diving events while Bechtel swam in the 100-butterfly. - Bechtel was unable to qualify for the finals in the 100-butterfly, but finished in 25th overall with a preliminary time of 53.06, her best prelim time of her career. - Cabot's best finish came in the 3-meter springboard where she finished in 18th place with a six-dive score of 307.60.
Upcoming schedule
Monday, March 25 Men's golf at Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate (Awendaw, S.C)
Tuesday, March 26 Women's basketball vs. Dayton - 7:00 p.m. (Queens, N.Y.) Softball at Western Kentucky - 8:00 p.m. Men's golf at Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate (Awendaw, S.C)
Wednesday, March 27 Baseball hosts Marshall - 3:00 p.m. Softball at Lipscomb - 7:00 p.m. Track and field at Texas Relays (Austin, Texas)
Thursday, March 28 Swimming and diving at Men's NCAA Championships (Indianapolis, Ind.) Track and field at Texas Relays (Austin, Texas)
Friday, March 29 Men's tennis hosts Alabama - 2:00 p.m. Women's tennis at Alabama - 4:00 p.m. Softball hosts Tennessee - 5:00 p.m. Baseball hosts Georgia - 6:30 p.m. Track and field at Texas Relays (Austin, Texas) Swimming and diving at Men's NCAA Championships (Indianapolis, Ind.) Track and field at Oliver Nikoloff Invite (Cincinnati, Ohio) Track and field at Stanford Invitational (Palo Alto, Calif.)
Saturday, March 30 Baseball hosts Georgia - 2:00 p.m. Track and field at Texas Relays (Austin, Texas) Swimming and diving at Men's NCAA Championships (Indianapolis, Ind.) Track and field at Oliver Nikoloff Invite (Cincinnati, Ohio) Track and field at Stanford Invitational (Palo Alto, Calif.)
There's no denying the hit that Kentucky's interior defense took when Nerlens Noel was lost for the season to a knee injury, but there was an impact on the offensive end, too.
For the season, UK averaged 37 points "in the paint" per game and the Wildcats were 13-0 in games in which they scored at least 40. But over the final five games, UK averaged a little more than 30 points in the paint. And during that same stretch, Kentucky had trouble hitting the perimeter shots, too, making fewer than 25 percent of its 3-point attempts.
Here are some other interesting statistical notes from this past season:
The Robert Morris loss marked just the second time in Calipari's four years that Kentucky lost a game in which it hit better than 50 percent of its field-goal attempts;
The Cats were just 2-9 in games in which they failed to crack the 70-point barrier;
Calipari's teams, historically, have won games in which they didn't shoot well but this year's squad was only 1-6 in games with when its shooting percentage was 40 percent or worse (the victory over Florida was the exception);
UK has won 50 of the last 51 games in which it led or was tied at halftime. This year's team was 19-1, with the lone blemish coming at Alabama, when the Cats let a nine-point lead slip away.
Bracket postmortem with Lunardi
ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi had a good year, correctly forecasting every at-large team that made the NCAA Tournament field.
One of the many factors he has to consider in projecting what the selection committee will do involves analyzing a team's RPI. But Lunardi says he'd like to see the committee incorporate more of the metrics measuring things like offensive and defensive efficiency.
"I would include more of them than the RPI. I think they all measure different things and the things measured are things of value, if taken correctly. You have to spot the outliers," Lunardi said on "The Leach Report" radio show.
If Lunardi had the proverbial magic wand and could change something about the selection process, what would it be?
"I would pass this rule without discussion: To be tournament-eligible, you would have to at least .500 in your league, as a way of making the conference season and the conference tournaments a little more important. If you are 7-9 in your league and you count conference tournament games if you make the conference final and lose so you are 9-9 or 10-10, you are back to being tournament eligible. It would add a tremendous amount to those Thursday and Friday games between the teams that finished down on the standings and I think history shows it would open up one or two spots a year in the at-large pool for the Drexel's who win 29 games and get excluded," Lunardi said, referring to last year's Drexel example. "History shows that time after time, teams that have won a lot from high quality non-BCS leagues almost always perform better in the tournament than what I would call the middling majors from the bigger leagues. Twenty seven or 28 wins in those leagues is pretty good and we forget that winning begets winning."
Recruiting analyst Telep on point guards
With all of the talk about the point-guard position for Kentucky this season, it brought to mind a quote from veteran recruiting analyst Dave Telep of ESPN.com:
"When I go and watch a guy and people describe him to me when I watch a guard and they use the word "combo" a red flag goes up," Telep said on "The Leach Report" show. "To me, a point guard has to have complete command of the team and they generally can showcase that ability. It's not quantifiable but you can see it with your eyes and you ask the question, 'Does he have the respect of his teammates, does he have command of his team and is he an orchestrator of the offense?' "
UK's 2012-13 season ended with a 59-57 loss to Robert Morris in the first round of the NIT. (Matt Adams, UK Athletics)
Right from the very beginning, it felt familiar.
Time after time during a season that went according to no one's plan, opponents took the fight right to the Wildcats, using physical play to unnerve an undisputedly talented Kentucky team. After it worked so many times during the regular season, why wouldn't Robert Morris try it in the first round of the NIT with a raucous home crowd?
"Last year, at the beginning of the year, every team played us this way," head coach John Calipari said. "And our guys said, 'It ain't happening.' And they fought back and that was negated. By the end of the year, you could not play us physical and tough and win a ballgame against us. We never accepted that that was an issue (this season)."
It was an issue once again on Tuesday night as the Cats (21-12) saw their season end in a 59-57 loss.
The particulars of the game need little rehashing. The Colonials (24-10) jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but UK battled back behind the inspired play of Jarrod Polson (10 points) and the determination of Archie Goodwin (18 points, seven rebounds). Kentucky would have completed a comeback win had Kyle Wiltjer's buzzer-beating 3-point attempt fallen, but that only would have delayed the inevitable. No matter how long they stayed alive, the Cats' run in the NIT was but a chance to improve heading into next season.
Outsiders will harp on the irresistible "national championship to Moon Township(, Pa.)"storyline to describe UK's change in postseason fortunes in less than a calendar year, but nothing about this season or this game alters Coach Cal's vision for the program.
"All I know is there were things that we did this year we will not do, we'll correct and we'll be fine," Calipari said. "This program's fine. The recruiting is in good shape. We're right where we need to be."
And so begins an intriguing offseason.
Calipari already has locked up his fifth straight top recruiting class. Five players have signed for 2013 and more are expected to come on board this spring. The process of determining who among players from the 2012-13 roster will join them will play itself out in the coming weeks.
"I told them we'll have individual meetings," Calipari said. "I'm not ready to do that yet. We'll have individual meetings and I told them the one this is expect me to be honest with them."
Coach Cal may not quite be ready to discuss stay-or-go decisions, but his players faced inevitable questions about the NBA in the immediate aftermath of the loss. Goodwin and Alex Poythress didn't hesitate to say they don't feel they ready for the next level and they expect to return. Willie Cauley-Stein sang a similar tune, but added that he needs first to evaluate his stock and talk to his family before making any proclamations.
Regardless of their final decisions, Poythress, Goodwin and Cauley-Stein showed maturity in fielding questions about their future. For top recruits - especially those choosing to play at UK - playing one season and going pro has come to be viewed as the norm, rather than the remarkable exception that it truly is. These Cats seem humble and self-aware enough to realize that there's no shame in developing at your own pace.
"You don't come to college expecting to be here one year," Poythress said. "You come to college, you just try to do the best you can. If you have the opportunity, then you can leave."
It's best for fans to anticipate all of UK's players with NBA pedigrees will still at least ponder the possibilities once the sting of a season-ending defeat wears off, but even Calipari is talking like a coach who expects some of his youngsters back for another season.
"What we're gonna have is unbelievable competition," Calipari said. "We may have three teams, so 15 guys that can play. And let's go. It's what we need, kind of like my first year when we had all those players. We're gonna be a little young, but with guys coming back we're still going to have some veteran guys."
Even with all the talk of next year, there was still plenty of reflection on what went wrong with the season that just ended. It was a group that came in with unfair expectations after last year's national championship, starting the season ranked No. 3 despite returning just one major contributor from a year ago.
But for all the praise that poured in from media and fans even before the first practice, it was the fact that the Cats at least partially bought into their own hype that did the real damage. After watching their predecessors steamroll their way to a title, the Cats couldn't help but think they would repeat the performance.
"Last year's team was just so good," said an introspective Poythress. "They made it look so easy and in reality it's not. There's so much hard work you gotta put in."
The 2012 Cats were driven from day one, but they didn't take their hard work to a national-championship level until after they had to navigate their way through a court-rushing mob following a loss at Indiana. It was that game that caused UK to zero in on its goals and morph into a tournament juggernaut.
The 2013 Cats found themselves in a similar situation after losing at Robert Morris. Hundreds of fans streamed onto the floor celebrating the biggest win in school history as UK's players stared with hands on heads.
The timing and circumstances, of course, were very different.
One was a December regular-season loss; the other was a season-ender. This year's Wildcats couldn't become a great team in the span of one season like in 2012, but they still might have a chance to do it on their own schedule.
"It should be driving us for a long time," Poythress said. "It's just going to stay in my mind, stay in the back of my head. It's going to be hard to get out, especially when you end your season like this."
"They not only didn't handle it, they completely botched it. They made it an easy choice for the committee. And it's a shame because the tournament is always better when Kentucky is involved."
That's the assessment of Sporting News college basketball writer Mike DeCourcy of how Kentucky popped its own bubble last Friday night against Vanderbilt. He said it was not asking that much for the Wildcats to handle the Southeastern Conference's 10th-seeded team and if they couldn't do it, they have nothing to complain about (John Calipari said as much himself on Monday).
So what went wrong? DeCourcy says Kentucky came up short of what it needed to get from the point-guard position.
"John thought he could work with him (Ryan Harrow) but I don't think it worked," DeCourcy said on "The Leach Report" radio show Monday. "They didn't get the kind of play out of the point guard position that they needed. And it's not about being Derrick Rose. Sometimes, it's just about being Anthony Epps - being a good, solid leader, defender, don't make mistakes, make sure everybody is in the right place, doing the right things. But you have to somewhere on the positive side of the ledger and I don't think Ryan was on the positive side at the most crucial times. I think that was the biggest problem with this team. Obviously, the (Nerlens) Noel injury was an issue (too)."
DeCourcy said Kentucky needed Marquis Teague to return for a second season.
"Marquis would have fixed almost everything that's wrong with this team. And so would Doron Lamb," he said, noting that agrees with the argument made by CBS analyst Charles Barkley about too many players leaving the college game too soon. "His point is if you're going and you're in the second round, then you blew it. Guys should never leave school to be second-round picks."
Kentucky figures to be a major contender for the title next season, but what about this year's NCAA Tournament? I asked DeCourcy to give his take on this mythical contest: identify the national champion from the fewest number of contenders.
"You could go seven or six (deep). It depends on how much you trust Florida. They have unbelievable metrics. They're only team in the country that's top five in the country in offensive and defensive efficiency. Why that doesn't translate into more tough wins, I don't know but it doesn't," DeCourcy said, adding that his "six" are the top four seeds in the tournament plus Michigan State and Duke.
DeCourcy says there are two key criteria in honing in on the true title contenders.
"Do you have multiple pros, preferably some that would be lottery-level and do you have top-20 (numbers) in offensive and defensive efficiency. No champion over the last 10 years has been outside the top 20 by the end of the tournament," he explained.
As for significant upset prospects in the first round, DeCourcy cited two games that will be played in Rupp Arena: Bucknell against six seed Butler and Davison against three-seed Marquette.
Looking at Robert Morris
To me, a football analogy works best in discussing Kentucky's NIT matchup.
Think of it as one of the second-tier bowl games where the key is often what the favorite's mindset is. Do they really want to be there or are they ready for the season to end because they didn't achieve their goals?
One thing's for sure: Robert Morris will bring its "A" game.
"I don't think we've ever seen anything on the level of Kentucky (in the Sewall Center)," said RMU's Jim Duzyk, the media relations manager for the Colonials program. "It's going to be standing room-only and it's going to be crazy. It's something our guys are looking forward to and are going to cherish for the rest of their lives. I think they're going to be ready.
"The Northeast Conference is traditionally a guard's league. Our coaches go after guys that can put the ball in the basket. That's something we've hung out hat on for probably the last 10 years. All these guys have the ability to shoot the 3-pointer and that makes us more dangerous. Our guys are very unselfish and we're very balanced offensively."
