Men's basketball - Kentucky earned the No. 1 seed in the National Invitation Tournament and will take on Robert Morris in the opening round on Tuesday. - The invitation to the NIT marks the 22nd-consecutive season UK will take part in postseason play. The Wildcats are 13-6 overall in the NIT and have twice won the title (1946, 1976). - UK fell 64-48 in the SEC Tournament to Vanderbilt, despite a 12-point effort from freshman Archie Goodwin. - Senior Julius Mays is six points shy of scoring 1,000 for his collegiate career. He current has 994 total points, with 301 of those tallies coming in a UK uniform. Gymnastics - Kentucky reached a new program best 196.775 on Saturday at Penn State. - The Wildcats extended their school-record streak of scores more than 196 to four. - Alexis Gross claimed event honors with collegiate-high scores on both uneven bars and balance beam. Gross notched a 9.9 on bars, and received a 9.95 on balance beam. Her 9.95 was third-highest on the event in school history. She received a 9.9 from judge one and a 10.0 from judge two as both averaged a 9.95. - Kentucky also smashed the program-record beam score with a 49.475.
Softball - The No. 17 Kentucky softball team earned an impressive midweek win against No. 24 North Carolina, taking down the Tar Heels 18-0 behind the ninth no-hitter in school history from freshman pitcher Katie Henderson. Henderson went all five innings in the win, striking out four with only one walk. The no-hitter was the first for UK since Chanda Bell threw a no-hitter against LSU in 2012. - The UK offense set many school records in the win as the 18 runs scored and four homers tied the most runs scored in a game in school annals, while UK's 18 runs batted in was the most ever in a single game in school history. Sophomore catcher Griffin Joiner was the leader of the pack offensively in the win, posting a 4-for-4 night with career highs in home runs with two, runs scored with four and runs batted in with six. - The Wildcats could not keep up the momentum going over the weekend, falling in all three games to No. 13 LSU. The Wildcats dropped the first game 7-1 before dropping the next two games in LSU's last at bat.
Baseball - Kentucky posted its first series win in Gainesville in 14 years over the weekend and just the fifth in the history of the series that dates back to 1953. - The Wildcats fell in the opener after a three-error seventh inning in a 1-1 game and rebounded with an 11-5 win over the Gators on Saturday. In the rubber match, UK turned to Corey Littrell, who pitched UK to the series win in a 6-2 result at McKethan Stadium. - The Wildcats have hit .297 as a team, belting 31 doubles, five triples and 14 homers, scoring 149 runs and stealing 29 bases. On the mound, UK has a 2.45 team ERA, allowing 164 hits in 169 innings, walking 41 and striking out 138.
Men's tennis - No. 10 Kentucky completed the Mississippi swing this weekend, coming out of the weekend 2-0 with a 4-1 win over No. 4 Ole Miss and a 4-2 win over No. 13 Mississippi State. - Kentucky now sits at 16-4 overall and stands tied atop the SEC standings with a 4-1 in-conference record. - No. 31 Anthony Rossi picked up the clinching match on Sunday over No. 18 Romain Bogearts 7-6 (3), 6-3 of MSU. Rossi's doubles partner, Grant Roberts went 4-0 on the weekend as well. In Friday's 4-1 win at Ole Miss, freshman Kevin Lai clinched the match as he moved to 9-0 on the year, picking up his first-career SEC win.
Women's tennis - The Kentucky women's tennis team went 1-1 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.
Track and field - Kentucky opened the outdoor season with seven event titles by either individual competitors or relay teams. - Andrew Evans won the discus behind a new personal record mark of 59.27m/194'05". - Kayla Parker won the 100-meter hurdles with a PR 13.51 performance. - Both the men's and women's teams won the 4x100-meter relays. - Keffri Neal won the 1,500 meters with a personal-record time of 3:51.60. Teammate Adam Kahleifeh also posted a PR time of 3:51.94 to finish in second-position. - Raymond Dykstra showed off his 2012 All-America credentials in the javelin with a meet-winning performance of 67.84m/222'07"
Men's golf - The Kentucky men's golf team wrapped up the week with two top-10 finishes, placing tied for fifth at the Tiger Invitational and tied for sixth at the Schenkel Invitational. - Junior Stephen Powers recorded his second straight top-10 finish at the Tiger Invite with a 6-over-par, 222, placing tied for sixth overall. Junior Ben Stow also was in the top-20, finishing tied for 14th at 8-over. - Stow continued his torrid play at the Schenkel Invite, posting his first career top-10 finish, placing tied for ninth at 1-under-par. The Salisbury, England native charted a career-low score of 215.
Women's golf - The UK women's golf team competed in their second tournament of the spring, finishing tied for ninth in the 18-team field at the Insperity Lady Jaguar Intercollegiate. - Senior Betsie Johnson was the low scorer for the Wildcats, recording her first top-20 finish of the year, placing tied for 19th at 9-over-par.
Swimming and diving - Greg Ferrucci, John Fox and Christa Cabot each earned berths to the 2013 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships with their performances at the Zone C Diving Championships in West Lafayette, Ind., this past weekend. - Ferrucci won both the 3-meter (888.05) and 1-meter (825.75) springboard events to advance to his third straight NCAA Championships, and broke the program record on the 3-meter for a six-dive score with a 434.85. Fox earned fourth place on the 3-meter (761.95) to advance to his first NCAA Championships. - Cabot earned her spot on the first day of competition on the 3-meter board, scoring 623.10 to earn a fourth place finish. It will be the sophomore's first career appearance at the NCAA Championships.
Upcoming schedule
Tuesday, March 19 Softball hosts Western Kentucky - 6:00 p.m. Baseball hosts Western Kentucky - 6:30 p.m. Men's basketball at Robert Morris - 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 20 Softball hosts Iowa - 4:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 21 Swimming and diving at Women's NCAA Championships (Indianapolis, Ind.) Track and field at Florida State Relays (Tallahassee, Fla.)
Friday, March 22 Track and field at Alabama Relays - 12:00 p.m. (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) Men's tennis hosts Tennessee - 2:00 p.m. Women's tennis at Tennessee - 5:00 p.m. Softball hosts Mississippi State - 6:00 p.m. Baseball hosts Mississippi State - 6:30 p.m. Women's golf at LSU Golf Classic (Baton Rouge, La.) Swimming and diving at Women's NCAA Championships (Indianapolis, Ind.) Track and field at Florida State Relays (Tallahassee, Fla.)
Saturday, March 23 Baseball hosts Mississippi State - 12:00 p.m. Softball hosts Mississippi State - 1:00 p.m. Track and field at Alabama Relays - 3:00 p.m. Tuscaloosa, Ala.) Gymnastics at SEC Championships (North Little Rock, Ark.) Track and field at Florida State Relays (Tallahassee, Fla.) Women's golf at LSU Golf Classic (Baton Rouge, La.) Swimming and diving at Women's NCAA Championships (Statesboro, Ga.)
Sunday, March 24 Women's tennis at Georgia - 1:00 p.m. Softball hosts Mississippi State - 1:00 p.m. Baseball hosts Mississippi State - 1:00 p.m. Men's tennis hosts Georgia - 1:00 p.m. Men's basketball at SEC Finals - 3:30 p.m. (Nashville) Men's golf at Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate (Awendaw, S.C.) Women's golf at LSU Golf Classic (Baton, Rouge, La.)
UK will open NIT play at Robert Morris on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. (Josh McCoy, UK Athletics)
The disappointment over missing out on the NCAA Tournament still lingers for the Kentucky Wildcats. Talking to Julius Mays and Jon Hood on a rainy Lexington Monday that seemed to match the mood of UK fans, that much is clear.
The good news is they don't just have to sit around and sulk. Named the top overall seed in the NIT, the Cats will be taking the floor barely 48 hours removed from not hearing their names called on the Selection Show.
"I think just to have the opportunity to keep playing with each other will be a lot of fun," guard Julius Mays said. "I know I'm looking forward to it. Obviously it's not the tournament I want to be in, but just to get the chance to keep playing is the most important thing."
As UK prepares for Tuesday's game at Robert Morris (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN), Jon Hood is echoing Mays' sentiments. The Cats might not be playing for the trophy they really want and defending last year's national championship, but it's called "playing" basketball for a reason, isn't it?
"Playing basketball's fun. Writing columns is fun for you," Hood said in response to a writer for a local newspaper. "Playing basketball is fun for me. So that's what I'm looking forward to."
John Calipari won't be playing, but he's taking a similar approach.
During a season in which he's tried everything he could come up with to inspire his team to reach its potential, the NIT gives the Cats a little extra time to click.
"We've got issues, let's deal with them," Calipari said. "Let's use them to get better. We've got more time to practice with our team. We've got a bunch of young players. We're going to use the time to get better."
Given how young the Cats (21-11) are, any improvement they make right now figures to pay dividends next season, but it's not as if they are eschewing any thoughts of winning right now. Robert Morris (23-10) is a deep, experienced team that is 12-3 on its home court this season and won the Northeastern Conference regular-season title. Six of the Colonials' top seven scorers and their bench accounts for 37.6 of the team's minutes played on the season - 40th in the nation.
"Robert Morris is really good, (won 23) games, really efficient and they turn you over a lot," Hood said. "They're tough, Pittsburgh guys that are just gonna fight you. We just have to get over that. We have to understand that that's coming and accept it play through it."
Coach Cal likened Robert Morris to Arkansas because of the physical pressure the Colonials apply to the ball. UK lost by 13 points at Arkansas less than three weeks ago while Robert Morris fell by just five in a hard-fought game on the Razorbacks' home floor back in December.
On the season, Robert Morris steals the ball on 13.5 percent its opponents' possessions, the ninth-highest rate in the nation. That starts with point guard Velton Jones, who averages 1.8 steals a game to go with 5.2 assists and 10.9 points.
"Their point guard, he'll grab guys," Calipari said, who will be returning to his hometown of Moon Township, PA., for the game. "I've seen him on tape just go grab a guy. But it's because he has the ability to physically dominate a game that he can do that and no one messes with him."
The Colonials have the added - and unique - advantage of playing on their home floor, the Sewall Center, which seats just 3,056. ("That's smaller than my high school gym," said Hood.)
Some fans were disappointed to learn the higher-seeded Cats wouldn't be hosting in the NIT until the second round due to staffing issues with the NCAA Tournament being played in Rupp Arena this week. Coach Cal, however, was not.
Still just days removed when UK delivered a disappointing performance in a game against Vanderbilt in which it could have locked up a berth in the Big Dance, Calipari believes the Cats must prove they want to keep playing. His players agree.
"We don't want fans to go buy tickets and might have a few guys that don't really want to be there and we show it and lay another egg on the first game, so I do think we do have to prove ourselves that we want to play and I do think we have something to prove, so I hope guys are ready to play," Mays said.
The only reasonable course of action for the Cats is to focus on the task at hand, regardless of the fact that they'd rather be playing in another tournament. Very few teams get to end their seasons with a win and UK wants to be one of them for the second season in a row.
"It means that you went out on the right note, you went out on a good note and you always want to do that," Hood said of potentially winning the NIT. "You always want to end your season with a win and there's two teams that do that. And we want to be the second team. It stinks were not in the NCAA and can't do it there, but life goes on."
UK's first-round road game in the NIT has been a source of disagreement since the Wildcats learned they would be traveling to Robert Morris for a game on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET. Some have been unwilling to accept that the NCAA Tournament games being hosted in Rupp Arena this week as well as other sports in action created an untenable staffing situation for a potential game in Memorial Coliseum this week.
Don't count John Calipari among that group.
On Monday morning, Coach Cal did as he often does and tweeted his thoughts on the topic of the day.
When I heard we couldn't host the first round of the NIT, I decided to accept the bid knowing we could host in the second round.
Calipari brings up an interesting point about his team needing to prove itself before fans invest more money in coming to watch the Cats play. If UK takes care of business, the Big Blue Nation will stall have two more chances to fill Rupp Arena.
John Calipari will return to his hometown of Moon Township, Pa., for UK's first round NIT game vs. Robert Morris. (Chet White, UK Athletics)
There's no clouding the fact that the NIT is not where Kentucky wanted to be on Selection Sunday. The Wildcats, of course, wanted to be defending their national championship in the NCAA Tournament this March.
But after the Cats learned that won't be happened, they had to move on. For John Calipari, that means looking to the future.
"I'm really disappointed we didn't make the NCAA Tournament but we are going to use this time to make us better," Calipari said in a tweet.
The good news is that Coach Cal and the Cats will be able to improve by playing actual games.
Just hours after UK found out it would not play in the Big Dance, the Cats were tabbed as the top overall seed in the NIT. There, they will face Robert Morris at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday on ESPN. UK last played in the NIT in 2009 - the season before Coach Cal arrived in Lexington - and the Cats won two games and advanced to the quarterfinals before losing at Notre Dame.
That season, UK played its first-round game in Memorial Coliseum and was positioned to host once again in 2013 as a No. 1 seed. However, due to the fact NCAA Tournament second- and third-round games are being played in Rupp Arena this week, UK was unable to do so.
"We did not place a bid to host the first round of the NIT due to limited staff availability to properly host a game at Memorial Coliseum," Executive Associate Athletics Director DeWayne Peevy said in a statement. "Because the University of Kentucky is hosting the NCAA second- and third-round games at Rupp Arena on March 21 and 23, the facility was not available for a first-round NIT game."
Should UK advance past Robert Morris, the Cats would host either Providence or Charlotte in the second round in Rupp as well as a potential quarterfinal.
Though the Cats won't be playing at home, the NIT first round will be a homecoming for Coach Cal. Calipari's home town is Moon Township, Pa., which happens to be the same Pittsburgh suburb where Robert Morris is located.
In fact, the Charles L. Sewall Center, the 3,056-seat arena where Robert Morris plays its home games, is barely a mile drive down University Boulevard from Moon Area High School, Coach Cal's alma mater. Adding another piece of interesting backstory, Calipari's grandmother worked in the Robert Morris cafeteria.
As proud as locals may be of their native son, Robert Morris won't be looking to give him too friendly a welcome. The Colonials (23-10) received an NIT bid after winning the Northeastern Conference regular-season title but falling short of the NEC's automatic bid by losing to Mount St. Mary's in the semifinals of the conference tournament.
"I feel like Rocky from Rocky I, who just got his shot at the champion to fight against the defending national champion in our home city," said third-year head coach Andrew Toole in joining ESPNU's NIT Selection Show.
Robert Morris, however, has more prizefighting experience than Rocky Balboa did when he got his shot at heavyweight champion Apollo Creed.
The Colonials have won 15 of 18 games and boast a victory over co-Mid-Atlantic Conference champion Ohio. They also lost by just two on the road against Xavier and held a second-half lead at Arkansas before falling, 79-74.
"We knew we were going to play a team like Kentucky or one of the teams that was on the bubble and hopefully we'll prepare ourselves mentally to go and play a great game against a great team," Toole said.
UK has faced Robert Morris just once in school history, winning 92-67 on Dec. 30, 1993 in Rupp.
Whoever the Cats' opponent turned out to be, Coach Cal's priorities for the NIT were going to remain the same. He wants to win games even though the tournament in which he's coaching doesn't have all the right letters, but the simple fact that he gets to keep coaching his team is what matters.
"Even now, I'm going to coach these guys, try to make them better (and) give everything I can to make sure we control our destiny in the future," Calipari said.
Calipari, like the Big Blue Nation, doesn't want to ever be on the NCAA Tournament bubble again. The path to making that happen starts now.
After a long two days of waiting, the Kentucky Wildcats received the news they were hoping to avoid on Sunday evening.
For just the second time in 22 seasons, UK was left out of the NCAA Tournament field when brackets were announced on the Selection Show. UK last missed the tournament in 2009, the year before John Calipari's arrival as head coach.
The tension lasted until the final moment, as the second play-in game featuring at-large teams was saved until the final bracket. But when Boise State and La Salle appeared as No. 13 seeds in the West Region, it was clear the Cats would not be included.
Positioned to likely clinch a bid with a victory over Vanderbilt on Friday night, the Cats (21-11) instead left their fate in the hands of the selection committee. They were then disappointed to learn they would not be a part of the Big Dance in spite of a resume that matched up well with fellow bubble teams.
Along with Boise State and La Salle, the final at-large teams to make the field were Middle Tennessee State and St. Mary's. Selection committee chairman Mike Bobinski, in joining the Selection Show broadcast, was asked about the inclusion of Middle Tennessee State, a team that had just one victory against teams ranked in the RPI's top 100. Bobinski revealed that the "deciding factor in a lot of those cases" was performance away from home.
"The difference between Middle Tennessee and some of the other (bubble teams) really in our mind was the ability to win on the road," Bobinski said.
UK was 4-7 in true road games this season, but winless in three tries after losing Nerlens Noel to injury. MTSU was 9-3, Boise State 5-9, La Salle 8-6 and St. Mary's 9-2.
The Cats will now turn their attention to the NIT. The NIT Selection Show will air at 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU.
UPDATE: Coach Cal tweeted his thoughts on UK missing the tournament on Sunday night. Here's what he had to say.
"I'm really disappointed we didn't make the NCAA Tournament but we are going to use this time to make us better. We had our chances, but I'm not going to stop. It's a great lesson for the future of our program (and) a humbling experience for me as a coach. To the (Big Blue Nation), you did your part all season long. You showed up in droves and helped us pull through key games. We didn't do our part. Even now, I'm going to coach these guys, try to make them better (and) give everything I can to make sure we control our destiny in the future."
At this do-or-die time of the year, it seems like every game takes on a greater importance the closer and closer we get to Selection Sunday.
That's why Kentucky's 64-48 loss to Vanderbilt on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament seems to have hurt the Wildcats so much. At such at a critical time of the year, it wasn't the greatest timing to lose their second game to a team outside the RPI top 100.
"It was in our hands to take it out of everybody's hands and we didn't take care of business," John Calipari said Friday.
As true as that statement is - UK was essentially a lock for the NCAA Tournament with a win over Vanderbilt - perhaps everyone overreacted just a bit in the immediate aftermath of the loss to the Commodores.
While the loss certainly hurt Kentucky's national perception, did it really do all that much to damage its overall body of work? If the NCAA selection committee really does count every game of the season the same - and NCAA chairman Mike Bobinski said exactly that Saturday when he said games at this time of the year weigh equally with every other game during the season - UK appears to have a résumé that stacks up pretty favorably to rest of the so-called bubble teams.
Don't believe that? I decided to compile the résumés of Joe Lunardi's "last four in" and "first four out" categories in his latest NCAA Tournament projections just to see how Kentucky measured up to those other teams. UK's RPI, strength of schedule and record vs. the RPI top 50 are all pretty competitive with the bubble teams vying for the final few at-large berths.
The one thing Kentucky has gotten criticized for this year is its lack of "good" wins, but if you evaluate UK's quality wins (a victory against a top-50 RPI opponent) with the other eight schools below, UK has just as many quality wins as its competition and actually fewer costly losses (losses to teams rated outside the RPI's top 100) than most of the pack.
Obviously the Cats are being judged without Nerlens Noel, but in the process of going 4-4 without their top big man, they picked up two of their biggest victories of the season (Florida and Missouri).
"When we play - where everybody plays as a team everybody does what they're supposed to do - we can beat anybody," freshman forward Willie Cauley-Stein said. "We beat Florida. We beat Missouri. We beat Ole Miss. Missouri's in it; they're a lock. We beat them. Florida's a lock. We beat them. And Ole Miss is on the bubble, so we showed we can beat anybody"
Comparing résumés isn't where John Calipari's team would have liked to have been when it started this season, but since when do preseason expectations dictate who the best 68 teams in the country are? When it comes down to it - loss to Vanderbilt and all - UK's profile still stacks up (not to mention a 3-1 record vs. the eight teams below), and the Wildcats are still very much a factor heading into Selection Sunday.
NCAA Tournament "bubble" profiles (note: Ole Miss and Southern Miss' RPI and strength of schedule do not factor in their games on Saturday since those numbers have not been updated; all information was compiled from ESPN's RPI standings as of 6 p.m. on Saturday; while the RPI does not determine who gets in the NCAA Tournament, the NCAA selection committee uses the rankings as a measuring stick when selecting the field; Ole Miss is the only bubble team still playing and can win an automatic berth with a victory over Florida in the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game on Sunday.)
Kentucky Wildcats Record: 21-11 RPI: 56 Record vs. RPI top 50: 3-4 Record vs. RPI top 100: 7-9 Record vs. RPI sub 150: 12-0 Strength of schedule: 73 Quality wins: Florida, Missouri, at Ole Miss Costly losses: at Georgia, Vanderbilt Record away from home: 5-9 KenPom.com ranking: 44 Sagarin rating: 36 Lunardi's "Last Four In"
Boise State Broncos Record: 21-10 (19-10 vs. Division I) RPI: 44 Record vs. RPI top 50: 4-7 Record vs. RPI top 100: 8-8 Record vs. RPI sub 150: 7-2 Strength of schedule: 44 Quality wins: at Creighton, UNLV, Colorado State, San Diego State Costly losses: at Utah, at Nevada Record away from home: 7-9 KenPom.com ranking: 49 Sagarin rating: 59
Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders Record: 28-5 RPI: 29 Record vs. RPI top 50: 1-3 Record vs. RPI top 100: 2-3 Record vs. RPI sub 150: 21-1 Strength of schedule: 134 Quality wins: Ole Miss Costly losses: Florida International Record away from home: 13-5 KenPom.com ranking: 31 Sagarin rating: 53 Ole Miss Rebels Record: 25-8 RPI: 50 Record vs. RPI top 50: 2-3 Record vs. RPI top 100: 8-6 Record vs. RPI sub 150: 13-2 Strength of schedule: 143 Quality wins: Missouri, Missouri (neutral) Costly losses: at South Carolina, at Mississippi State Record away from home: 9-7 KenPom.com ranking: 43 Sagarin rating: 40
La Salle Explorers Record: 21-9 RPI: 40 Record vs. RPI top 50: 2-4 Record vs. RPI top 100: 5-8 Record vs. RPI sub 150: 9-1 Strength of schedule: 79 Quality wins: Butler, at VCU Costly losses: Central Connecticut State Record away from home: 10-7 KenPom.com ranking: 56 Sagarin rating: 58 Lunardi's "First Four Out"
Virginia Cavaliers Record: 21-11 RPI: 74 Record vs. RPI top 50: 4-3 Record vs. RPI top 100: 8-4 Record vs. RPI sub 150: 11-4 Strength of schedule: 127 Quality wins: at Wisconsin, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke Costly losses: Delaware, at Georgia Tech, at Boston College, at George Mason, Old Dominion, at Wake Forest, at Clemson Record away from home: 3-10 KenPom.com ranking: 28 Sagarin rating: 38
Maryland Terrapins Record: 22-11 RPI: 62 Record vs. RPI top 50: 3-4 Record vs. RPI top 100: 4-9 Record vs. RPI sub 150: 17-0 Strength of schedule: 111 Quality wins: North Carolina State, Duke, Duke (neutral) Costly losses: at Boston College, at Georgia Tech Record away from home: 6-8 KenPom.com ranking: 55 Sagarin rating: 48
Tennessee Volunteers Record: 20-12 RPI: 57 Record vs. RPI top 50: 3-5 Record vs. RPI top 100: 9-10 Record vs. RPI sub 150: 8-0 Strength of schedule: 47 Quality wins: Wichita State, Florida, Missouri Costly losses: Georgia, at Georgia Record away from home: 7-9 KenPom.com ranking: 67 Sagarin rating: 51
Southern Miss Golden Eagles Record: 25-9 (23-8 vs. Division I) RPI: 32 Record vs. RPI top 50: 0-5 Record vs. RPI top 100: 4-8 Record vs. RPI sub 150: 11-1 Strength of schedule: 86 Quality wins: None Costly losses: at Marshall Record away from home: 13-8 KenPom.com ranking: 53 Sagarin rating: 56
Kentucky fell to Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament on Friday night, 64-48. (Josh McCoy, UK Athletics)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - All the Kentucky Wildcats can do now is sit and wait.
After weeks of speculation, bubble talk and mock brackets, the Cats took their fate out of their own hands and put their faith in the NCAA Tournament selection committee with a stunning 64-48 loss to Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament at Bridgestone Arena.
Now, all they can do is hope they are one of the final teams to earn an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament when the field is announced on Selection Sunday.
"I just hope we're the best of the bad right now," John Calipari said. "That's what I'm hoping."
A number of bubble teams UK was competing against for one of the final NCAA Tournament spots fell on Thursday and Friday, but will Kentucky's loss to a .500 team and one ranked outside the RPI top 100 be the final nail in the coffin of a team that has taken its fair share of blows this season?
"When you play a game like this, it hurts you," Coach Cal admitted. "The good news is everyone else is losing, too. At the end of the day it will shake out and I trust the committee to put the right teams in. ... We had an opportunity. It was in our hands to take it out of everybody's hands and we didn't take care of business."
UK (21-11), poised to become a lock for the Big Dance with a win over Vanderbilt on Friday, was dominated from start to finish in the third meeting with the Commodores.
Vandy shot 50.0 percent from the field, hit six of its first nine 3-point attempts and made all but one of its free throws. Meanwhile, UK shot just 34.6 percent from the field, had just two players score in double figures and failed to break the 50-point barrier for the first time in the Coach Cal era.
"We laid an egg and they played well," Calipari said.
In the postgame locker room, tears streamed down Ryan Harrow's face as he talked with reporters. Honorably, he answered every question the media had for him following his 2-for-15, four-turnover performance, but there was no disguising his utter disappointment with his game on Friday.
"It's my fault," Harrow said. "I apologize."
Once the questions ended, Harrow turned his chair and draped a towel over his head. He said he would take responsibility if the Cats don't make the NCAA Tournament, but quite frankly few of his teammates performed to their ability in one of the important games of the year.
"We all contribute to it," freshman forward Willie Cauley-Stein said. "I get in foul trouble early and ... when that happens it seems like the whole energy comes down. I take fault for the energy level and I let the dude (Josh Henderson) bully me a little bit. But all in all, everybody did it. They all bullied everybody. It's definitely a team loss."
As Calipari warned Thursday night, his team was in a dogfight from the outset, but the Cats were at least hanging around early as Vanderbilt shot well from the perimeter for the second game in the row.
UK appeared to be fighting off the early Vanderbilt momentum when Harrow converted his first field-goal attempt with 6:22 to go in the first half, but that's when the wheels came off for the Cats.
After Kevin Bright knocked down one of five first-half 3-pointers for Vanderbilt and Harrow turned it over, Cauley-Stein was baited into a foul by Shelby Moats and went to the bench with two fouls. As Cauley-Stein sat on the sidelines, Kentucky's energy evaporated. The Commodores didn't waste any time taking advantage.
In the 4:53 that the 7-footer sat on the bench to end the first half, Vanderbilt outscored UK 16-7 to take a commanding 37-23 halftime lead.
Shots simply weren't falling, and as Vandy's lead grew, it appeared the pressure of the season slipping away snowballed.
"We didn't have anything go down for us throughout the whole game," said freshman guard Archie Goodwin, who led UK with 12 points. "It just keeps going down and down. And when that happens, sometimes it can bring the whole morale of the team down. It might have been something that happened here, but at the same time, we have to find ways to fight through when somebody's not having their best game and just be able to try to find different ways to pull out a win."
But as has been the case all season, when adversity hit, UK couldn't battle back. The lead only got bigger as the second half started, ballooning to as many as 21 points with 16:21 to play.
The Cats clawed back to within 11 on Goodwin's ferocious two-hand dunk with 12:46 to play, but they couldn't sustain the momentum of the 8-0 run.
"We had our chances," Calipari said. "It got to 11 and then we broke down two or three straight times. We miss a layup, miss a wide-open shot. All we needed to do is try to get it to six, seven, eight points and see what would happen. We never (could) and ... we were stabbing ourselves in the eye in most cases."
Kentucky went to a zone during the 8-0 run, but the Cats never went back to it.
Ultimately, UK posted one of its worst defensive efforts of the season. Playing against an offense that entered the day ranked 311st in the country in points per game, the Cats gave up 1.23 points per possession Friday, the third-worst mark of the season.
"That's been our problem the whole year is when we're not playing good on offense we kind of get down on ourselves and then our defense suffers for it," Cauley-Stein said.
Calipari said a lot of the credit goes to Vanderbilt and its late-season improvement. The 'Dores have won six of their last seven games after their quarterfinal victory.
"We begin every season by saying we want to play our best basketball at the end of the year," Vandy head coach Kevin Stallings said. "I think it's safe to say our team is doing that right now."
Kentucky, on the other hand, did not save its best for last. It could ultimately cost the team a spot in the Big Dance for the first time in the Coach Cal era.
"When we play - where everybody plays as a team everybody does what they're supposed to do - we can beat anybody," Cauley-Stein said. "We beat Florida. We beat Missouri. We beat Ole Miss. Missouri's in it; they're a lock. We beat them. Florida's a lock. We beat them. And Ole Miss is on the bubble, so we showed we can beat anybody."
The problem is the Cats have been reduced to lobbying for themselves and comparing their résumé with other teams. It isn't the position they wanted to put themselves in entering the most critical weekend of the season.
"We had our opportunities to keep it in our hands, but we didn't seize the moment and take advantage of it," Julius Mays said. "All we can do is sit and wait."
