NASHVILLE — In this particular tournament at this particular time, Saturday's semifinal is the dream matchup.
Kentucky vs. Tennessee.
"It's the game everyone wanted to see," said Volunteers senior J.P. Prince after Tennessee beat Mississippi 76-65 in Friday's second quarterfinal.
"Their fans will be en route here," said UT's Scotty Hopson, overlooking the fact that much of the Big Blue Nation packed Bridgestone Arena on Friday for UK's 73-67 win over Alabama. "Our fans will be here.
"I love playing in games like this," said Hopson.
After all, Hopson is from Kentucky, a star for University Heights in Hopkinsville before signing with the Vols. And when Tennessee beat Kentucky 74-65 in Knoxville on Feb. 27, Hopson celebrated by mimicking the "John Wall Dance."
Catch any flak from back home for that?
"A little bit," said Hopson. "Not much."
Then he dropped his head so you couldn't see his shy, and revealing, smile.
It was Kentucky that dropped its head that day in Knoxville, digging a deep hole early, rallying to tie the game at 65-all with two minutes left, only to fail to score the rest of the way. It was sweet revenge for Tennessee, which lost to Kentucky at Rupp before a College GameDay crowd on Feb. 13. Now comes the rubber match.
Through the first 23 minutes of Kentucky's quarterfinal game with Alabama — the day's first quarterfinal — it looked as if there might not be a rematch. And then, just like that, it was as if there was an announcement: We now return to your regular-scheduled program.
The Cats scored on 10 consecutive possessions. The first five were drives. Eric Bledsoe started the victory parade to the rim. Then bam-bam-bam, Wall strung together three straight blow-bys for buckets, adding an and-one to the third trip. Next, Bledsoe scored off yet another rocket ride to the rim. By the time Alabama finally managed a stop, a 40-34 deficit had turned into a 55-45 Kentucky lead.
"Pick and roll," said Wall.
The Tide got rolled.
Only here's the thing: When you're Kentucky and you're driving to the basket, the rim is right where it's supposed to be, right there at the center of the backboard.
When you're Kentucky and you're shooting three-pointers, that rim seems to be a moving target.
The Cats were 1-of-13 from behind the arc on Friday. That's 7.7 percent. That's the worst a Kentucky team has shot the three since Tubby Smith's 2005-06 club made just two of 27 three-pointers for 7.4 percent in a 79-53 loss to Indiana at the old RCA Dome.
Unlike then, Kentucky didn't lose on Friday. And maybe John Calipari is right. Three-point shooting, or the lack of three-point shooting accuracy, won't beat his team come (real) tournament time, even if it has shot 24.3 percent from behind the arc over its last 10 games.
But you also have to wonder if those "gaps" that Wall found in the Alabama defense allowing him to get to the basket will be there in the next three weeks, when the Cats play better teams.
Say, a Tennessee.
The thing about Saturday's game is that it is not at UK's Rupp Arena or UT's Thompson-Boling Arena, but at a, um, neutral site.
"It's gonna be a packed crowd," said Prince. "I saw a lot of blue in there. I'm excited to play (Saturday)."
"Well, we are in Nashville, Tennessee, and we're going to try to defend our territory," said UT coach Bruce Pearl. "And I understand that we've got some wonderful visitors from the north that are probably — they rival Tennessee as the greatest basketball fans in the country."
Wonderful visitors?
"No," said Pearl, "I've got obviously tremendous respect for their program and great admiration."
And the fans got what they wanted.
