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All along, this Kentucky basketball team has talked about writing a memorable story.
So how about a Hollywood story?
Anaheim's close enough to Tinseltown, after all.
California dreaming, and all that.
That's what the Cats will be doing this week, starting Thursday at the Honda Center when No. 11 seed Kentucky takes on No. 6 seed Marquette in a first-round game of the NCAA Tournament's South Regional.
Playing an opening game in sunny Orange County, a stone's throw from Disneyland, is not a bad reward for a blue-collar, hard-nosed team that had to overcome a boatload of obstacles to become a downright cinematic, feel-good story.
When UK Coach Billy Gillispie met with the media Sunday to discuss the 18-12 Cats' happy inclusion in the field of 65 and was asked whether this, his fourth NCAA Tournament, felt any different for him, the coach went all tear-jerker.
"I'm, uh, really proud," said Gillispie.
Then the coach, ol' Mr. Tough Guy himself, couldn't speak.
After a momentary pause to compose himself, Billy G. continued.
"I'm just really proud of this team. Like I started out saying, so many times in life when something bad happens to you, you automatically take a negative approach. I can't stand being around those kind of people. Those are the kind of people that make life bad for all of us, that always see the glass half-empty instead of half-full. I can't stand being around non-believers.
"I've been proud of every single team I've ever had, because they've all had great characteristics, great qualities, so many intangibles. But this team, I've never seen a tougher team, physically or mentally, to be able to overcome the things that were placed in front of them that were beyond their control."
So maybe it was fitting that the Cats watched Sunday's NCAA Selection show in the theater room of Gillispie's house out in Jessamine County.
Start with a coaching change from last season, and summer "Boot Camp" (name applies), and a, shall we say, demanding new leader, a couple of knee injuries, a trio of stress fractures, a couple of concussions, a historic 41-point drubbing, the loss of their best inside player three games before the end of the regular season, and, last but not least, a tornado that tried to take the roof off the Georgia Dome at the SEC Tournament just as the Cats were preparing to play their first game.
That's not a bad Hollywood story line.
Marquette could easily be the villain in all this, of course. The Golden Eagles are pretty good, a 24-9 team that has gone through the nightly battles of the Big Beast, er, East, a league so strong that half of its 16 teams were selected for the field.
And the last time the Cats met Tommy Crean's team, the results didn't turn out so well. That was the Midwest Regional finals in Minneapolis in 2003, when Marquette got 29 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists from a pretty fair player by the name of Dwyane Wade. That, plus a hobbled Keith Bogans (ankle) amounted to a resounding 83-69 Marquette triumph and trip to the Final Four.
Yes, Wade is on South Beach now, thankfully, a member of the Miami Heat. And Marquette is 0-3 in NCAA appearances since D-Wade's departure. But that doesn't mean Thursday night in the O.C. is going to be an easy task.
But then when has this Kentucky team had an easy task?
"It feels great," said senior guard Joe Crawford, "because at one point in the season everybody gave up on us and didn't think we had a chance to be in the NCAA Tournament."
Yet here they are.
A Hollywood story.
California, here they come.
selection sunday for kentucky opponent -- Marquette Where -- Anaheim, calif. When -- thursday, 2:30 p.m.
inside sports: Louisville to play boise St. -- D1. Western Kentucky to play Drake -- D1. Team capsules -- D4. Bracket -- D5
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