Strange season gets stranger with UK’s NIT bid

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By Les Johns | @KernelJohns

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A cryptic UK basketball season takes yet another strange turn Tuesday as the Cats open play in the NIT on the road against Robert Morris in Moon Township, Pa.

The overwhelming sense is that if the Cats simply want to continue to play, they can defeat the Colonials and return to host a second-round game in Rupp Arena.

UK head coach John Calipari hyped Robert Morris the way coaches generally do before a game, accentuating their strengths and focusing on the things they do that could give the Cats trouble.

“They are a bunch of tough players and tough guys,” Calipari said. “Scramble and shoot threes. Nine steals a game. A lot like Arkansas.”

There is a reason the Colonials were a No. 8 seed in the NIT, however. They are a 10-loss team from the Northeast Conference.  The Cats defeated their only opponent from the Northeast Conference, LIU Brooklyn 104-75.  Robert Morris defeated LIU Brooklyn 60-57 in their only matchup of the season.

The Blackbirds rebounded from those losses well, however, and won the Northeast Conference Tournament and begin play in the NCAA tourney Wednesday.

The transitive property is relatively useless, especially when used with this group of Cats.

If they simply had defeated Vanderbilt Friday night in Nashville, a return to the NCAA tourney was all but assured.

But the Cats defied all logic and were blown out by a team without enough wins to even qualify for the NIT — in an arena packed with more than 15,000 rabid blue-clad faithful.

If they want the win Tuesday, it is theirs for the taking. Tennessee head coach Cuonzo Martin said that the key for all three SEC teams competing in the NIT is to be focused from the start of the game.

“It is emotionally taxing when you feel like you deserve to get in (the NCAA), but you don’t get in. Now it is a matter of getting your guys up to play,” Martin said. “If your guys decide to start playing the game with five or six minutes left to play, it is probably too late.”

Are the Cats capable of giving that level of effort from the tipoff to the final horn? They were in late-season victories at Rupp against Missouri and Florida, but they surely didn’t in losses to Georgia, Arkansas and most recently Vandy.

“This team could be as good as they want to be,” Calipari said. “We could have backed into the tournament, we didn’t. Now we have to go on the road and play, which is a good thing for us.

If you want to keep the season going, then let’s go. Keep it going.”

If the Cats play well and earn the win, they will host a second round game Sunday at 5 p.m. at Rupp Arena, a day after in-state arch-rival Louisville would play a second round NCAA game in the very same building, assuming the Cards outlast their No. 16 seed opponent Thursday.

The strange season could just keep getting stranger, or it could all end Tuesday night — depending on the Cats effort and mindset. Your guess is as good as mine.