By Aaron Smith

ATLANTA — His leg bounced, restlessly, as the seconds ticked down.

The Final Four was inevitable now, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist couldn’t wait for the time to pass and the celebration to begin. So he bounced his leg impatiently, but then he couldn’t wait any longer. He got out of his seat and went behind the bench to congratulate Anthony Davis on the win. He came back to the sideline, waving his towel, bouncing up and down.

Finally the buzzer sounded, making UK’s 82-70 win over Baylor official. Kidd-Gilchrist threw on his South Regional championship T-shirt and hat. He bounced over to radio row for interviews. He moved himself into the center of the circle of UK players to dance, the same as he has before every one of the Cats’ 38 games this year.

And finally, he was climbing the ladder to cut off a piece of the net.

“It’s a dream come true,” Kidd-Gilchrist said.

Kidd-Gilchrist was a key part in making the dream happen. UK needed someone to attack the tall Baylor frontcourt. Kidd-Gilchrist was their guy, darting into the lane to receive entry passes and barreling into the lane in transition.

He finished with 19 points and five rebounds, and after the game he was named the South Regional Most Outstanding Player.

“He’s playing like a leader,” Darius Miller said. “He’s not playing like a freshman anymore. That goes for everybody.”

That’s been especially true for Anthony Davis, and it was no different Saturday — although it looked like UK’s whole season was about to be derailed when Davis went down with knee injury that became the center of attention — for good reason.

“If something happens to him, it makes us all nervous,” Miller said.

Davis limped and grimaced through the first few possessions back in the game. But by the end of the game he was moving around with relatively no caution. He finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks.

“It’s doing fine,” Davis said after the game. “I just bumped knees and it started hurting real bad. But I knew my team needed me to play. I wasn’t going to sit out, especially with a trip to the Final Four on the line.”

UK pulled together to make it there, as it has all season. Kidd-Gilchrst and Davis led the way, but everyone else made significant contributions.

When Davis was out, Terrence Jones (12 points, nine rebounds) and Doron Lamb (14 points) stepped up, keeping UK’s lead at a comfortable level. Marquis Teague pushed UK in transition, a key to running away from the Bears. Miller took a key charge to halt Baylor’s momentum at its peak.

And suddenly, each of those players was taking his turn climbing the ladder, or dancing in the circle, or giving interviews, as the reality of making a Final Four sank in.

“It’s everyone’s college dream,” Davis said.

The dream has felt, at times, more like destiny. Last year’s run was a surprise; this year’s felt expected. UK played all year with the burden of being the favorite to not only return to the Final Four but to win it all.

The Cats met those expectations with ease against Baylor, a win that tied the program record for most wins in a season (36) and gave the program 15 total Final Four appearances, third-most all-time.

This one stands apart, though, as the players continue to make a case for not only the best team of the year but one of the best teams ever. They can seal their legacy over the next weekend. They won the right to try with a victory in patented UK style.

“We just left New Orleans,” head coach John Calipari said. “Now we’re going back.”