SWEET 16 ON TAP

ATLANTA—There was a time when t heir South Region path to the Final Four seemed padlocked, paved with potholes. But a funny thing happened to Kentucky on the Wildcats’ way through the tournament, advancing with hard-fought wins over Davidson and Buffalo.

Top-seeded Virginia famously flamed out against UMBC.

Second-seeded Cincinnati blew a 22-point lead against Nevada.

Third-seeded Tennessee couldn’t escape Loyola.

And fourth-seeded Arizona didn’t show up for the tournament at all, getting its doors blown off by Buffalo.

Now, suddenly, the Wildcats are the favorites, a 5-seed in a region where the 7( Nevada ), 9 (Kansas State) and 11 (Loyola) seeds also survive. And Calipari has to guard against over confidence.

“My challenge is making sure these kids don’t drink that poison, that poison being we h ave an easy road,” Calipari said Wednesday. “There are no easy roads in this tournament. If they drink that poison, we’ll be done Thursday. If they don’t drink the poison, it’ll be a dogfight on Thursday, and let’s see what happens.”

The Wildcats ( 26-10) will play Kansas State (2411) in the second game of the doubleheader at Philips Arena on Thursday. Loyola (30-5) and Nevada (29-7) will square off in the opener, starting at 7:07 p.m.

Calipari, of course, still has much of his traditional skill-set at his disposal, and immediately questioned why anyone would think his ultra-talented but( as always) freshman-dominated team would have an advantage in this grouping.

“Sometimes you wonder why they’re trying to paint that picture with my team,” Calipari wondered aloud. “Probably because they’re young and they know they don’ t know better. But the teams here, veteran coaches, and their teams are all playing well.”

But so is Kentucky, which found itself outside the Top 25 for a week in January and March and two weeks in February, but also has won nine of its past 10, including a three-game sweep of the SEC Tournament two weeks ago. The Kid Kats will be ready.