Battle of Kentucky at Final Four
Ohio State, Kansas play rare rematch
One game is a grudge match between teams that know each other all too well. The other is a rare rematch between virtual strangers.
The Final Four is set. In one game Saturday, Kentucky will play Louisville in an intrastate rivalry that puts Cardinals coach Rick Pitino against the school he once coached, then later alienated by returning to the Bluegrass to lead its archrival.
In the other semifinal, it will be Ohio State and Kansas, meeting for only the ninth time in their history but for the second time this season. The Jayhawks won the first game 78-67 in Lawrence, Kan., on Dec. 10. It was the first time the teams had met since 2000.
The winners will play for the national title April 2. Kentucky already has seven national titles, but none since 1998, the year after Pitino left. Kansas has three championships, Louisville has two and Ohio State, better known as a football power, won its lone title in 1960 and is making its third trip to the Final Four since 1999.
Absent from this year’s ultimate hoops weekend, taking place at the Superdome in New Orleans, are the longshots and little guys who have made March Madness so special over the years. Although there are no Butlers or VCUS, there are plenty of good stories to tell. That list starts with Pitino vs. his old school.
It was Pitino who restored Kentucky to its former greatness when he arrived there in 1989 and the Wildcat program was coming off the sting of NCAA violations. Pitino took the program to three Final Fours and won one championship, but left in 1997 to take a second shot at the NBA, where he had previously tried and failed with the New York Knicks.
He didn’t fare much better in four seasons with the Boston Celtics, and when the call back to the college game came, it came from Louisville, located only 70 miles up the road from Lexington and very much in the crosshairs of Kentucky fans. It has been 11 years since his dramatic return, and most of the shock has worn off from what was once deemed an unforgivable betrayal. But there’s nothing like a Final Four meeting to stir up some old memories.
“It is in our state. They’re a great program. We’re in two different leagues,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said after the Wildcats beat Baylor 82-70 in the South Regional to advance to the Final Four for the second straight year.
The teams play every season and were ranked Nos. 3 and 4 in the Associated Press poll when they met on New Year’s Eve. Kentucky won at home 69-62.
Louisville rallied for a 72-68 win over Florida that put the Cardinals in the Final Four for the second time since Pitino arrived.
In the other semifinal, Ohio State forward Jared Sullinger got what he wanted when he decided to return to school for his sophomore year – a trip to the Final Four.
The Buckeyes finished in a three-way tie for first in the Big Ten, widely viewed as the toughest conference this year, but settled for a No. 2 seed in the NCAA after losing the conference tournament final to Michigan State.
Sullinger scored 19 points Saturday in Ohio State’s 77-70 win over Syracuse to make the Final Four.
Kansas point guard Tyshawn Taylor scored 22 points Sunday in an 80-67 win over North Carolina.