Kentucky Carries Weight of a State

Kentuckians in their blue-and-white Wildcat best kept Big Apple cabbies and barkeeps hopping into early Sunday morning, reveling in every second of what they perceive as their birthright: a spot in tonight’s NCAA final at the Meadowlands Arena at East Rutherford, N.J.

The partying started before Kentucky played Massachusetts in one semifinal Saturday night, and the good times really got rolling immediately after the Wildcats’ 81-74 victory. But Kentucky’s players see the bigger picture. They realize their fans believe the festivities were only a dress rehearsal for the expected hoedown tonight, after the title game against Syracuse.

For everything great the Wildcats have done this season, they know they better win or face a wave of depression from here to Lexington, Ky. All that’s riding on this one is the psyche of a state.

“Yeah, we know,” Kentucky guard Tony Delk said. “It’s tough. I mean, it’s really tough.

“To me, Kentucky is the basketball capital of the world. The only thing Kentucky really has is basketball, so it’s like when you lose one game the season is over. That’s the emphasis put on basketball and we understand that, we just try not to get caught up in it. But, yeah, we know.”

No one more so than Wildcat Coach Rick Pitino, who does what he can to shelter his charges. But even Pitino acknowledges this movement can’t be stopped now.

“We’ll be very disappointed if we don’t win because of the expectations,” Pitino said. “There is pressure, and we understand that and try to fight through it.”

Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim is trying to prevent Kentucky from winning its sixth national title and first since 1978. Boeheim and Pitino are good friends, and Boeheim said Pitino can carry the weight of a state on his back.

“[Kentucky] is a basketball-crazed place, and [the program] has always been a monster,” Boeheim said. “Rick might be the only modern coach who can handle that job for this length of time.”

Pitino has embraced the pressure, trying to make it work for him rather than against. Of course, he doesn’t have many choices.

“The pressure is there because there’s only been one championship in [37] years, and so many people had a taste [of success] early on,” Pitino said. “There’s no escaping the pressure, so what we try to do is make it into good pressure. We try to focus more, run faster, jump higher--to do all the good things.”

Works fine for the players.

“A lot of people probably thought we’d fold because of the pressure,” forward Antoine Walker said. “But that’s good pressure because it makes us keep working even harder. That’s what makes us go every day.”