Upsets create intriguing matchups in East Regional semifinals

The East Regional has been siphoned down to the top two schools and the bottom falling out.

Kentucky, the top-seeded team in the East, won two games by 29 and 30 points and, with Kansas getting the shock treatment against Northern Iowa, became the presumptive favorite to win the national title.

“I don’t know if we’re the overwhelming favorite,” Kentucky Coach John Calipari said. “We’re still a bunch of freshmen and sophomores.”

That’s a little like saying Galapagos is just a bunch of islands. Carmelo Anthony was a freshman when he led Syracuse to the national title in 2003, and Derrick Rose was just a rookie (without a valid SAT score, as it turns out) who helped lead Calipari-coached Memphis to within an inch of the NCAA title two years ago.

And in freshman John Wall, Kentucky’s first-year coach probably has another No. 1 overall pick in this year’s NBA draft.

Second-seeded West Virginia jumped on Morgan State, then held off feisty Missouri last weekend in Buffalo, N.Y. This is a typical in-your-face Bob Huggins team that likes to get physical and impose its biceps. West Virginia and Syracuse are the only Big East teams still alive from a conference that graduated eight into the tournament — but don’t tell Huggins that the league has underperformed.

“Whoever doesn’t think the Big East is a great league shouldn’t write sports,” Huggins said. “They ought to do something else. Do cooking or something.”

After No. 1 and No. 2 in the East, someone pulled the trap door.

No. 3 New Mexico and No. 4 Wisconsin bowed out to No. 11 Washington and No. 12 Cornell, setting up two terrific regional semifinals Thursday in Syracuse, N.Y., and a variety of intriguing story lines.

Kentucky and Cornell is as intriguing as it gets, and West Virginia versus Washington offers as vast a contrast as there is ground space between the campuses.

The East Regional final could end up a traditional 1-2 pairing of powers, a split between a top-seeded team and a double digit or … the fantastically unlikely matchup of Cornell-Washington.

But first things first.

Kentucky (34-2) is champion of the Southeastern Conference and one of the faces on college basketball’s Mt. Rushmore. The Wildcats have seven national titles and take their basketball seriously — as in religiously.

Calipari last year evacuated from Memphis in the wake of an NCAA scandal, and it bothered Kentucky not one bit so long as the coach was bringing his game face and his recruits. The kids Calipari speaks of being so new to this experience aren’t really kids anymore, having played 36 games this season. Calipari has three freshman starters, but one, Wall, is the best or second-best player in the country and all three are going to cash checks in the NBA.

Cornell (29-4) is the kind of team you want to hug, from a school where academics come first and second. The Big Red plays in a league, the Ivy, not a conference. Eitan Chemerinski, a freshman, can solve a Rubik’s Cube in less than three minutes. Cornell players don’t take themselves too seriously — they have gone through pregame layup drills without a ball.

But Cornell, in basketball parlance, can take it to the hoop. The team’s dominance in defeating No. 5-seeded Temple and No. 4-seeded Wisconsin ranks as one of the tournament’s more impressive feats. Led by senior Ryan Wittman, Cornell shoots 43.4% from three-point range. Kentucky’s defense holds opponents to 31.1% on three-pointers, so that should be interesting.

As for West Virginia and Washington, initial analysis of this matchup between the tournament champions of the Big East and Pacific 10 conferences might heavily favor the Mountaineers. But West Virginia (29-6) will be playing without sophomore point guard Darryl Bryant, who has a broken foot. That’s a key loss for a team going up against Washington point guard Isaiah Thomas.

Washington (26-9) came in underappreciated, a victim of the Pac-10’s bad reputation. The Huskies, though, have won nine straight games and are dangerous if they can play fast and continue to get key baskets from senior Quincy Pondexter, who hit the winning shot in the first round against Marquette.

Washington is averaging 80 points a game; West Virginia gives up 63. When things get tough for the Mountaineers, they count on senior forward Da’Sean Butler, who has six game-winning shots this season.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com