Kentucky stunned by Wisconsin in Final Four

It seemed written in lore that the March Madness Final Four would go to form and that number 1 seeds Duke and Kentucky would progress to the championship game. However, Basketball is a funny old game and anything can happen over a single shootout on the hardwood. And so it proved as Duke lived up to its end of the bargain by defeating Michigan State, but Wisconsin produced the shock of the season by seeing off red hot favourite Kentucky.

Kentucky vs. Wisconsin, 64-71
Kentucky has been on the kind of run that troubles the record books, so much so that it seemed that fate was on the side of the Wildcats and a ninth NCAA1 championship was all but a guarantee. However, at the business end of March Madness, in the Final Four, the school fell to a stirring Wisconsin effort.

Heading into the contest Kentucky was protecting a season long unbeaten run which would have made them the first school since 1976 to win the championship unblemished. The team was about to write its legacy, a tale to be told for decades to come, when the Wildcats dominated the NCAA. That is not the case now, you are only as good as your last game said Willie Caulen-Stein, Kentucky’s starting forward. And he’s right, while this Wildcats roster will be remembered as a strong group, that 1 defeat against their record (and more importantly the lack of a championship) will be long remembered.

History does not like the nearly men, so while the Wildcats have a blazing squad that has put the work in this season, they certainly fall short of greatness.

Did Wisconsin simply have the heart, or did the Badgers just stick to the game plan until the bitter end? Probably a bit of both; the teams were locked at 60 apiece with less than 2 minutes on the clock before Sam Dekker drained a triple and Kentucky missed from the charity strip to give Wisconsin the game with 16 seconds remaining.

Duke vs. Michigan State, 81-61
While Kentucky failed to follow the script, Duke went along with the narrative perfectly as the South number 1 seed saw off the East seventh seed Michigan State. The Blue Devils reached the championship game in style too, leading by wide margins throughout the contest and registering a twenty point victory as regulation time closed.

Despite the final result, it was Michigan State that made the early running and through the first act the Spartans had carved a 14-6 lead. The lowest seed remaining had the bit between their teeth and drained four out of four from beyond the arc in the opening four minutes. Duke responded by getting grittier in the defensive paint and a little sharper from the field, taking the lead and dominating the rest of the game.

The Blue Devils were set by their standout freshmen, and the team as a whole seems to be easing into top gear at precisely the right time. Speaking of those freshmen, Justise Winslow led the winners with 19 points, while Jahlil Okafor continued his consistent form with 18 points. Michigan’s Denzel Valentine started hot with nine points in the opening charge and a game high 22 overall, but he admitted that Duke merely shut him and the Spartans down.

“They did a good job of taking me away… I got hot and they started denying a little bit and started forcing us to take bad shots, and the next thing you know they had the lead.”