John Clay's Sidelines

(AP photo)

Big Blue Links for Saturday:

Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader writes that West Virginia wants to make it ugly:

When Kentucky and West Virginia played in the Las Vegas Invitational last season, the teams combined for 43 fouls, 39 turnovers and 4-for-23 shooting from three-point range. UK scored its second-fewest points in 2008-09. WVU scored its fewest.

No wonder WVU Coach Bob Huggins recoiled as a reporter asked what he remembered about that 54-43 loss. “I’m trying to forget,” he said in his signature deadpan delivery.

Chris Dufrense of the Los Angeles Times says UK-West Virginia a tenacious top two:

It’s crazy what’s been going on all over the NCAA tournament except here, in the East, where No. 1 Kentucky and No. 2 West Virginia have sidestepped all the obstacles.

No other regional was able to bring together the top two seeded teams in a final.

Kentucky dismissed Cornell, the cute story, and West Virginia answered Washington’s team speed with a physical beat-down.

Mark Story of the H-L writes on Patrick Patterson:

If having a Final Four berth at stake against West Virginia on Saturday wasn’t enough motivation, Patrick Patterson has a request for his Kentucky teammates.

Win one for the PatPat.

“If we don’t win this game,” said the Huntington, W.Va., product Friday with a smile, “you have no idea how much stuff I’m going to hear about it.”

Zac Berman of the Washington Post on Patterson:

Some of West Virginia’s veteran players such as senior forward Wellington Smith and fourth-year junior guard Joe Mazzulla remember Patterson visiting Morgantown and the hype associated with him. Smith believes Patterson would have been perfect for the Mountaineers.

Instead, Patterson went to Kentucky, where he starred for two seasons under former coach Billy Gillispie but never won an NCAA tournament game. He had career averages of 17.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game and considered leaving Kentucky for the NBA following last season.

My column on friendly rivals Bob Huggins and John Calipari:

“There was only supposed to be family in there,” said Bob Huggins. “But Cal being Cal, he talked his way back there. Cal came in, and Skip (Prosser) came in.”

Skip is gone now, himself the victim of a heart attack.

“I remember the paddles still had burns on them,” said Calipari of the Huggins visit. “It was pretty scary stuff.”

Rick Bozich of the Courier-Journal writes that the path is clearing for Kentucky:

There is a sense of the unstoppable around this University of Kentucky basketball team now. There is a growing feeling that this NCAA Tournament is the Wildcats’ tournament to win, that the one remaining question is which UK player will be the first to grab the scissors and snip the nets in Indianapolis on April5.

They have not trailed for a second over the final 31 minutes of their first three games against East Tennessee State, Wake Forest or Cornell.

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports writes that Huggins keeps bouncing back:

With a Bearcats’ victory, Huggins can actually join an even smaller group – one that explains the 56-year-old and his career perfectly.

Only Eddie Sutton has ever led a team to a Final Four (at Arkansas), been fired as a college head coach (at Kentucky) and then resuscitated his career and returned to the tournament’s last weekend (at Oklahoma State).

Andy Katz of espn.com on the chameleon coaches:

Bob Huggins had to ease into the West Virginia job three years ago, meeting the players in the middle at times after they were schooled in the nuances of John Beilein’s system.

John Calipari didn’t necessarily force his dribble-drive-motion offense on any of Kentucky’s returning players. But he had the luxury of knowing that they would do what he wanted without question in the fall since there were more contributing newcomers than returnees.

How each of the coaches seamlessly handled meshing former players and their own recruited talent helped speed up the process that put Kentucky and West Virginia on a collision course for a Finla Four berth on Saturday at the Carrier Dome.

Eric Crawford of the C-J writes that two states share one passion:

It’s more than a game for these two teams and for the states they represent.

The University of Kentucky basketball team, long a transcendent institution in Kentucky, has not been to the Final Four in 12 years, the longest stretch for the program since the legendary Adolph Rupp reached his first national semifinal in 1942.

Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal on John Wall as boss:

And if the Cats reach the promised land, much of the credit will go to Wall, the 6-foot-4 freshman point guard who leads UK in scoring, steals and highlight reels, the newcomer who on Thursday became the school’s all-time single-season assist leader with 236.

Some of that credit, though, will belong to the guy who assisted Wall in navigating the sea of hype that swelled the moment he signed with first-year UK coach John Calipari.

Stuart Mandel on a mellow Bob Huggins:

Bob Huggins didn’t need any pep talk from George Clooney upon receiving his pink slip from Cincinnati in 2005. The way he describes it, Huggs was the happiest fired person in America during his seven-month exile from coaching.

“It was wonderful,” he recalled Friday. “Just to wake up and say, ‘What do I want to do today?’ People were trying to get me to come in and watch practice and I’m like, ‘No, I don’t think I want to do that.’ You all try to make it out like it was a terrible thing. I kind of enjoyed it.”

Tom Leach says Wall and Cousins are the keys:

It’s going to be a tough, physical game between Kentucky and West Virginia. When they met last year in Las Vegas–and what kind of odds could have you have gotten that it was a prelude to an Elite 8 matchup a year later–Kentucky rallied to win 54-43 (ironically, the game featured Josh Harrelson’s only career double-double). Points may well be hard to come by again this time and that’s one of the reasons I think John Wall will be a key.

Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger writes that Patterson has the hometown fans:

Patrick Patterson didn’t need to check his cell phone to know what the voicemails or text messages were going to say.

“All the Marshall fans, especially the ones in Huntington where I am from, want us to win this game. I probably already have a couple of calls and text messages from a bunch of people back home saying you better win. Everybody back home is a Marshall fan and hates West Virginia, so they will want us to beat them bad,” Patterson said Kentucky’s win Thursday.

Mike Freeman of CBS Sports on a cooler DeMarcus Cousins:

Center DeMarcus Cousins is about to make you laugh. Out loud. Several times. There may be spittle involved. But first, this scene needs to be described.

When speaking to a small number of journalists Cousins several times mentioned an ailing back. It apparently began to flare during Kentucky’s game against Cornell. “It was hard for me to run,” he said.

If that’s Cousins playing hurt — he was the best player on the floor against Cornell — imagine what it’s like against Cousins when he’s healthy.

James Pennington of the Kentucky Kernel on WVU’s De’Sean Butler:

Growing up an only child, Da’Sean Butler had a wild imagination. To stay entertained, he had to.

So he would go in the backyard at home in Newark, N.J., shoot some hoops and let his mind run free. He’d haul down big rebounds, shoot game-winning shots – lay-ups and jumpers, twos and threes, nothing but net and off the glass – and play the announcer all at once.

Lately, a lot of those one-time dreams have come true.

Metz Camfield of the Kernel on Kentucky’s transformation:

It may be hard to imagine for the Big Blue Nation. One year ago the Cats were sitting at home after being ousted from the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament by Notre Dame. The status of then-head coach Billy Gillispie was in the air, as were the futures of Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson.

Then-Memphis head coach John Calipari was preparing his team for a game against Missouri in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, a game they would end up losing 101-92.