National Champs

Monday night the Kentucky Wildcats defeated the Kansas Jayhawks 67-59 giving the Big Blue Nation that elusive eighth national championship.  Their last one came in 1998 so the city of Lexington has been waiting 14 years to call their team national champions. The team this year was expected to win from the start with a roster loaded with NBA players such as Anthony Davis, Terrance Jones, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, and Doron Lamb. Kentucky had eight players on their roster this year that averaged more than 25 points per game in high school. This team was able to gel from the start of the season as they had lost only two games heading into the tournament.

Much of this success can be credited to coach John Calipari who came to Lexington three years ago trying to revive this program. He transferred from Memphis in 2009, a team which he has just led to the championship with Derrick Rose as his point guard (reigning MVP in the NBA). They lost that game to Kansas so this victory must have felt even sweeter for Coach Cal. What a great coach he has been for Kentucky as he has a 112-14 record with the team and he hasn't lost a home game yet. This championship was the only puzzle piece missing in this Hall of Fame coach's career so it must have felt great for Calipari to finally win after coming up short so many times.

The real star player for Kentucky was Anthony Davis. He is the first college basketball player to win freshman of the year, MVP of the year, All American First team honors, and Final Four MVP all in the same season. The 6'10 center from Chicago is known for his exceptional defense that will help carry him through the first few years of his professional career. Once he improves his offensive game, the sky is the limit for this talented young star. He will most likely enroll in the NBA draft  and will make an instant impact on the team that picks him.

Kentucky will probably lose six players to the draft this year just like they did last year but don't count them out because John Calipari is the master of recruiting and he will have his Wildcats in the mix for years to come.