March Madness – in Kentucky it continues into April

Still enjoying a little roundball action, although my fave level – the high school game – is over, at least for a few months.

College hoops will continue until we eventually crown a champ early next week, and roundball fans in Kentucky are still hoping to eventually lay claim to yet another – our ninth – championship title and banner.

The Wildcats and their late but (finally) fantastic run through the NCAA has been one of the most exciting and nail biting trips I can remember.

It’s no secret that at my household, we’re big fans of Kentucky and Louisville (and Western) basketball, and we often catch a lot of grief over that dual allegiance and the fact that the flagpole out in front of our house flies a Cardinals 2013 Championship flag atop of a Wildcats 2012 Championship flag under Old Glory.

Deep, deep down, if I had to choose, I’d say I truly bleed blue, but I still contend that the Cardinals have the best coach in the game while our Cats have the best freshman coach – and apparent skill builder – in the game.

So, why choose between the two when you can reserve bragging rights for living in the best basketball state in the nation – right up until tip-off time for each Dream Game.

Truthfully, I had Louisville picked to advance in the UL-UK game last week (yes, one bracket had the Cats going that far – but never mind, both brackets are shot now anyway), and then I picked Coach Pitino and his Cards into the final game against Florida, with the Gators chosen to be our national champions.

But, those choices were made of course well before the tournament started and before Kentucky and Coach Cal had gelled and were running with “the Tweak”. As I told Steven Tallent, one of Clinton County’s most devoted UL Cardinal fans prior to last week’s UK-UL match-up, given the chance before the game, I would have liked to change it.

Steven just looked at me and shook his head in disbelief, but on Monday of this week, it was clear that not only was I right, but a healthy color still hadn’t returned to Steven’s complexion yet.

“It really hurts” he said Monday of this week as we discussed the game outcome. “If they (Kentucky) win it this year, they deserve it after all they’ve gone through.”

Can the CATS take it all? Sure – when you get to the Final Four, and you’re playing like Kentucky is and finally believing in yourself – well, I’m looking to be flying a blue flag on top later this month.

As of this writing on Tuesday morning, the Louisville Cardinals were set to play in the Women’s Elite Eight on Tuesday night, hoping to make their way to Nashville and this year’s Final Four event just south of us.

I’ve spent a lot of time watching women’s basketball the past few years, more this year than ever with Kentucky and Louisville so much in the spotlight – and if you haven’t tuned in yet, well you’re missing out on a lot of good roundball action.

Brett and I made our way to Memorial Coliseum a couple of weeks ago to watch UK topple Wright State (106-60) in Women’s NCAA tourney action and the atmosphere was spot-on. Hadn’t been inside Commonwealth for several years but as soon as I stepped inside I realized that basketball tradition runs no deeper anywhere than in our Bluegrass state.

Righting a wrong x 2

Now, for a couple of corrections that I can’t seem to get past.

First of all, David Cross made note last week that I apparently had misunderstood him in a conversation concerning his dad, Perry Cross, and the year he served as player-coach for Albany High School.

I was just off a decade – Perry, a 24 year-old senior, was the player coach in the late 1920’s.

Finally, another issue I have bungled on more than one writing now has caught the eye of more than one reader, so we’re going to start again, and hopefully end it, at least for now.

Without mentioning dates – which seems to get me in more trouble the past few weeks, our list of top scorers for boys’ basketball at Clinton County at present, shows Kenneth Conner out in front with 1,887 points. In second place, Louis Brummett poured in 1,671 points. Current junior, Keifer Dalton, who will be a senior with next year’s season, currently sits in the third place on the list, with 1,637 points.

It’s (still) March Madness in Kentucky – don’t call me until (later in) April!