As natural as a sunrise, a CNN breaking news that isn’t, and a teevee remote button to squelch Dick Vitale, Carl Sagan would tell us, basketball’s grand cosmos is in alignment once more.

As appropriate as Alabama reclaiming universal football supremacy … Kentucky is King of basketball again.

Old Order to new – that is, Adolph Rupp admirers to kids who paint their faces and mug for ESPN cameras – an eighth NCAA trophy stands in the big-windowed display case at Craft Center next to the House that Rupp built, Memorial Coliseum. It’s The Natural. Go see it.

King Kentucky.

On 38 of 40 nights this winter/spring Wildcat fans went to bed with a smile. A total that included five especially delicious ones. If your UK car window flag is still flying, you know them by heart – North Carolina, Indiana pay-back, Louisville twice, and last-night-of-a-season, Kansas.

And, during Kentucky’s march to the sea, the Wildcats paused to share a little prosperity – SEC Tournament champion for 2012 is Vanderbilt.

King Kentucky.

Durham and Chapel Hill to Lawrence, Syracuse, Waco and Louisville, the car window flags are mostly put away. In 120 county Kentucky, not so.

The words National Champions will echo awhile in Kentucky’s collective soul through another summer and on to Midnight…, well, you know.

This magical season and crown at the end, I hope will be enough to soothe the hearts of Big Blue Nation’s faithful when the starry Wildcats of today pack their bags sooner rather than later and hasten of their “show-me-the-money” lottery.

Amid the jubilation/celebration of title time, there is standing in the wings, Mr. Hard Reality who looks remarkably like John Calipari. “I hope we have seven guys in the NBA draft,” he said the other night.

To Kentucky loyalists with their placards, face paint and love beads won’t admit it, but it’s a slap in the face. They will wink, nod and say it is the price for winning.

In this new era of thinking, loyalty has left the building.

King Kentucky.

Ah, the land of four seasons? Midnight Madness, a regular season, tournaments, then this one – Recruiting. Vanceburg to Hickman and all points between, town talk already is reload with an epilogue question: “Ya think coach will stay?”

King Kentucky.

Team for a generation, this one. For all its magnificent skills, poise and team-ness, curious how this team never got a nickname that stuck. Maybe it’s linked to Calipari’s business-as-usual approach and post-game dismissive, “I don’t feel any different after this game than I did before.”

His shrug-and-move-on was a stark reminder of another Calipari-ism, “Kentucky isn’t for everyone.”

Never mind, the glory and joy tied to this week’s One Shining Moment moment belongs to you.

King Kentucky.

FINAL FOUR NOTES

• Naismith coach of the year Bill Self was gracious in defeat with a single subtle exception. Kansas coach told media his team lost to “professionals.” The remark illustrates a mindset among coach-of-the-year voters. Apparently he doesn’t care, but for what his team accomplished, John Calipari is college coach of the year.

• When Calipari shook hands and spoke briefly with Rick Pitino following Saturday’s game, I like to believe he said, “I’m sending you a Christmas card this year, send me one too.”

• (Some) Kentucky fans won’t ever get-over-it with Pitino, but passing time shows clearly Da Coach’s decision has worked perfectly. Kentucky is back at basketball’s summit; Calipari got his dream job at a dream pay grade; Pitino is at home in Kentucky and comfortable Louisville. Fans have their love-to-hate antagonist an hour apart. Perfect.

• Terrence Jones isn’t ready for the NBA. The sophomore can dominate, but if Jones is hammered early in a game and no foul is called, two things happen. 1. Jones is denied his stare-down self-starter tactic. 2. He retreats to being a 6-9, 252-pound game-watcher.

• Class. Professional class is still Rick Pitino. Man knows how to win graciously and how to handle not winning in public. Graciously.

• Class II. If the NCAA could billboard market its very best, a photo shoot featuring Anthony Davis and Gorgui Dieng would do it.

• Obscenity. Anthony Davis. That the NCAA stands holding the coats while NBA players union facilitates, another 19-year-old quitting on education, is hypocrisy at its most shameful.

KENTUCKY-LOUISVILLE

Before the Kentucky-Louisville uh, struggle, talking heads and fevered column writers offered a blizzard of ways how Louisville could/would beat rival Kentucky.

1. Keep the Wildcats off the free throw line.

2. Out-rebound Kentucky, especially off the offensive board.

3. Mix man and zone defenses to thwart rhythm and runs.

4. Limit Kentucky 3-pointers.

5. Get in foul trouble the man who hit UofL for 24 points last time.

6. Limit Anthony Davis’s field goal tries.

7. Hold Kentucky below 70 points.

Louisville did all those things very well.

Kentucky won anyway.

WORTH REPEATING DEPT.

• Pitino on Anthony Davis: “When you’re playing against Bill Russell at the pro level, you realize why the Celtics won 11 world championships. When you see this young man at the collegiate level, you realize why (Kentucky is) so good. Not that their other players aren’t, but he’s so much of a factor.”

• Say what? An internet poll question last week: Which college hoops program is most enduring? A majority answered, UCLA. Hilarious.

King Kentucky.

PARTING SHOT

Faux pas on Louisville orange uniforms. At one point in the second half of the Kentucky-Louisville game, CBS’s Jim Nance referred to UofL as Syracuse. Oops.

And so it goes