UK coach John Calipari called a time-out to set up a play. Either it was a horrible play call or DeAndre Liggins thought it would be smart to throw up a contested three with 7 seconds left in the game.  Naturally, the shot ricocheted off the side of the rim to Connecticut guard Shabazz Napier, who was immediately fouled.

Napier went to the free throw line where he made both free throws to push the UConn lead to 56-52 to seal the game.

The Wildcats inbounded the ball the length of the court where Kentucky’s Brandon Knight hit a three at the buzzer to make the final score, 56-55.

Kentucky likely would be playing for the National Championship on Monday if they had been able to hit shots down the stretch. The Wildcats, in typical Coach Cal fashion, bricked free throw after free throw, only hitting 3-12 from the charity stripe.  They shot 33.9% from the field and 33.3% from 3-point (9-27).

Knight led the Kentucky brickage by making just 6 of 23 shots (3-11 from 3-point). However, he did lead Kentucky with 17 points and 8 assists. Doron Lamb added 13.

The Huskies won despite 15 turnovers. Kentucky’s defense gave them fits throughout most of the game.  As bad as Kentucky shot the ball, they still were only beat by a single point. If they could have hit 2 more free throws or another shot then they would have advanced.

Solid shooting from UConn helped compensate for their turnovers.  The Huskies free throw shooting secured the game in the final minute.

Huskies star Kemba Walker was not much better than Knight shooting the ball (6-15).  He scored 18 points to go with 6 rebounds and 7 assists.  Jeremy Lamb added 13 for UConn.

Connecticut – Kentucky Box Score

The Huskies will play the Butler Bulldogs on Monday night for the NCAA Championship.

Memphis Tigers head basketball coach Josh Pastner was on the hot seat the second half of the season as his team struggled in Conference USA play with embarrassing losses to Rice, East Carolina, SMU, among others.

However, the Tigers came together in the last month to win the C-USA tournament and earn an NCAA Tournament bid in just Pastner’s second season as a head coach.

Paster was rewarded on Tuesday when the University of Memphis bumped his $880,000 annual salary to $1.7 million annually through the 2015-16 season.  That’s a total of 5 seasons for $8.5 million.

That is by far the most money in the country for a college basketball coach that has never won an NCAA Tournament game.  But the Tigers came awfully close against the Arizona Wildcats in the first round of the tourney and were a blown call away from possibly sending the game into overtime and winning.

Pastner, 33, was the youngest coach in the tournament.  He played at Arizona under Lute Olsen and went on to be an assistant for the Wildcats for several seasons before moving to Memphis to serve as an assistant to former Memphis coach John Calipari for one year.

Josh thought he was going with Calipari when he bolted in the middle of the night for the Kentucky job.  However, after Memphis AD R.C. Johnson was turned down by several experienced, high-profile coaching candidates he turned to Pastner in an act of desperation.  That act of desperation, perhaps dumb RCJ luck, is now paying dividends for all partiest involved.

Many basketball pundits knew Josh would one day be a head coach, just no one thought it would happen as soon as it did.

“Josh has proven himself to be an outstanding coach and recruiter. He has also demonstrated that his values and principles, pertaining to life off the basketball court, mirror those we expect of our student-athletes. Coach Pastner’s leadership qualities are exemplary, and we are pleased that he has chosen to remain with the Tiger program,” Johnson told reporters after the announcement.

He wasted no time in securing the top recruiting class in the country his first full season at Memphis.  He then took that team to the tourney.  Now he is being paid along the lines of the best and most high profile college basketball coaches in the country.

In comparison, the Tennessee Vols just hired Cuonzo Martin.  Martin is set to make $1.3 million.  The Vols athletic budget trumps the Tigers’ into oblivion.

The Tigers should be even better next season.  They are returning all of their players with the exception of senior Will Coleman.  Pastner secured top 10 high school recruit Adonis Thomas to join the team next year as well.  The Tigers played six freshman for most of their minutes throughout the season.

With the big payday, expectations will naturally increase as well.  Just don’t be surprised when Pastner meets and exceeds them.

Last year the Wildcats were beat in the Elite 8 by West Virginia because they were a horrible 3-point shooting team.  This year that has not been the case and for sure wasn’t on Sunday.  Kentucky 54.5% going 12-22 from 3-point land and that was the difference in the game as North Carolina shot 18.8% (3-16) from the same distance

Wildcats point guard Brandon Knight scored 22 points, making 5 three pointers, and grabbing 7 rebounds as well.  DeAndre Liggins (12), Josh Harrellson (12), Terrence Jones (11), and Darius Miller (11) also scored in double figures.

Tyler Zeller led North Carolina with 21 points and 9 rebounds.  Harrison Barnes had 18.

The Final Four appearance by the Wildcats is their first trip there in 13 years.

Kentucky – Kansas Box Score

The Wildcats will play the Connecticut Huskies next Saturday in Houston at 8:49pm ET.

John Calipari and his Kentucky Wildcats are advancing to the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament after upsetting the top seeded Ohio State Buckeyes 62-60 on Friday night.

Kentucky’s prized forward Terrence Jones picked up two early fouls in the first five minutes of the game that sent him to the bench.

With Jones on the bench the Cats didn’t wilt and die as senior Josh Harrellson was nearly perfect from the floor going for 12 points and 5 boards in the first half.

Ohio State freshman Jared Sullinger had 10 points and 7 rebounds in the first 20 minutes.

Kentucky was able to stay in the game by holding OSU to 30% shooting in the first half. The flip side to that coin is that they committed 11 fouls that gave 5 Wilcats two fouls heading into the half.

Both teams entered the locker room tied at 30 after a strong last 15 minutes by Kentucky after Ohio State came out quickly to jump on top.

The second half was even uglier than the first as Ohio State continued to brick shots, while Kentucky’s prized superstar of Jones and Brandon Knight did the same.  Harrellson continued to be reckless on the boards and attacking the rim, leading the team 17 points and 10 rebounds.

OSU’s Jon Diebler hit a 3-pointer to tie the game with less than 15 seconds remaining. Kentucky came down and Knight, who had struggled most of the night, hit a 14-foot fadeaway jumper from the right-side of the key to put Kentucky up 62-60.

With 5 seconds remaining, the Buckeyes hurried the ball up the court where William Buford’s desperation three-pointer clanged off the rim as time expired.

Harrellson seemed to out-hustle Sullinger to several rebounds and did a good job of slowing him down on the offensive end.

Sullinger’s final numbers were big, 21 points and 16 rebounds, but he seemed overmatched for most of the game.  He looked slow, sluggish, and outmatched throughout.

DeAndre Liggins added 15 points for the Wildcats.

Ohio State – Kentucky Box Score

The Wildcats advance to play the North Carolina Tar Heels on Sunday in Newark.

Most thought it would be 9-1 after the way Huggins’ West Virginia Mountaineers dominated Cal’s Kentucky Wildcats in the first half.  The first half horn sounded with the Mountaineers up by 8 points.

Kentucky did not give up though.

Whatever adjustments Calipari made at halftime worked as the Wildcats outscored West Virginia by 16 in the second half to win 71-63.

Of course it’s easy for Cal to look good when his freshman stud point guard Brandon Knight scores 30 points in the win.

West Virginia was led in scoring by Joe Mazzulla who scored 20.

Kentucky – West Virginia Box Score

The Wildcats advance to play the winner of the Ohio State – George Mason game.

The entire state of Kentucky was almost in mourning until Kentucky Wildcats point guard Brandon Knight made a layup with 2 seconds left to avoid the upset to the #13 seed Princeton Tigers.  The final score was 59-57.

Knight was 0-7 shooting until hitting his only shot, the last  shot of the game, for the win.

The Wildcats were led by senior Josh Harrellson who finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds.  He was 7-8 from the field.  Kentucky as a team shot 51% for the game.

The Louisville (KY) Cardinals had already been upset earlier in the day by Morehead State.

Kentucky – Princeton Box Score

Kentucky Wildcats

ABC 36 News has learned that UK quarterback Mike Hartline has bonded out of jail after being arrested overnight.

The 22-year-old Hartline was arrested following an incident on Crescent Avenue.

This will become interesting as more details emerge.  Will Joker Phillips suspend Hartline for the Wildcats’ bowl game?

It took weeks and months but the NCAA finally ruled today that Turkish center Enes Kanter will not be eligible to play for the Kentucky Wildcats for accepting $33,000 in cash for playing for a professional team in Turkey during the 2008/9 season.

“Enes took advantage of an opportunity to play at the highest level available to him, but the consequences of receiving payments above his actual expenses is not compatible with the collegiate model of sports that our members have developed,” said Kevin Lennon, the N.C.A.A.’s vice president of academic and membership affairs.

The decision ultimately came down to the N.C.A.A.’s determining what Kanter’s “actual and necessary” expenses were.

In an interview with The New York Times in September, Nedim Karakas, the general manager for Kanter’s team, Fenerbahce Ulker, said that Kanter and his family received more than $100,000 in salary and expenses over a three-year span.

It appears that the figure of $33,033 that the N.C.A.A. and Kentucky agreed upon included a bonus of $19,800 that Kanter received for making the top club of Fenerbahce, combined with his weekly salary.

Head coach John Calipari and the University of Kentucky plan to appeal the ruling. Kanter will be allowed to practice with the team until the NCAA confirms their own ruling in the appeal.

Kanter will very likely be a top 5 pick once he is eligible for the NBA Draft.

The Kansas Jayhawks are still waiting to see if superstar freshman Josh Shelby will be eligible to play for them this year.

Kentucky Wildcats

“Practice is underway as we prepare for our Canada trip, [and] I’m pleased with the energy everyone brought,” Calipari said. “I do want to let you all know that junior Darnell Dodson will not be playing for UK this season. If Darnell, who is academically eligible, decides to return, he could practice with the team if he meets our standards.”

Dodson is academically eligible, but he’s had numerous run ins with Calipari and off the court troubles as well (Ganja!).

Calipari had originally recruited Dodson to the University of Memphis along with his junior college teammate Will Coleman.  When Calipari left the Tigers for Kentucky, Dodson followed.

Michael Gilchrist, the #1 prep basketball recruit in the 2011 recruiting class, gave a verbal on Wednesday to the Kentucky Wildcats.

The announcement came as no surprise as many have believed Gilchrist would pop up collegiately wherever Wildcats basketball coach John Calipari was coaching.

Gilchrist can’t actually sign with the Wildcats until the fall.  He will be a high school senior this fall.

He averaged 16.4 points and 11.5 rebounds during his junior season at St. Patrick in New Jersey.

Michael Gilchrist Video Highlights Below

2010 #1 recruit Brandon Knight signed a letter of intent to play at Kentucky earlier in the day.  Although neither will likely play together as both are expected to be one-and-dones.