Vince Lombardi said it best...."What the hell is going on out there??"
The NCAA men's Division I basketball tournament continues to defy prediction and strain credulity. Next weekend's Final Four consists of Connecticut, a No. 3 seed; Kentucky, a No. 4; Butler, a No. 8; and Virginia Commonwealth, a No. 11.

No Number 1s. No Number 2s.

Only two of the top 16 seeded teams are still playing. It could be argued that VCU might have missed the postseason altogether had the NCAA field not expanded from 65 to 68 teams this year. The Rams are the first team ever to win five games to reach the Final Four. Whatever happens next weekend, I'll bet those four Tuesday night games in Dayton that open next year's tournament will draw a larger audience than they did this time around.

* * * * * * * * *

Now that Kentucky has reached the Final Four, it's difficult to tell what pleases some UK fans more: the fact the Cats are there, or the fact Louisville isn't. Judging by the amount of trolling being done by the Big Blue-natic fringe, it's a very close call.

Maybe I haven't been paying attention, but in all the hundreds of times I've driven the stretch of Interstate 64 that connects Louisville with Lexington, at no time have I crossed a state line. I don't know why it is that the loudest part of Big Blue Nation seemingly cannot accept that the Commonwealth is big enough for two great Division I men's basketball programs. Whatever the season, in the Cards vs. Cats rivalry, when I take the high road, there never seems to be a lot of traffic. I'd love to see UK cutting down the nets next Monday night; the current group of Wildcats deserves it.

* * * * * * * * *

Speaking of the Cards, I'm disturbed by the clamor for Rick Pitino's head in certain parts of Planet Red. Certainly the season didn't end the way any of us wanted. I was two years old the last time U of L lost to Morehead State, and when I consider that the Cards' last three losses came by a total of six points and all featured end-of-game brain cramps, it gives me indigestion.

But how about a little perspective here?

With no returning starters thanks to Jared Swopshire's groin injury, and a season-long revolving door of wounded players demanding constant tinkering with the rotation, Pitino managed to coax 25 wins and a No. 14 final ranking out of this crew. These Cards were fun to watch, they obviously cared more about winning than anything else, and their coach looked as energized as he has in several years.

While Preston Knowles won't be on the court next season, the team won't lack for upperclass leadership. I expect Kyle Kuric and Terence Jennings to provide a lot of it. And with the recruit class Rick is expecting, the Cards should be loaded. What that will translate to on the floor remains to be seen, but U of L fans have ample cause for optimism.

* * * * * * * * *

The U of L women also should be at least as good, if not better. Only starting center Keshia Hines, among significant contributors, departs, and Cards coach Jeff Walz also has a stellar class coming in, headlined by McDonald's All American and Kentucky Miss Basketball Sara Hammond of Rockcastle County.

The Cards got undressed by Gonzaga, but there's no shame in being unable to corral the Zags' Courtney Vandersloot. That young lady is the real deal, and while she showed a few chinks in her armor during the stretch when U of L whittled its deficit from 20 points down to three, she got her act back together in time to preserve the victory. That team was awfully tough for a No. 11 seed, and with leading scorer Monique Reed sidelined by a groin strain she incurred in warmups, the Cards spent three-fourths of the game looking for answers. Apart from using this disappointment as motivation, I hope the team forgets this performance quickly, particularly Shoni Schimmel. It thrills me to think about how she will improve as she matures -- and she's pretty darned good now.

* * * * * * * * *

Finally, how great has it been to be a college basketball fan in Kentucky this year? With UK returning to the Final Four, Bellarmine and Pikeville claiming national championships, and U of L's men and U of L and UK's women delivering sparkling seasons, it will be a long wait for next November.

Special kudos go out to Josh Harrellson, Preston Knowles, Keshia Hines and Victoria Dunlap for going out with memorable senior campaigns. I'll miss them -- the older I get, the quicker kids become seniors and their careers end.

And now, before I blow a 50-amp fuse....

Perhaps it's a good thing I didn't get to watch the University of Louisville's 62-61 loss to Morehead State University in the first round of the NCAA tournament. (I know the folks in Indianapolis insist it's the second round, but I'm sorry -- the First Four isn't the first round when it involves less than one-eighth of the field.) I'd have been on the verge of throwing things watching U of L cough up an eight-point second half lead after coming back from 13 points down early on.

Let's get this out of the way first: Mike Marra was fouled on his last shot, but I'm neither surprised nor outraged it wasn't called. Nine times out of 10 it won't be. Morehead's Kenneth Faried would have had to knock Marra on his butt to get whistled in that situation. I accept that -- it doesn't upset me.

What does upset me? Let me start the list.

Four missed layups in the opening minutes, and 7-for-16 foul shooting. Make two of those layups and two more free throws, and no one cares about Devonte Harper's last three-pointer. Hitting only nine of 16 from the line is 56 percent -- still putrid, but it would have been enough to win the game.

The defense on Morehead's last possession. Time and score, guys -- time and score. In the waning seconds of the game with a two-point lead, as a perimeter defender you should be thinking only one thing: prevent the three! If you're beaten inside the arc, it isn't fatal; your help is behind you, and barring a foul in the act, a two-pointer only ties the game. The only thing that kills you is a three, so do not give a guy an unmolested look at one.

The seeming lack of focus at the beginning. Nothing else explains spotting Morehead a 15-2 lead, and though the Cards clawed back before halftime to stick their noses in front, U of L gave up a buzzer-beating three to let the Eagles gain a halftime tie.

As I heard former U of L coach Denny Crum say many times, you get what you earn -- and Thursday night the Cards earned a loss. The guy you have to feel the worst for is Preston Knowles; after all he has been to this team, he did not deserve for his college career to end with him slumped on the bench in excruciating pain, unable to hit a key shot or provide a crucial defensive stop.

These Cards may have exceeded preseason expectations, but make no mistake: this loss hurts.

* * * * * * * * *

A little historical perspective: the last time Morehead State won a first-round NCAA tournament game, it was 1984. None of the Eagles' current players had been born yet.

The last time MSU beat U of L, in 1957, I'd venture to guess, most of the current team's parents had yet to be born. I don't remember it -- I didn't know what a basketball was yet.

No dinner, no movie, no kiss, no K-Y....

I must express my admiration for the NCAA tournament selection committee. Not only did they fill the largest bracket in tourney history, but they also pissed off more fanbases than ever before -- many of whom follow teams that made the field. I'll leave the perceived snubs for another discussion -- let's look at who got screwed:

Kentucky

My beef isn't so much with Kentucky's No. 4 seed in and of itself -- it's that the committee saw fit to bestow a No. 2 on Florida. Let me get this straight: UK beat Florida twice. UK pounded Florida in the SEC tournament championship game. UK was ranked higher in the final Ratings Percentage Index.

Yet Florida somehow is the better team.

Yeah, right.

So UK gets a date with Princeton, never an easy out, in what is now the second round, and assuming the Cats beat the Tigers, play a rematch with West Virginia. After that, if form holds, would come Ohio State.

That, friends, is a brutal draw.

Louisville

Evidently UConn impressed the daylights out of the committee by winning five games in five days to capture the Big East tournament championship. What the committee seemingly ignored was the reason the Huskies had to do that: they finished NINTH in the league during the regular season. What's more, they lost TWICE to Louisville.

Yet UConn is a No. 3 seed, and U of L is a No. 4.

Despite what committee chairman Gene Smith said about looking at each school's body of work, it seems the regular season didn't count for much. Nor did the Big East Tournament, except for UConn; the Cards got no discernible benefit from beating Notre Dame.

Now the Cards head off to Denver to play Morehead State (which also got reamed -- more on that later). Nothing says committee respect like being sent 1100 miles to meet a team whose campus is less than 150 miles from yours. At least two years ago when the Cards and Eagles met, it was in Dayton, Ohio, a reasonable distance from both Louisville and Morehead.

Morehead State

The committee members must be avid TV Land watchers, judging from their seeming love of reruns. This will mark the third consecutive NCAA appearance in which Morehead has played Louisville; at least the Eagles weren't required to win a game to earn the privilege. Heaven forbid the Commonwealth should have a chance for three of its teams to reach the round of 32; could Morehead not have played one of the two No. 4 seeds not named Louisville or Kentucky?

Ohio State

How can I have the overall No. 1 seed on this list?

Well, OSU head coach Thad Matta might want a word or twelve with his boss, the aforementioned Gene Smith. When your own athletic director heads up the selection committee, you might expect an easier road to the Final Four than a regional featuring the likes of North Carolina, Syracuse and Kentucky. It would appear Pittsburgh has the clearer path to Houston, but given the Panthers' penchant for flaming out early in the Big Dance, I wouldn't recommend betting the mortgage payment on them to get there.

Suffice it to say, if the Buckeyes get to the season's last weekend, they will have done some work to get there.

This is why it's called March Madness....

Officially, the Big East Conference tournament has four first-round byes. The University of Connecticut, however, drew a fifth through its matchup with woeful DePaul, as the Huskies waltzed past the Blue Demons 97-71. As I type, UConn is mopping the floor with Georgetown in the opening second-round game -- the Huskies lead by 15 at the under-four-minute TV timeout in the first half.

Marquette was another easy winner in the closing first-round contest, breezing past Providence 87-66. The Golden Eagles next face West Virginia, with the winner taking on Louisville in Thursday night's quarterfinals.

The other two first-round games provided considerably more excitement. In an all-New Jersey affair, 13th-seeded Rutgers, in a mild upset, bounced No. 12 Seton Hall 76-70 in overtime. I say "mild upset," because whenever the seeds differ by only one, in my mind the game is a tossup. So to me, the Scarlet Knights' victory has little shock value.

I cannot say the same regarding lowly South Florida's 70-69 upending of Villanova. Not only was this the No. 15 seed taking out the No. 10, but it also featured the Wildcats self-destructing in spectacular fashion. In coughing up a 16-point halftime lead to a USF team that won only three Big East games in the regular season, 'Nova may have played itself into the National Invitation Tournament. If I'm on the NCAA selection committee, I have a difficult time voting Villanova in and, for example, Ohio Valley regular-season champ Murray State out.

* * * * * * * * *

Meanwhile, fans of the University of Kentucky have little to do other than wait for tomorrow afternoon's Mississippi-South Carolina game to determine UK's Friday afternoon opponent, or debate the Southeastern Conference coaches' awards. (Unless they can somehow bring themselves to watch the Big East games.)

In my mind, considerable debate should occur regarding the league rule that each school can nominate only one player for each award. This year, UK's Terence Jones won Freshman of the Year, but in many people's opinion (including his own), Jones should have shared the award with teammate Brandon Knight. Cat fans saw this same show last year, when it starred John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins.

If memory serves, the media isn't under the same restriction. I hope not; gaudy as Jones' numbers have been, I believe UK's success owes more to Knight's work as a distributor and facilitator. Knight certainly merits a share of the honor.

The good, the not-so-good, and the crazy....
Wow, what a crazy weekend. The University of Louisville men snatch defeat from the jaws of victory at West Virginia, the University of Kentucky men snatch victory from the jaws of the road at Tennessee, and both schools' women's teams show well at their respective conference tournaments.

First, the U of L men.

The Cards got shoved around like grade-schoolers against the Mountaineers, who outrebounded U of L by a whopping 25. Yet U of L still led by five points inside the last minute, but Peyton Siva missed a crucial free throw with seconds to play, and he and Kyle Kuric made defensive gaffes that allowed WVU's Casey Mitchell two clear looks at three-pointers, the second of which tied the game with 8.2 seconds to play.

Then there was Preston Knowles' ill-advised attempted trey with four ticks left, which led to a mad scramble for a loose ball and a Knowles foul with :00.6 on the clock. Why you even risk a foul deep in the backcourt in that situation is beyond me. Even though 99 percent of the time the officials will deem it incidental contact, attention to time and score would dictate leaving well enough alone and settling for overtime.

And no, I haven't forgotten that egregious out-of-bounds call in front of the West Virginia bench. Despite what the play-by-play person said, at no time was Knowles touching the ball with his foot on the sideline. The ball bounced off his ankle, THEN he went out of bounds, and he re-established himself inbounds before the whistle blew.

Lest we forget, another blown OOB call cost U of L a chance to win last year's game in Morgantown. That one elicited an official apology from the Big East Conference, but I don't expect that to happen again.

Nevertheless, once is unfortunate; twice is a pattern.

* * * * * * * * *

Now, on to UK.

This team is much too good to justifiably finish 1-7 on the road in Southeastern Conference play, and thanks to a 64-58 win at Tennessee, it won't. The Wildcats' win ensured the No. 2 seed from the SEC East and its accompanying first-round bye in the SEC tournament.

And in case you were wondering, it causes me no pain to write good things about UK. When the Cats aren't playing the Cards, I root for them; what's more, save for the Lady Vols and Pat Summitt, I loathe all things Big Orange. So it was highly gratifying to me to see the Wildcats mend their road woes in Knoxville.

One thing troubles me, though. For all the growth this team has shown, freshmen big man Terence Jones still shows a distressing tendency to play the black hole on offense. Once he decides to go to the basket, not even a triple team from the defense will deter him. Maybe it won't matter in the NBA, where there are players who can guard him one on one, but at this level he is costing his team potentially easy baskets by refusing to pass out of those situations. I had the same beef about former U of L head case Derrick Caracter.

Let's hope Jones has an epiphany soon, or collapsing defenses could make it a very short postseason for UK.

* * * * * * * * *

Both the Cardinal and Wildcat women did their schools and themselves proud in the Big East and SEC tournaments. The Cards bowed to third-seeded Notre Dame 63-53 in the Big East quarterfinals, while the Cats bowed 90-65 to top seed Tennessee in the SEC final.

In U of L's Jeff Walz and UK's Matthew Mitchell, the Commonwealth boasts two of the nation's best young coaches. We should give both these programs the support they deserve -- they've come a long way from the days when fans of both teams all knew one another by name, or so it seemed.

I've been watching the U of L women's program since 1976, when both the Cards and UK belonged to the old Kentucky Women's Intercollegiate Conference and played each other at least twice a season. I dreamed of a day when both schools would draw crowds and showcase a brand of basketball indisputably worth watching. That day has arrived.

Now it's tournament time. God, I love March -- I'm pulling for all four squads to advance deep into their respective brackets.

GO CARDS!! GO CATS!!

And the amazement continues....

In case you hadn't heard, the University of Louisville Cardinals nailed down a double bye in the Big East Conference tournament Wednesday night, blasting Providence 87-60 to claim a Senior Night victory and close out a perfect slate of conference home games. Dating back to its Freedom Hall finale last season, U of L now has won 10 consecutive Big East home games.

Louisville received a surprise assist from Seton Hall the next night, as the Pirates upended St. John's 85-70. The Red Storm had been tied with the Cards for third place in the league, but now U of L, by virtue of an 88-63 pasting of the Johnnies on Jan. 19, has clinched the No. 3 seed in the Big East tourney.

Not too shabby for a squad the league's coaches predicted would finish eighth.

* * * * * * * * *

My own picks for Big East men's basketball awards:

Coach of the Year: Rick Pitino, Louisville
Player of the Year: Brad Wanamaker, Pittsburgh
Freshman of the Year: Cleveland Melvin, DePaul
Most Improved: Kyle Kuric, Louisville

All-Big East: Brad Wanamaker, Pittsburgh; Kemba Walker, Connecticut; Austin Freeman, Georgetown; Rick Jackson, Syracuse; Alex Oriakhi, Connecticut

If I had a ballot, that's how I'd vote. I'd have Preston Knowles and Peyton Siva of Louisville on my second team, and Gorgui Dieng on my all-freshman team.

Why even bother with preseason polls?

Before the season began, coaches in the Big East Conference picked the University of Louisville to finish eighth. The No. 8 seed in the Big East tournament receives a first-round bye. That probably made sense, given that the Cards' only returning starter, forward Jared Swopshire, was plagued by a groin injury that eventually would cost him the season.

That was in November. It is now the first of March.

With a win in tomorrow's Senior Night game against Providence, U of L clinches at worst the No. 4 seed and its attendant double bye in the conference tournament. By also winning Saturday at West Virginia, the Cards would lock up the No. 3 seed; they could finish in a tie for second with Notre Dame, but the Irish would get the No. 2 seed because of a head-to-head win. Louisville holds a similar edge over St. John's for the No. 3 seed.

The Cards put themselves in this position Sunday with a 62-59 home court overtime win over fourth-ranked Pittsburgh. Neither team earned any style points for this one; defense dominated a typical bloody-nosed Big East battle. I've been racking my brain since Sunday, and I cannot remember ever seeing U of L shoot 34 percent from the field in a victory. Then again, I might be considered a relative newbie, having watched the Cards only since 1964.

I'm certain Pitt's Jamie Dixon will receive a lot of support for Big East Coach of the Year, as will Steve Lavin of St. John's. That said, I believe Rick Pitino has done more with less than either Dixon or Lavin, especially in light of the continual rash of injuries that has bedeviled U of L all year long. To have this team perched at 11-5 in league play and 22-7 overall with two games remaining reflects a coaching job the likes of which we haven't seen since his early years at Kentucky.

* * * * * * * * *

Big East basketball officiating has given me indigestion for years, but it seems to me Big East refs have had an unusually quick trigger this season when it comes to technical fouls. Yes, I mean in particular the "T" called on Cardinal cheerleader Jordan Alcazar for tossing the ball into the air after Kyle Kuric's game-clinching dunk with less than a second to go.

True, Alcazar in the strictest sense violated a rule by doing so, but the horn had sounded and the game appeared over. Calling the technical after a replay review that reset the clock to :00.5 struck me as excessive. Far more egregious examples of premature celebration by fans have gone unpunished; this could have been handled with a warning.

I still haven't accepted the technical for taunting Kuric received just before halftime of the Notre Dame game. Maybe some of the league's officials have an overblown thirst for notoriety; I haven't come up with another logical explanation yet.

And yes, UK fans, I have seen more than the usual quota of headscratchers in Southeastern Conference games as well. As I've said before, officiating consists of only two basic tasks: knowing the rules and watching the game. Too often this year, the striped shirts appear to have fallen down on the job.