Technically a Kansas-Kentucky NCAA tournament championship game wouldn’t be a rematch, but it would be a heckuva battle — dripping with hero-vs.-villain drama — should two of the nation’s winningest programs collide in the final.
The Jayhawks and Wildcats didn’t meet in the 2008 NCAA title game, but their coaches, Bill Self and John Calipari, did.
Self was victorious, cementing himself in Kansas lore by leading the Jayhawks to their first NCAA title in 20 years. He can stay in Lawrence, Kan., for the rest of his life, if he chooses.
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Calipari, then the coach of Memphis, was vilified for not calling a timeout as his Tigers clanked one free throw after an other. Calipari bolted Memphis, just ahead of NCAA investigators. He can stay in Lexington, Ky., for the rest of his life, or until the NCAA comes calling.
“We’ve gotten into this situation where integrity is really lacking and that’s why I’m glad I’m not coaching,” former Indiana coach Bob Knight said earlier this season. “You see we’ve got a coach at Kentucky who put two schools on probation and he’s still coaching. I really don’t understand that.”
Understand this about the two teams in the field with 2,000 all-time wins:
The Jayhawks (32-2), who received the No. 1 seed in this year’s NCAA tournament and get to play in the Midwest Regional, are the best team in this field.
The Wildcats (32-2), the No. 2 overall seed and No. 1 seed in the East Regional, are the most talented.
Only a conspiracy theorist would suggest that the NCAA tournament selection committee deliberately gave the Wildcats a much harder road to the Final Four in Indianapolis, where the governing body of college sports is located. But it did.
The Wildcats could meet Texas in a second-round game. The Longhorns held the No. 1 ranking at one point this season. The East also is loaded with No. 2 West Virginia, the Big East Tournament champ, fifth-seeded Temple, the Atlantic 10 champ, and No. 4 seed Wisconsin, which sets a pace loved by turtles.
Kansas opens with overmatched Lehigh before meeting the winner of UNLV-Northern Iowa. Maryland, the No. 4 seed in the Midwest, or No. 5 Michigan State could get through a tough Sweet 16 game, only to get Kansas in St. Louis.
Duke (29-5), by winning the ACC regular season and tournament, received the third No. 1 seed, in the South Regional. The Blue Devils face a potentially dangerous second-round game against California. The East is Big East-heavy with No. 3 Villanova, No. 6 Notre Dame and No. 9 Louisville.
Syracuse (28-4), the regular-season Big East champion, got a No. 1 seed but was shipped to the West Regional, which is jammed with intriguing teams, such as No. 2 Kansas St., No. 3 Pitt and No. 7 BYU. Vanderbilt, seeded fourth, would be a tough Sweet 16 game.
Kansas got the No. 1 overall seed by virtue of winning the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles. But Self will never be accused of being cocky.
“We have a lot of things [to work on],” Self told reporters after the Big 12 title game. “We haven’t defended man to man like we can.”
Kentucky won the SEC regular season and tournament titles, but the Wildcats refused to cut down the nets after the championship game victory — the 26th in school history.
“Well, we will cut down nets,” said Calipari, who never will be accused of being humble. “It’s just not the SEC Tournament nets, and it may be hopefully in the NCAA Tournament somewhere.”
Not if Kansas has something to say about it.