ST. LOUIS — If you apply the tried-and-true boxing adage “styles make fights’’ to Sunday’s Midwest Regional showdown between Kentucky and Wichita State, then this has the makings of a classic.
The contrast in styles is delicious.
– Kentucky brings a starting five of all freshmen — every one of them a McDonald’s All-American — to the Scottrade Center floor at 2:45 p.m. Sunday with a Sweet 16 berth on the line.
Wichita State brings a veteran team of players who were overlooked in recruiting by the blue-chip schools such as Kentucky, chasing their second consecutive trip to the Final Four.
“We don’t even recruit the second-level down from Kentucky’s recruits,’’ Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said Saturday. “We didn’t even send a form letter to any of them.’’
- Kentucky was the preseason No. 1-ranked team in the country before those freshman played a minute of college basketball.
Wichita State is the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region.
- Kentucky, with all those top recruits, talked openly about the possibility of an undefeated season, with Wildcats fans even printing “40-0’’ T-shirts.
Wichita State enters the game 35-0, the first team to enter the NCAA Tournament with an undefeated record since UNLV in 1991.
“It is little ironic,’’ Kentucky senior guard Jarrod Polson said. “I don’t think anyone expected the way both of our seasons went. But we’re both 0-0 now.’’
- Kentucky has spent much of this season playing individual basketball, not sharing the ball on offense and not helping out on defense. The Wildcats’ pure talent alone carried them to a 25-10 record.
Wichita State is the ultimate team, with no particular star, no sure-bet NBA lottery pick in waiting. It’s just a team that does it right, with each player knowing what the guy next to him is doing, supposed to do or going to do.
The greatest irony to this matchup is the fact Wichita State serves as a living, breathing model of what Kentucky coach John Calipari has spent the season preaching to his players to follow: Unselfish offense and helping team defense, all working in unison.
Despite the divergent pedigrees of the two schools — with Kentucky having hoisted enough championship banners (eight) to wallpaper the White House — Wichita State is the favorite to win this game.
Conventional wisdom suggests that the Shockers win this game because the best teams win championships, not the best individuals.
Each team in this game has something to prove: Kentucky that it was worthy of all that preseason hype after all, and Wichita State that is was worthy of that No. 1 seed. Kentucky has spent the season getting ripped for underachieving, and Wichita State has spent the month of March defending its undefeated record and the supposed soft schedule they played.
“With all the talk outside of Wichita and outside of our program about the schedule and not playing anybody, people want us to apologize for how we’re playing,” sophomore guard Fred VanVleet said. “Our mindset is we do belong here and now is the time to prove it.”
Sunday is proving day for both teams, which makes this matchup as appealing as any the NCAA Tournament has had to date.
The game represents a perfect opportunity for Kentucky to change the perception of its team as a bunch of talented individuals on a one-year collegiate stopover before entering the NBA Draft. Because once Kentucky does lose, it’s likely that one [Julius Randle] or more of its players will turn pro.
“In back of my mind, there is a sense of that,’’ Polson said. “We have really good players and if they choose to go to the NBA that’s their choice. But we’ve really come together as team and we don’t really talk about that or anything else about after this season. We’re really focused on this season.’’
Calipari hopes they’re focused solely on Wichita State, because lack of focus has been a recurring theme he’s battled with his players all season.
Before Kentucky’s opening tournament game, Willie Cauley-Stein, the Wildcats’ 7-foot sophomore, proclaimed he wanted to “shock the world’’ in the NCAAs.
After Kentucky’s win over Kansas State late Friday night, Cauley-Stein was asked what he thought a win over undefeated Wichita State would do for the Wildcats’ shock value.
While he stammered for an answer with Calipari sitting to his left on the interview podium, the coach took the question.
“Willie got killed for the ‘shock the world’ statement, let me tell you,’’ Calipari said. “Just try to win one game … shock me.’’