"They play very good basketball"

(NOTE: This is all opinion. If you want real UK basketball analysis, go to A Sea of Blue, which does it far better than I ever could.)

I was trying to explain Kentucky basketball to a Canadian friend, trying to pin down exactly why it was so big, what the history and the dynasty of it all was. I remembered an exchange in 2010: The Year We Make Contact. Here's the dialogue (thanks SciFlicks):

Heywood Floyd (Roy Scheider): Buy you a drink. Great stuff this bourbon. Comes from a land called Kentucky.
Tanya Kirbuk (Helen Mirren): I didn't know you brought liquor on board. It is forbidden.
Floyd: Think I'd set foot on this tub sober? C'mon try it. You can't beat the taste of alcohol and plastic.
Kirbuk: You think I was wrong to send Max?
Floyd: Doesn't matter what I think.
Kirbuk: You think I was wrong.
Floyd: Yep.
Kirbuk: So what else do they do in Kentucky?
Floyd: They have a big, big horse race, they play very good basketball, they have babies like everyone else.
Kirbuk: That sounds like a nice place.
Floyd: Never been there.

And that's it. Two strangers, one Russian, are trying to re-activate an insane computer, and they talk about a place they've never been to. Immediately, basketball takes the company of the world's most famous horse race and one of the finest spirits ever to be distilled. And it's "very good" basketball.

That's what Kentucky basketball is. It's what any dynasty is, it's the encapsulation of an entire sport, the highs and lows. It's the distilled essence of competition, purer than any bourbon. The New York Yankees are baseball (even though I'm partial to the Big Red Machine). The Celtics are the NBA. For any sport, there is one, or at most a few, archetypical teams. And for college basketball, Kentucky is arguably the archetype not only for its successes, but its failures.

Kentucky was slow to integrate. The Texas Western title game was the crystallization of that battle, as was Tubby Smith's tenure a form of denunciation of that part of its history. Kentucky had its shame in both point shaving and the violations of the 80's. Kentucky was the thrill of victory seven times, and the de facto image of the agony of defeat at the hands of Duke. Kentucky had its phoenix-like rebirth from each of these disgraces. Kentucky has heralded both the professional (Pat Riley) and the common man (John Pelphrey). Kentucky has been there, done that and will do it again. "On, On U of K" is more than a mis-lyriced fight song (seriously, football lyrics? At Kentucky?), it's how Kentucky operates.

I'm not going to get into the gossip about Kentucky's current situation, other than to say Billy Donovan would be a perfect fit on so many levels. That doesn't mean I think he'll leave Florida, it's just what I think. Kentucky will get the best coach for the job.

Now, however, is not Kentucky's time to shine. There's a Final Four to be played. I'm picking Florida, true to my SEC roots, against Georgetown for the title. Game on.