Written by Andy | 28 March 2011

Tennessee Journalist/FlickrIn a scenario that no one could have anticipated, two schools with rich basketball traditions, big name coaches and national visibility—the University of Kentucky and the University of Connecticut—were able to string together enough consecutive wins for an improbable run to the Final Four.

"It's shows that anyone can do it come tournament time," said Kentucky coach John Calipari, considered by some to have done his best coaching job in reaching this year's Final Four with a roster full of future NBA stars. "When you play hard and play together, you can beat anybody, even the likes of Princeton and Bucknell. We didn't do this just for the University of Kentucky, we did it for all those other programs out there with big budgets and fancy home arenas."

Experts applaud both UConn and Kentucky for their rare success, even though they don't recruit scrappy, unathletic or undersized players.

"UConn and Kentucky did what the likes of Duke, Syracuse, Kansas and Ohio State couldn't do," said Jay Bilas of ESPN, "and that is reach the Final Four with highly recruited high school All-Americans."

Fans are equally surprised UConn and Kentucky were able to reach the Final Four, as their story is neither inspiring nor heartwarming.

< Prev		Next >