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U.S.A, 3/17/10 – It is an annual ritual that quickly became a yearly tradition.  It’s a time of year when a billion-plus dollars in office productivity are lost, when alma mater colors become tribal ID.

As regular an event as bracketing your picks & guzzling lousy beer at the local sports-bar, debating the NCAA selection committee’s top seeds always brings out a host of opinions.  With March Madness descending upon an already crazyfied nation, basketball-betting.com takes a closer look at the tourney’s heavyweight contenders.  First in our series is East Regional number one seed, the University of Kentucky Wildcats.

“Always a bridesmaid, never the bride” has to wear on anyone.  Despite fielding strong squads the last eleven years, UK has come up short each time.  This year though, could be different.  Why, enquiring minds want to know?  Commit these two names to memory – John Wall & DeMarcus Cousins – and when the ‘Cats eviscerate their first-round opponent, 16^th seeded East Tennessee State, you’ll know why.

By now a near-consensus number one NBA draft pick, prodigiously talented John Wall makes it look easy.  A freshman, Wall handles point guard duties with maturity beyond his years, showing a court vision approaching 20/20.  Opposing defenses are picked apart to the tune of 6.4 assists per game, the fourth highest rate in men’s college basketball.  When Wall can’t find the open man, he does the damage himself.  Accessing at will a speed unavailable to mere mortals, he invites more comparisons to this than fellow collegians.  Factor in his 6’4” 200 lb. frame, that speed allows Wall to blast past larger players into the paint, while physically dominating smaller guards on the perimeter – probably why he’s averaging nearly 17 points a game.

Having a player like Wall in his backcourt, UK’s John Calipari is already blessed above other college coaches.  However, to also have frontcourt beast DeMarcus Cousins, one wonders whether Coach Cal traded his soul for tournament victory.  Cousins, whose game can best be described thusly controls the paint for the Wildcats, using a 7’3” wingspan & 9’ standing reach to block nearly two shots & haul in ten boards per game.  On the strength of that rebounding & a set of soft hands - the frequent target of Wall’s passes - Cousins scores fifteen+ points on an average night.  From a personal story littered by hardships overcome & defiance of other’s low expectations, the man who makes UK fans say proudly that “We love our Cousins!” plays with a definite chip on his shoulder.  That intensity – plus NBA ready size (6’11” & 280 lbs.) has the freshman Cousins in contention for a top five pick in the upcoming draft.

Therefore, this year could be the ‘Cats best shot, albeit a one-time, all-in shot.  With the draft stock of Wall & Cousins so high, their departure from UK is nearly certain.  Wildcat junior Patrick Patterson (averaging seven boards & nearly fifteen points himself) may also jump ship, especially if he puts in a strong tournament performance.  Whispers say too that Calipari is thinking about trading up, taking big money from Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, in the market for a sharp basketball mind to turn around his recently purchased New Jersey Nets.  With all this buzz, some feel UK won’t focus and will choke against squads more talented than they faced in the regular season, especially West Virginia’s Mountaineers.

Prediction?  ‘Cats over Mountaineers to make it out of the East Regional.  Hoopster in Chief Pres. Obama agrees with me, saying it may be the best game of the tournament.  How Kentucky fares in the Final 4 though, I will not predict.