Filed Under » Kentucky Wildcats

Kentucky saw its national title hopes end early, losing 73-72 to fellow No. 1 seed North Carolina last night in an NCAA Tournament 1st Round game.

"It was disappointing not to advance, but at least we lost to a great team," said Kentucky head coach John Calipari. "I have to admit, though, I have some problems with the way the Selection Committee set up the bracket this year."

Instead of using the expanded NCAA Tournament slots in recent years for bubble teams and lower-tier conference champions to play-in as 16-seeds, the NCAA Selection Committee has also had play-ins for No. 12 spots. This year it was expanded to include one No. 1 seed play-in game.

Selection Committee chairman Jeff Hathaway says all teams are evaluated and assigned a seed they deserve.

"We don't have a glut of teams that could be considered 16 seeds," said Hathaway. "This year we had five teams we thought were deserving of a No. 1 seed, so we had to have two of them meet in Dayton in the First Round. It's how it worked. It was the only way to do it. And, really, what better way to start the NCAA Tournament than by having the two best teams play right away? It was a very exciting game."

The top-ranked Kentucky Wildcats proved again that they are the most talented team in the nation with a 20-point destruction of 8th ranked Florida on Tuesday night, running their record to 24-1, including 10-0 in the SEC.

"I don't want to speak to soon, because there's a long way still to go and anything can happen," said Kentucky head coach John Calipari. "But I think this team can ultimately be the most disappointing team I've ever had, which would really be saying something."

Barring injury to a star player or an unexpected slump, the Wildcats should enter the NCAA Tournament in March as a heavy favorite. Kentucky has won 16 in a row — and its last seven by an average margin of 20 points.

"I don't know how we'll blow it, but I'm pretty confident that we will," said Calipari. "Most likely I'll play an integral role with some curious late-game decision making. What exactly? There's no way to know. That's what makes it all so exciting. All I do know is that sometime in late March or early April, I'm going to ruin another pair of $3,000 suit pants by shatting in them."