Monticello — There is a song that goes something like this, "Life is not always

beautiful, but it is a beautiful ride."

The end of Kentucky's basketball season was not a pleasant one for

Kentucky fans but for the past six months there have been some good times.

In Syracuse, after you get through Cornell fans asking if Kentucky is a city

or state and referring to Kentucky as a third world, you hope to win some

ball games.

Kentucky played two basketball games in Syracuse. One was a battle of

physical skills with Cornell and our size and quickness prevailed. The other

was a battle of "wills" or a test in mentality for the situation and West

Virginia prevailed in that one.

For the year Kentucky and West Virginia both shot about 33 percent from

the three. But on Saturday Kentucky missed 20 before it made one and West

Virginia made 8 before it missed.

Many years ago I read in a book on the psychology of

coaching that the ultimate time to motivate your team for performance was

when they were perceived as a slight underdog. West Virginia was in that

position on Saturday and they turned in a top flight performance. Kentucky

was out scored by 18 points from the three, too much to overcome especially

when you shoot nine more threes that the other team.

In the end Kentucky had the best players in the nation but not the best

team. It comes with the territory of the "one and done" type recruitment.

If Kentucky were to return all the players eligible to return they would

be the most prohibitive favorite in the history of college basketball.

Another old saying I heard one time is, ŒIf if's and but's were candy

and nuts, we would all have a merry Christmas.' If it was a seven games

series like the NBA perhaps Kentucky could have survived it's lack of

experience. But that is another if and now another but.

I will say I was more disappointed for a coach and his team than I was

disappointed in their play. I had a great year covering Kentucky basketball.

Physically they were one of the great college teams of all time. The

only perimeter player they had with any experience to speak of was Miller

and that was hard to overcome. The excitement will return when in about a

month the pieces of the 2010-2011 "Wildcat Puzzle" start to fall in place.

For now the dream is over, but another one will come...that is what

makes Kentucky Wildcat basketball so special.