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CLEVELAND -- The Kentucky Wildcats' 78-39 Sweet 16 win Thursday over the West Virginia Mountaineers was a game of basketball in technical terms only. Practically, it was more like a Roman army decimation -- a brutally harsh punishment levied by a ruthless hegemon, an act with a message: Don't mess with us. Message received. Five observations:  
West Virginia's press was nowhere to be found. Remember the narrative from Wednesday and early Thursday? That if West Virginia could use its nation-leading full-court pressure to force Kentucky into turnovers, the Wildcats' inherent advantages would be minimized? Yeah. Not so much. Oh, sure, the Mountaineers tried to press. It just didn't work, at all. For starters, their inability to score -- they made just five field goals in a 44-18 blowout of a first half -- essentially nullified the best, if not only, press opportunities: after made baskets. And anyway, even when WVU did score, Tyler Ulis, Aaron" target="_blank">Aaron and Andrew Harrison, Devin Booker and a combination of UK's bigs dropping back into the play made it rather easy for the Wildcats to get across half court and turn to attacking the basket. Kentucky ended the first half with five turnovers. West Virginia had seven. Kentucky scored 1.33 points per trip in the first half. West Virginia scored .56. Game over. Kentucky is unfair. For months -- ever since the post-Louisville Tyler Ulis-Andrew Harrison "Who plays point guard?" chemistry debate -- we've maintained that the Wildcats are so much better than the vast majority of their opponents that coach John Calipari's lineup selections don't really matter. In other words, Calipari can balance minutes, play a less-than-optimal lineup and still win. The win that made UK 37-0 was yet another example. In the first minute of the second half, star center Karl-Anthony Towns picked up two quick fouls, his third and fourth of the game. Calipari quickly sent him to the bench. Not only were the Wildcats so far ahead that Towns' early fourth foul did not even raise a slight concern for UK, but his replacement -- center Dakari Johnson, one of the best offensive rebounders and foul-drawers in the country -- promptly scored UK's next six points. Towns might be Kentucky's best player. He might also be the No. 1 overall pick in June's NBA draft. Calipari could send him back to Lexington, Kentucky, for the rest of the NCAA tournament and still win the national title. It's just insane. It never got better for West Virginia. Yes, the first half was bad. But WVU opened the second with exactly one point before the under-12 timeout (an early Devin Williams free throw). Bob Huggins' team didn't score a proper field goal until Jevon Carter's layup with 11:42 to play, after which the Mountaineers pressed, got a quick steal and put home another layup … to cut the lead to 31. For Mountaineers fans, it was a brief, painful glimpse of what might have been. Remember how West Virginia scored just .56 points per trip in the first half? They ended with .58. It never got better. Aaron Harrison appears to be OK. The Wildcats guard left the second half -- frantically, in obvious pain, with a trainer rushing him to the locker room -- with a finger on his left hand badly bent out of place. But he returned to the bench just a minute or two later, presumably having had the finger snapped back into place. He was back on the court shortly after. Poor Daxter Miles Jr. One day, you're giving slightly ill-advised, but mostly just self-assured, quotes communicating your essential belief in your own team. The next day, that team is getting drilled, and your wise decision to eschew a first-half fast break -- when you almost certainly would have had your shot blocked -- leads to sarcastic, bemused cheers from your opponent's fans. What a nightmare. On the bright side? Miles is a good player and just a freshman, and he can now look to the rest of his career having learned a valuable lesson: Don't poke the bear. Decimation ensues.
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