Gotta love family. Especially when you wake up on a Sunday morning – the same day your team is playing in the NCAA Tournament’s Elite 8 – and receive a voicemail from a cousin in Houston who says she’s got a Final Four ticket for you, and airfare. Then you really love family.

My ticket to the Final Four.

That’s how mine is. Knowing my beloved UK Wildcats were a game away from their first national semifinal in 13 years, all it took was one more win over the Tar Heels of North Carolina, and my aunt and cousin were about to give me a weekend I wouldn’t forget. Later that day, Kentucky would end their longest Final Four drought by defeating UNC. A day later, my ticket was purchased.

I was headed to Blueston.

The last time UK went to the Final Four, I was a freshman in Lexington. It was their third straight appearance, sandwiching two championships with a finals loss to Arizona in 1997. You could argue it was the height of the program. Rick Pitino had left “Camelot,” as he put it, for Boston; his trusted former assistant Orlando “Tubby” Smith came back to the program he helped put together.

We all know the history, so I won’t go into great detail. There were a couple of great years that ended with trips to the NCAA Tournament, but, all-in-all, what followed was a steady decline in arguably the nation’s grandest college basketball tradition.

Things have no doubt changed with the hiring (almost exactly two years ago) of John Calipari by UK President Lee Todd and Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart. To no one’s surprise, with Calipari, UK was back among the nation’s best – with a real shot at the school’s eighth national title in just his second season. And I would be there to witness it.

Saturday April 2, 2011

Because of radio duties in the area [Editor’s note: Will is undeniably one of the area’s best play-by-play announcers.] I could not leave Friday, the day before the national semifinal. My flight left Dayton close to noon on Saturday, and with a layover in Charlotte, I wouldn’t reach Texas until game time of the first matchup: Butler and Virginia Commonwealth.

On the ride from Charlotte to Houston, I got a pretty cool break – more on that in a moment.

Reliant Stadium in Houston.

First, let me say that, to my surprise, the gate in Charlotte was littered with UK fans.  Knowing the Big Blue Nation as I do, this was a bit late for them. Usually, they arrive at a venue before the team does. They (OK, we) are crazy.  As I board the aircraft, I spot three UCONN fans – Kentucky’s opponent later that night. Wearing my royal blue shirt with “KENTUCKY” in white across the chest, I receive a light-hearted, jeering “boo.”

Smiling, I respond by reminding them that we “own the plane.”

They laughed and said “we’ll see you tonight” as I move on to my seat. I have a window seat, and the older gentlemen seated on the aisle is wearing a UK polo shirt. I say “thank God that’s not a UCONN polo,” to which he replies “oh no.”

I asked him if he was attending the game and he said yes, for the fourth time. The first time was back in 1988 with the University of Kansas, when they won the national title.  The second was in 1996 with the University of Massachusetts. The third time was with the Memphis Tigers in 2008, where they were a last-second Mario Chalmers shot away from Kansas and a national title.

Turns out the guy next to me is John Robic, Sr. His son, John Robic, was a graduate assistant under Larry Brown when Danny Manning led Kansas to the title and has been with John Calipari – off and on – for 14 years now. John Sr. could not have been nicer. We talked for the first hour of the trip.  His son was recruited by none other than Bob Huggins at Walsh College (of the NAIA) in Canton, Ohio to play basketball many years ago. Although he would eventually transfer to Denison for basketball and academic reasons, John Jr. and Huggs remain great friends.  Sr. could not talk more about how warm and friendly Huggins was – and is. John said the divorce between Bob and the University of Cincinnati was definitely a two-way street. He assured me Huggs is a good man and had gotten a bad rap in Cincy.

We talked about this year’s UK team and how far they’ve come, and how proud the coaching staff was of all of them – Josh Harrellson in particular. One interesting piece of information he laid on me was that is was the consensus of the entire staff that freshman point guard (and East Regional Most Outstanding Player) Brandon Knight, unless he receives “top five money,” would return to Lexington his sophomore season. John said his mother is leaning on him to stay, and with the uncertainty of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, there is good reason to believe him.

Afterwards, we exchange pleasantries and part ways. Then comes my baggage.

With the first semifinal game already underway, it’s understandable why I’m anxious to get to Reliant Stadium. Naturally, I kid you not, my bag is the second-to-last bag (of three different flights) to come off the baggage carousel before it stops. It figures. I just couldn’t cram enough blue and white in a carry-on.

Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas

My view of the court.

I arrive at halftime of the VCU and Butler game. As I walk in, two things immediately catch my eye: the sheer amount of Kentucky blue versus any other color on the mezzanine, and “play-by-play” radios for sale. I have been talking about the radio concept ever since I attended the PGA Championship at Valhalla in Louisville in 2000.  My friend Otha and I had no clue what was happening elsewhere on the course, unless we were in view of a leaderboard. Having the broadcasting mind I do, I thought “man, I wish I could hear Jim Nantz right now.” Apparently, someone else had the same brilliant idea, and actually did something about it. But I digress.

I buy two radios. The deal was one for $15 and two for $20. It’s a cheap transistor radio at the end of a lanyard that hooks on to one ear. You can choose to listen to the national radio broadcast on Westwood One, or you could listen to either team’s home radio broadcast. I would’ve preferred the CBS TV call, but loved the fact I could listen to Tom Leach and Mike Pratt – the voices of UK basketball – live, without delay, while watching the game.

And that proved important. Over 70,000 people were there to watch the game, in this giant arena the Houston Texans call home. Our seats, albeit pretty good, were club level (second level) on the baseline, with the court to our right. (It would’ve been around the 25- or 30-yard line for a Texans game.) Thus, the court seemed like it was a mile away.  Thank God for the huge monitors above the court.

The Big Blue Nation in effect.

I joked earlier that I was headed to “Blueston.” Well, Kentucky owned the arena, and blanketed the city in blue all weekend long, for that matter. Each corner had an allotment.  We happened to be on the VCU side, which was well represented – as was Butler – but nothing compared to the sea of blue to our right. (You can see all of this in my grainy iPhone pictures.) UCONN fans were certainly in attendance, but you didn’t know it until there were just a few minutes left in the game. Behind each basket was a student section for each team. UK and Butler were on our right, VCU and UCONN to the left.  When I got there, at the half of the first game, Butler, VCU and UK’s seats were full, especially the student sections. I was shocked that, at no point during the UK/Connecticut game was the student section full. In fact, as you can see in my photos, they were maybe 40% full, at the most. I have no idea why.

As for the game, well, you know what happened. Neither team played well offensively.  That’s as much a tribute to each team’s defense as it is a criticism of their inability to score. It was certainly a disappointing end to an incredible year for the ‘Cats. Kentucky, at one point, was 5-5 in a weak Southeastern Conference; this November, UK will hang its 14^th Final Four banner at Rupp Arena. That’s certainly nothing to complain about.  The team represented “The Big Blue Nation” well, and vice-versa. That Monday morning at The Galleria (the gigantic shopping mall in Houston), I still saw tens of UK shirts and other apparel worn by the loyal fan base. I also saw Kemba Walker.  And thanked him…with a charming smile, of course.

I had bought a ticket between games at the Final Four for the Championship from a VCU student but elected not to go. From what I heard about the Championship game itself (aside from what a brutally awful basketball game it turned out to be) was that thousands of UK fans were still in attendance. While I hope there aren’t many years left that I attend these great events as a fan and not as a broadcaster calling them, I was proud to be there. It doesn’t matter if you’re Joe Buck, Jim Nantz, Gus Johnson or whoever, we all started as fans of someone or some team. That’s why we chose to cover sports – our love for them. As they years go on, jobs will change and titles will evolve, but one thing will always remain – I am a card-carrying member of The Big Blue Nation. I will never forget what my loving family – including my aunt Alice Kott and my cousin Molly Brigham – gave to me this weekend: a memory a sports fan will never forget.