Saturday, March 2, 2013

At this moment

John Calipari has a face the same color of a tomato because he is screaming at and cursing his players in the locker room after their humiliating loss to Arkansas on the road. It was their first bad game in two weeks, and it was a VERY bad game. Cal has now quieted down while assistant coach Orlando Antigua is pointing out the specific things that they could have done better in the game. He, equally angry but having to play the role of "good cop," pulls out a black dry erase marker and begins to draw on the provided white board. Having completed his drawing he turns directly to Kyle Wiltjer and says, "First of all, BOX OUT!!!!!" Typically, Kyle stares blankly and nods half heartedly. Launching into an explanation of how to box out which would insult a fifth grader, Antigua suddenly stops. He scans the room, receiving nothing except for blank stares from all of his players. Archie Goodwin, however, and rather ironically, is intensely focused on his coach. Taking to heart everything he has said, Archie has supplied the little bit of hope that Cal and Antigua have needed, Cal jumps in and quickly points out how disgusted he is with everyone but Archie. He goes on to explain that Archie is usually the most despondent, but his reaction tonight is a sign. Although the team played horribly, Archie, for the first time all year, gave it everything he had. He was the spark which Kentucky had lacked all season. At this moment John Calipari has decided to entrust the fate of the 2012-13 Kentucky Wildcats with Archie Goodwin. He knows that Goodwin has the talent and the basketball IQ to perform, but until now he had not seen the desire in Goodwin's eyes. Then Cal asked Goodwin to come up and speak to his teammates about not only what they should have done better on the court, but also what it will take to make a run in the SEC and NCAA tournaments.

*Fast Forward 5 weeks*

"Goodwin with the three at the buzzer!!!     IT'S GOOD! And for the second year in a row the Kentucky Wildcats are National Champions!!!" exclaimed the CBS analyst covering the game.

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